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Posted on 12/24/2025 5:45:06 PM PST by T.B. Yoits
Down Under, the pace of life in the control tower looks entirely different. Shorter weeks, more predictable schedules, and a culture that prioritizes balance – it’s no surprise that it’s drawing attention from those feeling crushed by the system back home.
Many of these professionals aren’t chasing bigger paychecks.
Over 40% of controllers in the US regularly pull six-day weeks with 10-hour shifts. Many opt for patterns that promise a few days off but come at a steep cost to the body’s natural rhythms. You might finish an afternoon shift and then start a midnight one just hours later.
It’s easy to see why younger controllers, in particular, are looking elsewhere. In the American system, perks like regular weekends off are tied to seniority. That means putting in a decade or more before you can count on having Saturday and Sunday free. Contrast that with the average week in Australia: around 36 hours. Controllers there enjoy shorter standard weeks, more predictable patterns, and – crucially – some guaranteed weekends off from the beginning.
The US aviation authority has been grappling with significant staffing gaps for years. Estimates put the shortfall in the thousands. That means mandatory overtime, fewer breaks, and even less recovery time between tough shifts.
Many are stepping into positions that pay modestly less. The trade-off? A lifestyle that feels sustainable. More time with family, better health, and the simple joy of not dreading the next schedule posting. Why grind through years of tough schedules waiting for seniority perks when another path offers them upfront?
Whether this quiet migration continues or sparks real reform, one thing feels clear: people are willing to go far – literally across the planet – to find a job that doesn’t consume their entire life.
(Excerpt) Read more at capwolf.com ...
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Just wait til they get hit wit the 70% income tax.
Just watch what you say. Oh, and if you need to dispose of firearms, give us a call.
I find it telling that the author did not list numbers of controllers having moved to Australia.
I sometimes wonder if people who only require four hours of sleep a day find it difficult to relate to those who need eight hours of sleep.
Drugs are detrimental to long term performance.
After viewing all the different spider species there, my son says no thanks.
>> I find it telling that the author did not list numbers of controllers having moved to Australia.
“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and anecdotes.”
— with apologies to Mark Twain (or whoever the heck coined it...)
That's true, but he did say in one recent group, the majority of trainees were from the United States.
P.S.
Everything in Australia will try to kill you
Australia allowing the hiring of controllers from overseas only started under an agreement from late 2024 so this may be just the beginning. In a recent trainee group of 100, 36 were from the United States.
Each loss from U.S. air traffic control is an issue as the U.S. aviation industry is short more than 3,800 controllers.
They will find out how much more restrictive life is down there. Good learning experience.
True, but working 60 hours a week in shifts through weekends in places like San Francisco, Baltimore, New York City, Newark NJ, Atlanta, etc. are not only restrictive, they're overly expensive and downright dangerous.
Well, bye.
The lazy intellectual idea in the 1990s was the US was degenerating due to leftist policies, freeloaders on welfare, fewer people working to pay into Social Security, freedom of speech gone and so on, and “maybe we could move to Australia or New Zeeland.”
The faulty presumption was a place with white people dominating, English spoken, British heritage like Americans have would be great.
Never true and now ridiculously woke and freedomless.
Don’t know if it’s still true but Robert Ringer said you can be an employer who fires a bad employee in New Zealand, but you are personally responsible for getting them a new regular job somewhere else, or supporting them financially yourself or with company funds until you find one for them. Supposed to insure employment stability and help for the downtrodden workers.
Yeah, it’s like all the Hollywood stars leaving - then it turns out it was only Rosie... and four others.
No way would I want to live in Australia. Firearms are illegal. There is no First Amendment, and you can be imprisoned for saying or posting the wrong thing on the Internet. If a pandemic returns and you get sick, they’ll throw you in a concentration camp.
US ATC is a young man’s game. IME over age 40 work weeks greater than 100 hr.s destroy the body’s health.
Everything in Australia will try to kill you
Even the government ,LOL
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