Government shutdown stalls future for local air traffic control students

BARTOW, Fla. — Air traffic controllers are some of the millions of federal employees who could go without pay as the government shutdown continues for a second day.

Industry schools are also expected to feel the impact. In Bartow, Randy Clayton, lead instructor at Traviss Technical College’s Air Traffic Control Academy, said the 10-month program won’t take a financial hit since it’s state funded. However, he said the shutdown will affect students’ futures and the industry as a whole.

Through the academy, students become FAA certified and land jobs. But Clayton said the job process will now be put on hold during the shutdown.

“Because all of the background checks and everything are shut down. All of those services are the ones that are knocked out,” he said. “So whenever we’re trying to bring new controllers in, where a background check may take three to five months, now you’re making a backlog, so the whole process gets train-wrecked.”

Clayton said this ultimately hinders the program’s main goal: to help ease the industry’s employee shortage and burnout.

“The people who are already in the pipeline, that are already in the system, now have to wait longer. And people who want to retire, people who want to get out, are now shoehorned into where they are because they’re just going to put more stress on the people who are going to be remaining there,” he said.

“So when you do things like this, there are always reasons for why it happens, but the stress that it puts on people — I don’t think a lot of people pay attention to it.”

But similar to the last shutdown in 2018, during President Donald Trump’s first term, Clayton said controllers will push through.

“We’ll keep working, you know, we’ll keep training, and whenever the time comes, those jobs are going to be there and they’re going to get paid,” he said.

Clayton encourages prospective controllers to continue applying to the Air Traffic Control Academy during the shutdown. More information can be found on Traviss Technical College’s website.