WMU ready to enroll students in air traffic control program

Western Michigan University is ready to enroll the first class of students in its new air traffic control program.

Training begins in the fall of 2011 at Western Michigan University's College of Aviation, located at the W.K. Kellogg Airport in Battle Creek, Michigan.

WMU developed the program in partnership with the Federal Aviation Administration. The training program prepares students to report directly to the FAA's Oklahoma City academy and bypass an initial five-week basics course.

The FAA asked Western to develop the program, making it one of 36 schools in the nation to offer the training, and the only one in Michigan.

WMU is integrating the training with its existing four-year aviation degree programs to give graduates of the program the opportunity to follow multiple career paths without returning to the classroom. The program's focus is on training controllers to work in towers, control ground movement and handle local traffic.

Those who complete the initiative and graduate with an aviation degree from WMU must also pass the FAA pre-employment test for air-traffic controllers and undergo additional training at the administration's air-traffic academy in Oklahoma City to attain their certification.

U.S. citizenship, a medical exam, security clearance, above-average knowledge in math and science, and a 31-year-old maximum-entry age are required by the FAA.

The federal government employs about 90 percent of all air-traffic controllers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,. In March 2009, the average yearly salary of U.S. air-traffic controllers was $109,000.

Writer: Kathy Jennings
Source: Tom Thinnes, WMU