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FAA seeks disabled vets for controller jobs

A job-training program will be unveiled next week that could help disabled veterans land work as air traffic controllers and transportation systems specialists for the Federal Aviation Administration.

FAA Administrator Marion Blakey and senior Department of Veterans Affairs and Pentagon officials will announce the new program April 10 at a news conference hosted by Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

The number of jobs that might be available and how veterans will apply for the training will be announced at the event.

FAA spokesman Hank Price said the idea is to use an existing VA vocational rehabilitation program to train disabled veterans for specific federal jobs. He said the jobs program has a catchy title: A Hero to the Nation, A Hero to the Skies.

The FAA has an existing program, aimed at recruiting former military air traffic controllers, that waives the age limit of 31 for entry into the field. It allows military retirees who worked as air traffic controllers in uniform to be hired for 10-year appointments, with an entry salary of more than $50,000, as long as they do not continue to work beyond the age of 56.

Cooperation between the VA and FAA on finding jobs for disabled veterans is an example of how the government can help former service members without having to create new federal programs, something the Bush administration has been trying to emphasize as it attempts to quiet efforts in Congress to greatly increase the VA’s budget.

Targeting veterans and veterans’ service organizations to help fill critical jobs is part of the FAA’s 2007 resource management plan, which has that has an overall goal of cutting the amount of time it takes to fill jobs.