00:00The FAA needs thousands more air traffic controllers, and they think they know exactly where to find them.
00:05The one place where millions of Americans already spend hours staring at screens,
00:09making split-second decisions, and refusing to lose.
00:12Gamers. Here's what's happening.
00:14The FAA wants to turn your gaming hobby into a career,
00:17keeping planes from running into each other at 30,000 feet.
00:20The agency has about 11,000 certified controllers,
00:23still thousands short of the nearly 15,000 it says it needs.
00:27So they made a YouTube ad with flashy graphics and the promise of a six-figure salary.
00:32And experts are saying this actually isn't as crazy as it sounds.
00:34The FAA pulled about 250 recent Air Traffic Academy graduates and found all but two of them were gamers.
00:41A supervisor at the FAA Command Center says those gamers are picking up radar tech
00:45around 10 times faster than the older generations.
00:48On top of that, there's already a game with 15 million players that recreates every airport in the world,
00:54pulls in real-time weather, and simulates live air traffic exactly how it's happening right now.
01:00It's called Microsoft Flight Simulator.
01:02Some of those recruits have basically been doing this job for years, they just didn't even know it.
01:07However, some skeptical observers say gaming skills are a real advantage, but not a cheat code.
01:13Aptitude, discipline, and staying calm when things actually go wrong still matter.
01:17A former senior FAA official put it this way,
01:20Gamers come in with an edge, but it doesn't replace what the job actually demands.
01:25So could all those years of playing Halo until 2 a.m. actually pay off?
01:28Or do you think this is a risk?
01:30Would you take the job?
01:31Let us know in the comments, check out our website, and follow us here for more.
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