The Full Story of the FAA’s Hiring Scandal

On New Year’s Eve, 2013, after years of furtive work, the FAA abruptly threw a grenade into its air traffic control hiring pipeline.

Moranda Reilly always wanted to work in aviation. She read books on aviation heroes, watched air disasters, she listened to live air traffic control in her car. Around her neck, she wore an airplane necklace, a gift from a friend that she’d mended repeatedly. In her 20s, she elected to take the plunge and do whatever it took to make it happen. She quit her full-time job, took out student loans, and moved to attend a university that offered a two-year degree as part of the FAA’s collegiate training initiative (CTI) for air traffic controllers.

The FAA had established its CTI program in 1989, working together alongside a select group of universities and community colleges to build a better-prepared, college-educated workforce. By the early 2010s, when Moranda and other aspiring air traffic controllers entered the program, CTI was the primary way by which people would enter the field, with the FAA accepting virtually no off-the-street hires. On its website, the FAA instructed aspiring air traffic controllers that if they got CTI degrees, passed the profession’s aptitude test (the AT-SAT), and met other eligibility requirements, it would place them into a priority hiring queue, giving them first opportunity every time employment slots opened up. Students understood that the FAA hired virtually everyone who completed the program and passed the assessment. Continue reading →