Yup, I went there, an old CBM64 error message. And it comes to us through the BBC who (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce84rvx0e6do) gives us ‘Great at gaming? US air traffic control wants you to apply’ So, why the error? Well, I had the inkling to go that route. I loved Kennedy Approach on the CBM64 and whilst in communications with the UNSC (posted in El Gorah, 1982) I was briefly ‘involved’ with flight following and in this case involved meant that I was sitting next to Flight Lt Wruck who was doing the job. It seemed simple and he was exceedingly good at it. So, I saw this getting done for weeks and it looked appealing, but then at 19 nearly everything looked appealing. These thoughts overwhelmed me when I saw the message in the BBC with the added “In a new ad campaign, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is explicitly calling for gamers to apply for jobs in air traffic control when its hiring window opens next week.
The Xbox one logo appears at the start of the video before dissolving into a montage that cuts between images of men playing various online computer games and people, including women, in air traffic control towers looking at their own computers.” And I have two reasons for not doing this. First of all it is in the United States and in this political climate and with the current administration it is the last place I want to be, although that job in Canada might still be appealing.
The second reason is the setting that it is tainted by Microsoft. And with ““You’ve been training for this,” the ad says.” My thoughts go to “Really? How?” You see, in 1985 the message was clear, anyone stating that Kennedy Approach was reason to become an air traffic controller was given a red flag. I have no idea why, because as I saw it, ATC is something you either like or do not. And what games give you the ATC vibe? Fortnite? I can play that game, but I was used to real weapons and real ammunition. It takes the air out of the opponents (as they stopped breathing), but seriously? What makes a gamer a good ATC person? As we are given “The new strategy tapped into “a growing demographic of young adults who have many of the hard skills it takes to be a successful controller”, he said.” I am not debating against it, I merely want to know what makes the gamer a good ATC person. I personally would think that an updated Kennedy approach that gives people the skills to do that job, either with additional coaching or with added explanation, or with added settings and more scenarios. Kennedy Approach was initially a Microprose product and I loved playing this game. Then considering that Kennedy approach was insufficient to cater to this (it was merely 58Kb in size) as such an upgrade would be required. But that field could be catered to for Canada and many other countries. You merely need to adjust the settings of a 40 year old video game.
And if gaming is no longer a red flag, my mind starts cruising to mach 8 to get the adjusted settings to work. Still the idea is decently novel and could be applied to several fields. If I remember this correctly, the US Navy had a similar approach as they used Times Warner interactive to produce AEGIS: Guardian of the Fleet, or at least that was what I was made to believe. It was a tactical game and has almost no high res gaming screens, but the tactical screens were most excellent.
And the additional catch was “The ad also highlights the salary on offer to controllers, saying it is $155,000 (£115,000) after three years of work.” I reckon that this will attract plenty of gamers, especially as you see the the graphic card requirements that these systems require now.
But this is not a novel idea, it has been voiced before, but the powers that be see gaming as a non-go setting, but in this day and age, gaming is different and it is real life that now starts emulating games, not the other way around. So as we are given new stations to jobs that are showing a lack of people, gaming is a way to get around to that and the funny part is that these people could get the gist of that job whilst finding out if this is something they might want to entertain. There are settings that work and settings that are less than stellar for a gaming solution. On that note, I failed the doctor test in 1985 (The Surgeon decided I was never going to be a doctor) And we can consider more pressing approaches but it is all between your two ears (the brain). And whilst we think that Kennedy Approach is a good way to see if you could make it as an ATC’er. There are plenty of other sides. Silent Service is not the way to find a sub commander.
Yet, seriously, did it take 40 years to go from red flag to gamers are welcome? Or is the need for more ATC’ers now too pressing that they will consider all options? This is a serious question, because the underlying setting is that if there are no ATC’ers, flights will have to be cancelled. That is the real question that is part of that. I am fine with the idea that those who scored great in Kennedy Approach (or whatever is now the closest to an ATC screen) are set for a career in ATC at the FAA. But there are questions, because as this approach comes from 2021 under President Biden and we are given “The FAA said last year that it would be considered fully staffed with 14,663 active controllers. It was at least 3,000 controllers short at the time and said twice that many controllers were expected to leave their roles by 2028.” The setting that airports would be short of ATC’ers and the station that hundreds of flights would be cancelled if this is not resolved is not without its own set of cascade failures of flights required. It would be the next massive joke if ground crews are stopping flight crew from getting the job done. And there are additional questions that people will have to ask, because there is no way that this is a setting anyone would like to be on their front door as they are flying to their vacation spot, only to be stopped because there are no Air Traffic Controllers available.
Yes, sarcasms slaps you it becomes irony and I am not being the doom speaker, merely a person who wants a clear understanding and personally it is too late for me (about 25 years too late) but I kinda like that gaming could invigorate a class of people to take up a new career.
So have a great day, my Monday started 40 minutes ago.
Lawrence van Rijn - Law Lord to be 