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US hires over 2k video gamers as air traffic controllers

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Re: US hires over 2k video gamers as air traffic controllers

#61

Post by ryandrake »

notatoad wrote: post #57
pclowes wrote: post #46

From a very naïve perspective, why isn’t air traffic control a solved problem? Would love to be educated here, but it seems like there are just not that many moving pieces per airport ( This all seems like queuing theory and collision avoidance, which are very well done by computers.

"all of them are tagged with transponders" seems like a very dangerous assumption to base a system on.

It's not only a dangerous assumption, it's simply incorrect. Transponders on aircraft are not required in most of the US, including around Class D towered airports unless operating within a designated Mode C veil or at/above 10,000 feet MSL.

Re: US hires over 2k video gamers as air traffic controllers

#62

Post by themadturk »

I don't know why hiring gamers for ATC would be any different than hiring anyone else to do it. There's extensive training required, and I don't think it's something you can get a college degree for anyway. Maybe there's some advantage for gamers, but I don't see where it would be all that important.

Re: US hires over 2k video gamers as air traffic controllers

#63

Post by avgDev »

blooalien wrote: post #54
imglorp wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US Army did a bunch of recruiting to teenagers like this, successfully. Work for us, it's just like Call of Duty! They had their own branded FPS even.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America%27s_Army ?

I played this game! It was a buggy mess and really unintuitive compared to battlefield.

Re: US hires over 2k video gamers as air traffic controllers

#64

Post by anigbrowl »

floren wrote: post #37
anigbrowl wrote: post #30

I think the headline should have emphasized that they were hired as trainees . I am not a fan of the Trump admin but Sean Duffy, the transportation secretary, is one of the few people in it that I think steers clear of politics and prioritizes doing a good job. A horrible air traffic disaster that occurred a couple of weeks into the new administration threw him into the spotlight while he was still getting settled in…

Sean "DEI Bike Lanes" Duffy?

It's still the Trump administration. I mean relative to the general (absurdly low) standard thereof. I'm trying to be charitable because I can easily picture someone 10x worse.

Re: US hires over 2k video gamers as air traffic controllers

#65

Post by taiwan_num1 »

jimbo808 wrote: post #51
pclowes wrote: post #46

From a very naïve perspective, why isn’t air traffic control a solved problem? Would love to be educated here, but it seems like there are just not that many moving pieces per airport ( This all seems like queuing theory and collision avoidance, which are very well done by computers.

Weather conditions, ground/runway conditions, obstructions, mechanical issues. There are tons of edge cases with huge consequences for error. Same reason self driving is not a solved problem, but with dramatically less tolerance for error.

But it feels like planes have a huge advantage in that they all have trackers constantly broadcasting their location to one another. Almost like they are working as a team compared to FSD systems which are limited to a small range of self collected info from vision/lidar.

Not that it can ever be fully automated but it seems like much easier problem to solve.

Re: US hires over 2k video gamers as air traffic controllers

#67

Post by rcxdude »

comrade1234 wrote: post #4

I had a coworker from the democratic republic of Congo who insisted that if he was back home he would do ok fighting because he played lots of first-person shooters. I mean he was 100% serious about this. We argued about it. He got a commitment from our employer to pay his undergrad tuition. But he disappeared one day, probably went home to fight and die. I search for him every now and then but I think he's gone. I t…

I think in both cases that while it's far from an equivalent experience, there are some attributes or skills that can transfer across. Not sure why anyone would be particularly keen to bet their life on just that, though.

Re: US hires over 2k video gamers as air traffic controllers

#68

Post by themadturk »

pclowes wrote: post #46

From a very naïve perspective, why isn’t air traffic control a solved problem? Would love to be educated here, but it seems like there are just not that many moving pieces per airport ( This all seems like queuing theory and collision avoidance, which are very well done by computers.

I'd suggest looking at Admiral Cloudberg's recent analysis of the Jan. 2025 airliner/military helicopter collision in Washington DC. It's a study in the difficulties of air traffic control in the 21st century and the reality of transponder usage, complicated by an overwhelmed airport and legislative indifference. Transponders aren't universally used, technology and people aren't perfect.

This one is long; I suggest reading the first chapter, then skipping to chapter 7 for the important parts of the story.

https://medium.com/@admiralcloudberg/reaping-the-whirlwind-i...

Re: US hires over 2k video gamers as air traffic controllers

#69

Post by wat10000 »

comrade1234 wrote: post #4

I had a coworker from the democratic republic of Congo who insisted that if he was back home he would do ok fighting because he played lots of first-person shooters. I mean he was 100% serious about this. We argued about it. He got a commitment from our employer to pay his undergrad tuition. But he disappeared one day, probably went home to fight and die. I search for him every now and then but I think he's gone. I t…

It’s just a recruitment campaign. It’s not like they’re putting people straight into a control tower because they like to play Microsoft Flight Simulator or something. They still go through a whole training process.

Re: US hires over 2k video gamers as air traffic controllers

#70

Post by baby_souffle »

taiwan_num1 wrote: post #65
jimbo808 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weather conditions, ground/runway conditions, obstructions, mechanical issues. There are tons of edge cases with huge consequences for error. Same reason self driving is not a solved problem, but with dramatically less tolerance for error.

But it feels like planes have a huge advantage in that they all have trackers constantly broadcasting their location to one another. Almost like they are working as a team compared to FSD systems which are limited to a small range of self collected info from vision/lidar. Not that it can ever be fully automated but it seems like much easier problem to solve.

The reasons we haven't automated air traffic control are similar to the reasons why we still have pilots in the cockpit even though we technically don't need to some of the time.
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