Rep. Napolitano Visits Mt. SAC, Calls for Fix to FAA Hiring Process
(El Monte, CA) Today, Rep. Grace F. Napolitano (CA-32) visited the Mt. San Antonio (Mt. SAC) Air Traffic Controller training center in Walnut to meet with students and faculty on how changes to the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) hiring process are hurting Collegiate Training Initiative (CTI) schools like Mt. SAC.
“Mt. SAC year after year prepares students from our region with the necessary training and skills to enter the workforce,” Napolitano said. “It is critical that graduates from Mt. SAC and other CTI schools have an equal opportunity to compete for air traffic control positions. Air traffic controllers provide for our safe air travel, and we must ensure a fair application process, so the most qualified are able to pursue employment within the industry.”
Mt. SAC is home to one of the 33 FAA certified Air Traffic CTI schools in the United States. CTIs partner with FAA on curriculum to produce qualified air traffic controllers. This year FAA added a new requirement that applicants must fill out and pass a biographical questionnaire in order to proceed in the hiring process. Mt. SAC and other CTI schools feel that the questionnaire is biased against their students, who are being removed from the application process without explanation and that their students should have the ability to continue with the application process. Napolitano joins them in their concern that the new hiring process is diminishing the role that CTI schools play in the FAA Air Traffic Control preparation process.
Napolitano is the senior California Democrat on the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee.
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