Training for air traffic controllers is coming to Tarrant County College Northwest after trustees approved a new associate degree program at their April board meeting.

The program will prepare students for careers in a high-wage, in-demand field as part of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Collegiate Training Initiative. 

Students who graduate from the college will bypass the FAA’s academy and begin working as trainees in “a life-changing type of career,” said David Skidmore, a TCC aviation instructor who is helping to plan the program. Skidmore had a 36-year career in air traffic control.

“When we get it off and running and we’re ready to go, it’s an exciting career for anybody who thinks they can be an air traffic controller,” Skidmore said. “We’re already well-known for our pilot training program, and we’re going to take pride in the fact that we’re going to produce quality air traffic controllers.”

The average annual pay for an air traffic controller in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area was $172,250 in 2024. Nationwide, their median pay is the highest of any field with the typical minimum educational requirement of an associate degree, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

The DFW region has an estimated 150-200 openings annually, TCC Northwest President Zarina Blankenbaker told trustees.

Nationwide, the Federal Aviation Administration is short by about 3,500 air traffic controllers. 

TCC’s program will also be the only local pipeline to the career.

“There are currently no air traffic control programs within 50 miles of DFW, and none at a Texas community college, positioning Tarrant County College to lead,” Blankenbaker told trustees.

The program has a long runway before it can get off the ground, Skidmore said. The college must plan courses, purchase a simulator and pass inspection by the FAA.

The simulator will take months to acquire, he said. In addition to planning classes, TCC program officials must also develop the simulations that students will complete as part of the training.

To get the go-ahead from the FAA, schools must show that they have exactly duplicated the training — “point for point, topic for topic,” Skidmore said — that students would receive if they were to attend the FAA Academy.

A career in air traffic control is not for everyone, and the program will be academically rigorous, he noted. The job requires mental stamina, determination, good judgment, critical thinking skills and the ability to make quick decisions, he said. 

The college plans to enroll cohorts of 20 to 25 students, Blankenbaker said.

At the meeting, trustees expressed enthusiasm for the program, to be offered for the first time in spring 2027.

“We are all very excited about how this program addresses a persistent need, not just locally and regionally but across the United States,” board President Jeannie Deakyne said.

McKinnon Rice is the higher education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at mckinnon.rice@fortworthreport.org. 

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The Report’s higher education coverage is supported in part by major higher education institutions in Tarrant County, including Tarleton State University, Tarrant County College, Texas A&M-Fort Worth, Texas Christian University, Texas Wesleyan University, the University of Texas at Arlington and UNT Health Science Center. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.

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