More air traffic controllers retiring than new ones being hired: expert
Global News
An aviation expert says Canada is losing more air traffic controllers to retirement than it is hiring, despite efforts to ramp up recruitment.
An aviation expert says Canada is losing more air traffic controllers to retirement than it is hiring, despite efforts to ramp up recruitment.
John Gradek, a faculty lecturer with McGill University’s aviation management program, said Canada is short about 1,500 air traffic controllers, and 150 more retire each year.
“So guess what? You’re not even covering off retirements,” Gradek said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
Gradek said air traffic controllers are highly specialized with a “special skill set.”
“We know three dimensions. The trick about controllers is they need a fourth dimension, and they have to understand the fourth dimension being time,” Gradek told The Canadian Press.
“And so I make a decision to move an aircraft up 1,000 feet or down 1,000 feet, or turn left or turn right. I’m making that decision because I want this airplane to be in this location at this time and in the future.
“So that’s a special skill set. Not everybody has it.”
Air traffic controllers in the United States have been thrust into the spotlight following the crash of Air Canada Flight 8646 at LaGuardia airport in New York on Sunday.
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