Education and Career Forum

Hi, my daughter is pursuing her final year of B.Tech Civil Engineering. Is she eligible to apply for Air Traffic Control (ATC) examination conducted by Airport Authority of India (AAI)? If yes, then how can she apply for ATC AAI?

FAA studies showed that CTI students did do somewhat better in training than OTS hires did, but nowhere near enough to make it worth the incredible amount of money that was spent by the students or the colleges that ramped up those programs.

CTI students were able to skip over a single five-week course once they were hired by the FAA. That's it- that's what spending tens of thousands of dollars and a minimum of two years of their lives boiled down to. Congratulations, CTI grad, you don't have to take a single class.

The FAA has since jerked the CTI program's preferential hiring away and now it's essentially useless. My advice to anyone who is young (say, 23 or less) and determined to become a controller is to get into the military to do it, so long as you can be guaranteed that specialty.

You get ATC certification, you'll almost certainly be hired by the FAA when you get out, and you get paid while you're doing it. Plus, you will often be stationed all over the United States or even overseas, and you'll learn a ton about yourself and how to get through life.

If you want to go to college, you can do that while in the military (you should!).

If you don't want to join the military, you can of course try the off the street path- but there's less guarantee, and while you're waiting to get hired you're going to need to eat, so you'll have to go get another job or go to school. If you've got money to do that, cool; if not, welcome to the job market.

Hey, you might wind up getting into a job you really like, and give up on ATC; there's nothing wrong with that. ATC isn't for everyone; not only is it a very particular set of skills and abilities (many people much smarter than me washed out of training) but it's also got lousy work schedules.

If you're a controller, you're going to miss holidays and weekends with families and friends, you're going to have to work evenings and sometimes overnight shifts (sometimes for years). You'll frequently get inadequate sleep and you'll be subject to a much tougher medical standard to keep your job than most professions, which can mean you're well on the way to retirement and suddenly... you lose your medical and possibly your job.

All that said, it's a great job in many ways. I wouldn't trade it; I made excellent money and at age 47, after 25 years at it, I'm eligible to retire any day I choose. I get to work with my brain and my mouth, both things I like using (too much, some would say) and my job satisfaction largely depends on MY own performance.

Originally Posted by binduabrahamp

Hi, my daughter is pursuing her final year of B.Tech Civil Engineering. Is she eligible to apply for Air Traffic Control (ATC) examination conducted by Airport Authority of India (AAI)? If yes, then how can she apply for ATC AAI?

Candidates having degree/diploma passed can apply for AAI Recruitment 2021 as AAI 2020 notification to apply date is over
Age limit: Maximum Age 26 years as on 01 January 2020
You can apply online through its official website www.aai.aero