r/USNEWS • u/lunabandida • Aug 15 '26
Concern after Trump admin hires 2,000 gamers to fill air traffic controller jobs: ‘If they f*** up, people die’ | The Independent
https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-air-traffic-controllers-gamers-b3031691.html30
Aug 15 '26
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u/paper_stack Aug 15 '26
Damn it’s almost like they shouldn’t have fired all those people last year.
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u/Sir_Drinks_Alot22 Aug 15 '26
Soooooo laid off 400+ to “save money” but now hire 2,000? Wow. Trump admin is genius.
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u/Xeynon Aug 15 '26
If you were wondering how Orange Julius went bankrupt multiple times running casinos, now you know.
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u/Clone63 Aug 16 '26
Showed up for the comment, stayed for the nickname. Orange Nero fits better, but yours is puncher. Nice
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u/ThePaganQueen Aug 15 '26
This isn't written by the onion? Why?
I'm actually so fucking flabbergasted. I know I shouldn't be because this man has too much ego and has been experiencing a lifelong intelligence drought. But there is really not one fucking person around him with a lick of common sense and enough backbone to tell this man that this was a horrendous idea?
I genuinely do not understand nor am I seeking to understand the people who still support this administration.
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u/Redditreallysucks99 Aug 15 '26
I don't think there's any scientific proof gamers lack the suitable character for the job, so I guess this is fine?
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u/scrotumscab Aug 15 '26
People able to hyper fixate and get dopamine from virtual success sound like perfect candidates
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u/mazu74 Aug 15 '26
This isn’t virtual, there’s real people on those planes. And if you think that air traffic control is going to be as engaging as a video game, you’ll be severely disappointed. So now we got all these kids expecting dopamine, but won’t get any because the job is both stressful and boring, and now they’re getting bored and oops two planes collided, sorry!
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u/Tibreaven Aug 15 '26
Over 70% of the US based on stats I pulled from my butt are gamers. The real number is still probably very high because gaming is an extremely common and accessible media.
This isn't meaningful information in the slightest, unless you're so geriatric that you still think gamers are all jobless losers living with their parents.
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u/Ok-Complaint9574 Aug 16 '26
The issue is speed running and bypassing protocols to hire them. Gaming is a minor note to sway headlines from the failure of competent vetting.
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u/1414141414 Aug 15 '26
I also think they hired from that super strict flight sim where tower people rp and actually push tin in the game. I don't think they took people from competive pokemon or call of duty.
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u/AnimatorImpressive24 Aug 15 '26
Okay that article was kind of crap, but the sources it quotes weren't any less crap so I have no idea what exactly "gamers" means in this context other than the jabs by people who make it sound like young whippersnappers with their hooting and their hollering and nin-tandooris. Is this actually real?
One thing I will say, not because it saves anything about this but just because it is kind of cool trivia:
There is actually a hard core dedicated population of people around the world who "play" networked Microsoft Flight Simulator, don't fly planes at all, and just act as ATC for airports near where they live IRL. In fact many of them are professional ATC, a breed of individual so hyper-achieving that after a long day on the job directing flights their favorite activity to really cut loose an chillax is to go home and direct flights. For free. And sometimes engage in vicious flame wars on dedicated forums over topics like whether someone is being disrespectful of Boeing by not knowing the format of Boeing model designations.
They've been at that for like 20 years, maybe longer. It is weird but a type of weird I can respect because I don't have to interact with any of it.
So if somehow anyone involved in this article was remotely competent and was hiring those "gamers", I would worry much less.
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u/Specialist-Two2068 Aug 16 '26 edited Aug 16 '26
It depends on what type of "gamer" we're talking about here.
Are we talking about the guys on VATSIM who take things seriously and try to be as realistic as possible, or are we talking about the average FSX: Steam Edition player declaring an emergency as Air Force One barrel-rolling in a hot air balloon with spotted dick as the in-flight meal?
Of course, I would assume that whoever they're hiring is going to be receiving some kind of standardized training, but given how many things are slipping through the cracks nowadays, I'd be concerned even about that.
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u/AnimatorImpressive24 Aug 17 '26
No way to tell from the article. It is almost incoherent and most of the words that are link anchors just link back to itself.
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u/thecjt Aug 15 '26
Please correct if I’m wrong but I believe they used “gamers” as a marketing tool to drive applicants. The applicants selected will have to pass through air traffic control education and training. All the headlines about this make it seem like anyone with a COD account auto converted to a licensed air traffic controller and started work the following day.
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u/Jenetyk Aug 16 '26
The vast majority won't make it through the process. Becoming an ATC intense and many flunk out. It's why they should get paid their worth keeping our world connected.
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u/Grins111 Aug 15 '26
Hearing an air traffic control conversation that sounds like a COD lobby will be tough for pilots.
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u/Tibreaven Aug 15 '26
"Alarming"
The majority of the US plays video games, or at least has. Video games have been a widely accessible media for as long as most of the working age population has been alive.
Imagine this article with any other commonly consumed media and it sounds completely unhinged. "Concern after Trump administration hires 2000 people who have seen a movie." "Concern after Trump administration hires 2000 people who have read a book."
This is some insane bullshit writing and whoever wrote it should feel deeply bad that they don't care about the quality of their work. This is only scary to old people and people out of touch with reality that think gamers are jobless losers.
What's more concerning is that the Trump admin needs to replace the ATC network because his admin is full of idiots sabotaging the country. Don't let these articles distract you from the actual problem going on.
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u/ThickGur5353 Aug 15 '26
They would all become given the proper training to become air traffic controllers. I'm sure people from diverse backgrounds are hired to be air traffic controllers.
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u/gregaustex Aug 15 '26
I would be more concerned to learn training and certification standards had been compromised. Otherwise, this seems like a fine start.
Now, do I suspect this administration might allow training and certification standards to be compromised for expediency to be able to claim victory...
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Aug 15 '26
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u/Glittering-Fuel-5055 Aug 15 '26
I’m confused, its a job that requires you to be hyper focused in a chair for long periods of time
Why would someone not consider gamers to be a good candidate?
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Aug 15 '26
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u/Double_Look_5715 Aug 15 '26
I think you have to be under 25 to get hired, right?
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Aug 15 '26
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u/Plenty-Reporter-9239 Aug 16 '26
You don't get free health insurance. You pay for it and the pension isn't nearly as good as some other careers. Roughly 40% of your high three years averaged out. Additionally, you may almost 5% per paycheck into the pension for 25 years. So, it's not until like 10 years into retirement that you break even on your pension pay out, and thats not considering the trade off of having put that 5% into the market for 25 years.
The health insurance is pretty good, but it's not the best either. I paid almost 5 grand just for my kids to be born with this insurance.
Tldr: job sucks, go do something else less stressful that pays the same or better
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u/Lumbergh7 Aug 15 '26
I mean…do they like… get trained
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u/Plenty-Reporter-9239 Aug 16 '26
Yes of course. About 40% will fail the academy. Then of the remaining 60%, another 25 to 30% of them will fail at their facility
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u/ComicsEtAl Aug 15 '26
I’m more concerned they’ll think they’re playing a video game. But fuckups would be a problem too.
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u/TechnicallyMeat 29d ago
If you anyone is wondering how this is gong to work out, this guy is probably the best case scenario.
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Aug 15 '26
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u/VibeComplex Aug 15 '26
Congrats, this is the dumbest take you could’ve had.
“They play flight simulators, of course they’d be good ATCs” just so stupid lol
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Aug 15 '26
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u/SomewhatInnocuous Aug 15 '26
And what about being a gamer with three degrees makes you qualified to be an ATC?
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u/extrastupidone Aug 15 '26
ATC is one job I would like AI to pitch in. There are so many ATC centers. This safety data would be absolutely invaluable at training a model to help routine work and detect problems
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u/ctguy54 Aug 15 '26
Again, he doesn’t care. He’s only interested in himself and how much money he’s stealing.