Announcements

FAA's Controller Workforce Plan will require the Agency to hire and train over 15,000 new air traffic controllers through 2016 to replace experienced controllers nearing retirement. New hires must undergo an arduous training process, and those who fail are either reassigned to new operational areas or lower-level facilities or terminated from FAA employment. Congressman Jerry Costello, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Aviation, wrote our office on November 27, 2007, expressing his concerns about controller training and the high rate of training failures-especially those occurring at the busiest, most complex air traffic facilities. He requested that we review the training failure rate among newly hired controllers as well as the root causes of the failure rate. The Office of Inspector General plans to begin this audit in December 2007. The audit objectives are to determine (1) the training failure rate among newly hired air traffic controllers and (2) the common causes and factors that are contributing to the failure rate.