Trainee Air Traffic Controller

Around forty thousand aircraft pass through Australian airspace every day. Fewer than one thousand qualified air traffic controllers manage them. The training pipeline runs through one campus in Melbourne, and the wash out rate is famous. The pathway is the Diploma of Aviation Air Traffic Control, delivered by Airservices Australia at the Learning Academy in Melbourne. The only route in. Trainees must also pass a Civil Aviation Safety Authority Class Three medical and accept a five year service bond. The course runs about twelve months of theory and simulator work. After the academy, trainees post to a unit, Tower, Approach or Enroute, for further on the job rating that takes six to eighteen months. The simulator work is intense and timed. Sitting at a console running a Sydney terminal manoeuvring area scenario for two hours.