As Government Shutdown Slows Air Traffic Training, These Schools Are Stepping In NYT | Top Stories Karoun Demirjian 31 October 2025 at 23:58 New programs cannot turn out the numbers needed to make up for the controller shortfall. But they hope to have a higher success rate than the Federal Aviation Agency’s official academy. © Hiroko Masuike/The New York TimesStudents and instructors working in an air traffic control simulator at Vaughn College in Queens.