Polk County Public Schools has installed advanced air traffic control simulators at Bartow Executive Airport as part of a new ATC training program at Traviss Technical College. The simulators, developed by UFA, a global provider of simulation and speech recognition technologies, provide competency-based training for normal and emergency conditions, addressing a national shortage of approximately 3,000 air traffic controllers.
Polk County is among a few U.S. school systems with FAA-equivalent training equipment. David H. Wiggs, director of Traviss Technical College, stated the program prepares students for critical ATC careers. The Federal Aviation Administration offers $5,000 for new hires completing initial training and $10,000 for those at the 13 most understaffed facilities.
David Wolff, CEO of UFA, said Polk County joins an elite group of programs training aviation professionals. The initiative aims to produce graduates to address the ATC staffing crisis. Nothing further at this time.



