4 ms·

Why the hell would you test for personality or intelligence. Surely the key skill here is calm under pressure and stress?

• derbOac 2y ago
  > Surely the key skill here is calm under pressure and stress? ... which is personality. Not trying to defend or not defend what actually happened, but there's growing use of personality measures in various vocations for this very reason.
  • QuarterReptile 2y ago
    The actual, as another poster provided, was a racist hiring procedure hidden in a test and apparently designed to rug-pull all the trainees paying their own way in training. Apart from that, the intelligence is certainly needed, but with a heavy dose of spatial reasoning. the right kind of 'calm under pressure' is an excellent command of the details of ATC; anything else here is just lethal apathy. https://www.tracingwoodgrains.com/p/the-full-story-of-the-faas-hiring https://www.tracingwoodgrains.com/p/the-full-story-of-the-fa...
• throwaway48476 2y ago
  It was just an artificial way to select the 'right' color of candidate. The link has the full details. https://www.tracingwoodgrains.com/p/the-full-story-of-the-faas-hiring https://www.tracingwoodgrains.com/p/the-full-story-of-the-fa...
  • paulyy_y 2y ago
    [flagged]
    • Maxious 2y ago
      https://mslegal.org/cases/brigida-v-faa/ https://mslegal.org/cases/brigida-v-faa/ https://www.travelpulse.com/news/airlines-airports/lawsuit-alleges-racial-discrimination-by-faa-in-air-traffic-controller-hiring https://www.travelpulse.com/news/airlines-airports/lawsuit-a... https://simpleflying.com/faa-air-traffic-controller-applicants-lawsuit/ https://simpleflying.com/faa-air-traffic-controller-applican...
• timewizard 2y ago
  Most of the job is exceptionally routine to the point of being boring. In busier airspaces the most common stress is just associated with maintaining timing. Ironically the ground controllers face more of this problem than anyone. The further you get from the airport and it's class B airspace the easier it all gets. Until an emergency or a conflict suddenly occurs. There's often very little you can do here other than quickly and clearly provide the necessary information and instructions to aid pilots in averting the disaster. The pilot is in full control during emergencies and you're simply there to give them anything they need. In a severe emergency and in an ATC center they're going to dedicate you to the emergency and bring another controller on to manage other planes in that airspace. As the technology became available to give planes the ability to see and avoid each other with Traffic Advisories and automated Conflict Resolutions we made it mandatory equipment for passenger transports. We made it mandatory for pilots to obey this system with _higher priority_ than any prior or new instructions from ATC. So you want people who think ahead, constantly prepare for conflicts, and have a reliable level of vigilance. So when the emergency happens they're situationally well prepared and capable of managing all available resources that their stress levels barely increase. A bad weather day with lots of cancelled flights and closed airports should be the highest stress factor they face in their careers.