How To Become A Control Tower Operator: What It Is and Career Path

What is a control tower operator and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a control tower operator. For example, did you know that they make an average of $21.2 an hour? That's $44,106 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 7% and produce 56,900 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreControl Tower OperatorUS Average

Salary

3.4

Avg. Salary $44,106

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.5

Growth rate 7%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.2

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.52%

Asian 0.70%

Black or African American 10.74%

Hispanic or Latino 16.10%

Unknown 3.63%

White 67.31%

Gender

female 15.69%

male 84.31%

Age - 48

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 48

Stress level

7.5

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.4

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.1

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a control tower operator

Explore control tower operator education requirements

Most common control tower operator degrees

Bachelor's

35.2 %

High School Diploma

28.2 %

Associate

26.8 %

Start to develop specific control tower operator skills

Skills	Percentages
Federal Aviation Administration	25.80%
Air Traffic Control	18.21%
Radio Communications	15.72%
Airfield Operations	11.74%
Flight Data	7.49%

Complete relevant control tower operator training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New control tower operators learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a control tower operator based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real control tower operator resumes.

Research control tower operator duties and responsibilities

Direct inbound or outbound logistics operations, such as transportation or warehouse activities, safety performance, or logistics quality management.
Supervise the accountability of all MSOT equipment, totaling millions of dollars' worth of equipment.

Prepare your control tower operator resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your control tower operator resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a control tower operator resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable control tower operator resume templates

Build a professional control tower operator resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your control tower operator resume.