Saudi Gazette report

JEDDAH — The Saudi Academy for Civil Aviation (SACA) will this week choose 80 women candidates out of 6,900 applicants to join the program of air traffic controllers, which it had announced about three months ago.

According to a report in Makkah daily on Sunday, the candidates will sit seven examinations to be written in English over two days.

After graduation, the candidates will work as air traffic controllers (ATCs) at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah and King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh.

On the first day of the examinations, the candidates will be tested in mathematics and physics.

On the second day they will be tested on skills and capabilities required of an air traffic controller including agility and accuracy, the ability to follow instructions and the use of coded symbols to arrive at solutions.

The candidates will also be tested on their ability for teamwork, memory power and the ability to resolve uncomplicated problems.

Selected candidates will have to take a four-week rehabilitation program to study mathematics, physics and the aviation language, in addition to eight weeks of basic training in air traffic control and 10 weeks of advanced training.

The candidates will fly for five hours, attend relevant workshops and make familiarization visits. They will receive seven weeks of training without radar and nine weeks of training through radar.

They will spend two weeks on international flights to get better acquainted with the cockpits and the work of the cabin crew.