Authored by Bryan Jung via PJMedia.com,
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy declared the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA)campaign to recruit video gamers as air traffic controllers "wildly successful,"after over 6,000 applicants submitted forms within the first twelve hours of the program's launch.
The FAA is reporting thousands of applicants applied after its unconventional new recruitment initiative launched on April 17, with the application portal reaching its cap at 8,000 candidates.
The Trump administration is currently looking to address a persistent nationwide shortage of air traffic controllers, as many of the most experienced have retired in recent years.
“To reach the next generation of air traffic controllers, we need to adapt,” Duffy said in a statement.
“This campaign’s innovative communication style and focus on gaming taps into a growing demographic of young adults who have many of the hard skills it takes to be a successful controller.”
The recruitment drive features a high-energy promotional video and messaging that frames job requirements as “mission objectives," which is designed to appeal to Gen Z applicants.
Duffy said that skills common among gamers, such as rapid decision-making, sustained concentration, and the ability to manage multiple inputs simultaneously could be applied to directing air traffic.
“If you think about what gamers are doing on screens, they’re talking, reacting, and managing a lot at once — that’s very similar to what happens in a control tower,”Duffy said during remarks in Washington.
The push comes as the FAA confronts a shortfall of roughly 3,500 air traffic controllers, a gap that has developed over the past decade amid rising demand for air travel.
Source: ZeroHedge News
