Last Sunday it became known that there is a shortage of air traffic controllers in the country, who due to lack of staff have to work overtime, so they can earn up to 60 thousand monthly soles, even more than the president of the Central Reserve Bank of Peru (S/41,600).
The lack of these specialists is one of the main reasons why a few days ago the Unified a href="https://www.infobae.com/america/peru/2022/04/14/paro-de-controladores-aereos-cuales-son-sus-demandas-y-que-exigen/" rel="noopener noreferrer" Union of Air Traffic Controllers of Peru (SUCTA) concluded a strike that paralyzed a href="https://www.infobae.com/america/peru/2022/04/15/paro-de-controladores-aereos-afecto-a-mas-de-8-mil-pasajeros-segun-camara-de-comercio-de-lima/" rel="noopener noreferrer" air traffic in five airports in the country, including Jorge Chavez, harming thousands of tourists and travelers.
The strikers demanded, among other things, better working conditions and more remuneration because of the overtime they do due to the lack of staff.
“We do other tasks outside air traffic control, such as training work, which takes place over several months and Corpac does not pay for it. Let it take up to 8 months to pay for instructional work in a single month and that causes the forms to overflow because not everyone wins that way,” Victor Zavaleta, general secretary of SUCTA, explained to the Punto Final program.
Meanwhile, Jorge Perlacios, chairman of the board of directors of the Peruvian Corporation of Airports and Commercial Aviation (Corpac), confirmed the lack of these specialists. “The issue of air traffic requires re-engineering. We need more air traffic controllers,” he said.
REQUIREMENTS TO BE AN AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER
Among the repeated calls that have been made for the hiring of air traffic controllers, these are some of the requirements requested for access to these jobs:
- Have successfully completed the Basic Air Traffic Controller Course, certified by a study center recognized by the General Directorate of Civil Aeronautics (DGAC) of the MTC.
- Possess license and approval of approach air traffic controller granted by the DGAC.
- The average training time of an air traffic controller is one and a half years. The basic course lasts one year and for six months supervised internships are carried out until the license is obtained.
- The calls are published on the Corpac website (www.corpac.gob.pe) under the option “Call for Human Talent”.
WHAT DOES AN AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER DO?
Specialists from Corpac, an entity attached to the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC), explain what is the work carried out by the air traffic controller.
“The air traffic controller maintains order, safety and efficiency of air operations, from the moment the aircraft begin their taxiing to take off until they land and travel to the airport terminal,” they say.
They add that the controller establishes an order, by defining the priority in the attention of flights; it performs its work with the aim of ensuring that the transit of ships is safe, to prevent incidents and avoid collisions in the air. At the same time it seeks efficiency, in order to achieve the greatest number of air operations.
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER PROFILE
To perform these functions, “balanced tempering” is required, to deal effectively with difficult situations while maintaining calm and control of the situation. Emotional stability is necessary to promote concentration.
The air traffic controller must be able to make decisions quickly, which is necessary to order the flow of air operations.
You should have a facility for numerical operations and execute mathematical calculations quickly to project or measure times and distances mentally ahead of time.
English language proficiency is another basic knowledge, since it is the standard language used for communication with airline crews or companies from non-Spanish-speaking countries.
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