{"id":60277,"date":"2025-12-17T13:07:44","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T18:07:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=60277"},"modified":"2025-12-17T13:07:45","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T18:07:45","slug":"aviation-student-sets-sights-on-career-as-air-traffic-controller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/aviation-student-sets-sights-on-career-as-air-traffic-controller\/","title":{"rendered":"Aviation student sets sights on career as air traffic controller"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Just 10 days after graduating from EMU\u2019s aviation program in May, senior Sarah Miller<\/strong> will begin three months of intense training at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City to become an air traffic controller. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The training is highly selective, demanding, and rigorous. To be considered for the academy, applicants must be physically and mentally fit and meet FAA standards for vision, hearing, and cardiovascular, neurological, and psychological health, according to the agency\u2019s website<\/a>. Less than 10% of those who apply are accepted into the academy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trainees, who receive an hourly salary while enrolled at the academy, use tabletop models of airports and control tower simulators to replicate managing plane takeoffs and landings while in a high-stress, high-stakes environment. Each year, about 1,500 trainees pass through the doors of the FAA Academy and roughly 35% of them drop out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEveryone I know who has been through the academy says I would be a good fit for it,\u201d Miller said.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once she completes her training at the academy, Miller will be assigned to work at an airport and must gain one to three years of on-the-job experience before becoming a certified professional controller. Within three years in the field, she can expect to earn more than $160,000 per year, the average salary for a certified professional controller, according to the FAA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Miller, a native of York, Pennsylvania, becoming an air traffic controller is about more than money. She said the plane crashes in Philadelphia and Washington D.C. in January 2025 prompted her to reflect on how she could contribute more effectively to the safety and security of the National Airspace System. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThose crashes opened my eyes to the critical need for more air traffic controllers,\u201d Miller said. \u201cAviation has given me so much, and I want to give back by becoming a controller.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

A place to land<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While in high school, Miller earned a private pilot license and realized her love for flying. She attended Mount Saint Mary\u2019s University, a private Catholic university in Emmitsburg, Maryland, for a year while she explored how to channel her passion into a career. That\u2019s when she discovered the growing aviation program at EMU Lancaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About EMU’s aviation program<\/strong>
The four-year program, which was established in 2018, offers a bachelor\u2019s degree in Leadership and Organizational Management (LOM)<\/a> with a concentration in aviation focusing on professional flight training. Students are paired with flight instructors through EMU\u2019s flight training partner Aero-Tech Services Inc. at the Lancaster Airport in Lititz, Pennsylvania.\u00a0

While the program provides at least 270 hours of flight time, many students earn up to 1,000 hours by the time they graduate. Nearly 100 percent of students find jobs within their first year of graduating.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Miller thrived as a student in the program. She became the third recipient of the school\u2019s Robert J. Rummel Aviation Scholarship, which supports EMU students who have demonstrated an enthusiastic commitment to their academic studies and flight training. The scholarship is distributed over four years and provides an annual award of $5,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miller said her favorite part of the EMU aviation program is the small class sizes and the many ratings and certificates students can earn. \u201cNot many schools have the type of program that EMU does,\u201d she said. \u201cI would totally choose EMU again and again. I\u2019ve had nothing but great experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Cleared for takeoff<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

These days, Miller works as an administrative clerk at the FAA\u2019s Flight Standards District Office in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. She passed her Flight Instructor Checkride on Tuesday, qualifying her to teach student pilots as a certified flight instructor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her mentor, John Sibole<\/strong>, an adjunct faculty member in the aviation program and a longtime FAA inspector at the Flight Standards District Office, said that he\u2019s heard glowing reports about her. \u201cShe\u2019s such a positive, hardworking young woman, and I look forward to hearing about her success as a leader in the aviation world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amber Lynn<\/strong>, customer service manager for Aero-Tech Services, said that Miller brings a safety-first mindset and a genuine love of learning to her flight training. \u201cI believe she will use the leadership skills and aviation knowledge she has gained over the past few years to become the best air traffic controller she can be,\u201d Lynn said. \u201cThe aviation community is lucky to have her.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just 10 days after graduating from EMU\u2019s aviation program in May, senior Sarah Miller will begin three months of intense training at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City to become ... read more about Aviation student sets sights on career as air traffic controller<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":302,"featured_media":60279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4515,17562,8845,4513,14139],"tags":[18749,17724,12784,18372,18748,18750,18747],"feature":[17427,17426,17241,17422],"class_list":["post-60277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-digest","category-emu-at-lancaster","category-student-life","category-student-profiles","tag-air-traffic-controller","tag-aviation","tag-emu-lancaster","tag-faa","tag-faa-academy","tag-robert-j-rummel-aviation-scholarship","tag-sarah-miller","feature-emu-home-page-feature","feature-myemu-feature","feature-news-feature","feature-news-landing-page-main-feature"],"yoast_head":"\nAviation student sets sights on career as air traffic controller - 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