Date of Award
12-2018
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education (EdD)
Department
Executive Leadership
First Supervisor
Byron K. Hargrove
Second Supervisor
Arleen Hogan
Abstract
The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Air Traffic Control Specialists (ATCS) workforce has been in steady decline since 2012. The declining number of federal ATCS threatens a $1.5 trillion aviation economy in the United States. The results of fewer controllers are increased delays and cancelled flights (National Air Traffic Controllers Association [NATCA], 2018). Additionally, the controller workforce is predominantly White male (Carey, 2014). Diversity amongst ATCS is another troubling trend for the FAA (McCartin, 2011). According to Outtz and Hanges (2013), an underrepresentation of minorities, including women, exists among the candidates who were hired successfully in the FAA ATCS centralized hiring process. The purpose of this qualitative methods study was to examine the experiences of African American ATCS who studied air traffic control at the collegiate level. Lent and Brown (1996) suggest that an individual’s career pursuit is determined by their self-efficacy (SE) and outcome expectation (OE). This study explored the SE and OE of African American ATCS hired through the FAA’s Air Traffic Collegiate Training Initiative (AT-CTI) program. Several outcomes were the result of eight semi-structured interviews including high SE and OE that drove the personal goals of obtaining a college degree and becoming an FAA ATCS. This study produced several recommendations including practices the FAA could implement using its Aviation & Space Education Outreach Program (AVSED) to target young African Americans interested in STEM fields to pursue a career in air traffic control (ATC).
Recommended Citation
Walcott, Wycliffe L. Jr., "The Decline in U.S. Air Traffic Controllers: A Qualitative Exploration of Current African American Air Traffic Controller Perspectives on Diversity Recruitment in Air Traffic Collegiate Training Initiative Schools" (2018). Education Doctoral. Paper 385.
https://fisherpub.sjf.edu/education_etd/385
Please note that the Recommended Citation provides general citation information and may not be appropriate for your discipline. To receive help in creating a citation based on your discipline, please visit http://libguides.sjfc.edu/citations.