The Federal Aviation Administration is turning to the gaming community as part of a major recruitment effort to address a nationwide shortage of air traffic controllers, with plans to hire nearly 9,000 new personnel by 2028.

In a video released Friday by the U.S. Department of Transportation, officials directly appealed to video game enthusiasts, suggesting that the skills developed through gaming could translate into success in the high-pressure field of air traffic control.

The video challenges potential recruits by asking if they are “up for the challenge” of becoming controllers, while stressing the seriousness of the profession, noting it is not simply a “game” but a “career.”

“You’ll keep millions of people safe every day,” the video says, while touting average salaries of up to $155,000 by your third year on the job.

The intensified hiring campaign follows a deadly March incident at LaGuardia Airport in New York, where an Air Canada aircraft collided with a firetruck on the runway, killing both pilots.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board are examining whether an air traffic controller may have stepped away to take an emergency phone call prior to the crash, and whether staffing shortages played a role in the accident.

Officials say internal data shows that many controllers who leave the profession list gaming among their hobbies, pointing to similarities between the focus and multitasking required in both activities.

The new outreach effort is designed to “supercharge” recruitment, with the FAA emphasizing that a college degree is not required for applicants.

“To reach the next generation of air traffic controllers, we need to adapt,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement.

“This campaign’s innovative communication style and focus on gaming taps into a growing demographic of young adults who have many of the hard skills it takes to be a successful controller,” he said.

“Thanks to President Trump — we’ve already made incredible progress with the highest controller staffing levels in six years. There’s never been a more exciting time to become a controller and level up into a career with a strong purpose — keeping American families safe.”

At present, about 11,000 air traffic controllers are employed, with an additional 4,000 trainees expected to join the workforce.

More than 2,400 new controllers were hired over the past year, marking the largest incoming class to date and setting a record for enrollment at the FAA’s Air Traffic Control Academy in Oklahoma City.

The agency’s hiring plan calls for adding 8,900 controllers by the end of fiscal year 2028, including 2,000 hires in 2025, 2,200 in 2026, 2,300 in 2027, and 2,400 in 2028.

Between January and September 2025, the Department of Transportation reported a 20% increase in hiring compared to the same period the previous year.

The LaGuardia crash was not the only recent aviation tragedy. The year prior, an American Airlines regional jet collided with a Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, killing all 67 people on board both aircraft.

In the aftermath of that January 2025 disaster, Duffy pledged “to surge air traffic controllers” through training pipelines to “bring in the best and the brightest.”

Following a merit-based push to hire pilots the next month, Duffy said, “The American people don’t care what their pilot looks like or their gender — they just care that they are most qualified man or woman for the job.”

His predecessor, Pete Buttigieg, had also sought to increase the number of applicants for air traffic control roles, though with an emphasis on encouraging applications “from women, minorities and individuals in underrepresented communities,” according to a 2021 Department of Transportation announcement.

That initiative was part of a broader push under the Biden administration, which directed tens of billions of dollars toward Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs.