SUNY Schenectady and Federal Aviation Administration Sign Agreement For College To Join Enhanced Air Traffic - Collegiate Training Initiative (AT-CTI) Program

SUNY Schenectady and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have signed an agreement for SUNY Schenectady to become the next school in the Enhanced Air Traffic–Collegiate Training Initiative (AT-CTI) program. SUNY Schenectady is one of ONLY SIX colleges and universities across the country, and one of only two community colleges, that the FAA has authorized to provide the same thorough curriculum and advanced training technology offered at the agency’s Academy in Oklahoma City.

The Enhanced Initiative was created to allow qualified institutions to provide their students with equivalent FAA Academy Air Traffic Control curriculum and training. Graduates of the Enhanced AT-CTI offered at SUNY Schenectady, with FAA oversight, could be placed directly into a facility, if hired as Air Traffic Control Specialists. This means that students who graduate from the SUNY Schenectady program and pass the FAA-proctored Air Traffic Skills Assessment (ATSA) are able to bypass six months of training at the FAA site in Oklahoma City and can start working in an FAA tower. In addition to passing the ATSA, these graduates must meet medical and security requirements.

According to the FAA, “The program will increase the controller training pipeline and ensure graduates have the necessary skills to begin immediate facility training.”

Graduates of the program earn their A.A.S. degrees in Air Traffic Control. SUNY Schenectady first began offering the degree program in ATC in 2012 and in January 2025 the College unveiled its new Air Traffic Control simulator, the largest and most comprehensive at a community college east of the Mississippi River. 

 The FAA-approved SUNY Schenectady ATC Simulator features:

• Three ATC Tower stations for ultra-realistic training
• Seven 75” monitors for 215 degrees of complete tower immersion
• Four radar TRACON stations for multi-training scenarios and realism
• ATSpeak which reinforces radar, tower, ramp, pilot, and airside driver phraseologies
• Seven Remote Pilot stations for real human-voice responses and pilotage
• FAA Academy Curriculum for the BEST in ATC Training

In addition to the ATC degree program, SUNY Schenectady offers an A.S. degree in Aviation Science: Pilot and an Aviation Science: Non-Pilot Administration and Management degree.

SUNY Schenectady is now accepting applications for the Enhanced AT-CTI program at www.sunysccc.edu/apply. Please contact the Office of Admissions at 518-381-1366 or admissions@sunysccc.edu for more information on how to apply.