How to become an air traffic controller
In the United States you apply on USAJOBS when the FAA opens a trainee announcement, sit the ATSA if they invite you, clear a medical and a background check, train at the FAA Academy, and then certify in a facility over the next one to three years. Europe hires through national providers, often with FEAST. The aptitude test is one gate, not the job.
The FAA trainee path, in order
The FAA's qualifications page lists the minimums for an air traffic controller job: US citizenship, under the age of 31, a medical exam, a security investigation, the pre-employment tests including the ATSA, English that is clear over the radio, and either a year of progressively responsible work, a bachelor's degree, or education and work that add up to a year. The same page says fewer than 10% of applicants are accepted into training. Read that as the pipeline, not as "90% fail the ATSA".
The hiring page, updated in 2026, puts the same gates in five steps. Apply on USAJOBS. Pass the aptitude exam. Clear medical and security. Train at the Academy. Then work a facility until you certify. The aptitude step is described there as about 3.5 hours, in person, and Well Qualified is what that page treats as required to continue. Prior-experience announcements can differ. If the PDF in your application disagrees with this summary, follow the PDF.
The application window
Trainee jobs open in short windows and can close when a cap of applications is reached. The April 2026 announcement, FAA-ATO-26-ALLSRCE-97350, closed the same day it opened because it reached 8,000 applications. That cap belongs to that announcement. It is not a rule for a later one. The box above is a hand check dated 18 October 2026: no window was open, and none had been announced. The next fact is the hiring page on faa.gov and the vacancy on USAJOBS.
The FAA's hiring checklist for that window also asked for a resume of two pages at most, with dates, hours per week, and duties, plus transcripts if you apply on education, a CTI endorsement if you use that route, and a DD-214 if you claim veterans' preference. Build that packet before the window, not during the hour it opens.
Age
The public entry path wants you under 31 on the day you apply. The standing reason is the retirement age for controllers, 56, so there is a full career after a long training. Some bids for people who are already controllers use other rules. "I turn 31 next month" is a question for the announcement, not for a practice site.
The ATSA
You cannot walk into a test centre and buy a seat. The invitation comes after the application is accepted for testing. The items are not released. What you can do before an invitation is train attention under a clock, which is what the drills are for, and read the FAA page so the length of the day is not a surprise. A score here is not a band.
Medical, security, Academy
Medical standards for controllers are strict about vision, including a 20/20 standard with rules on how correction is done, and they are written up in FAA Order 3930.3. There is a psychological evaluation and a drug test. The background check is a federal investigation, not a formality. Academy training for a new hire is several months in Oklahoma City. You are paid. After graduation you are placed in a facility, often not the city you hoped for, and certification there takes about one to three years. Shift work starts early in the career. The FAA says so on the hiring page.
Pay, without a fake starting salary
The FAA's hiring checklist says a six-figure income is realistic within three years of entering the occupation. Academy pay is lower than a certified controller's pay. Locality, facility level, and premiums change the number. Quote the figure in the announcement you are applying to. This guide will not invent a starting salary.
Europe, including Germany
You apply to the provider that is hiring: a national air navigation service, or EUROCONTROL itself for some roles. Many of them use FEAST. FEAST I is the cognitive and English stage. FEAST II is the work sample. A personality questionnaire may follow. The provider then runs its own medical and training school. There is no ATSA in that pipeline.
In Germany, DFS recruits ab initio controllers through its own process. Aptitude testing associated with DLR is part of what applicants describe, along with English, German, and a Class 3 medical. The school-leaving certificate the vacancy asks for is the rule. A particular grade average is not a substitute for the test, and there is no single published fail rate. The practice page in German is Fluglotse Eignungstest üben. It trains the same four skills and says the same thing about confidential items.
What this site will not do
It will not tell you that you will pass. It will not show the items from the test. It will not compare you with last year's candidates. It will let you run a timed drill tonight, keep the score on your own machine, and read a plan that fits in four weeks. If you are eligible and a window is open, the application is on USAJOBS, not here.