Driver #3 - Phraseology
And Here's Why It'll Make or Break You in Your ATC Career
Welcome back to another look at the six drivers of ATC success.
If you've been following along, you know we've been building toward this one. Driver number three is phraseology — and I don't just mean the words.
I mean the whole picture: communicating what you actually intend to say, and listening — really listening — to what a pilot is actually saying back to you.
Not what you think they said. What they said.
That distinction right there? That's the whole ball game.
It's Not About Memorizing Words
Here's something I've watched play out over and over again at the academy.
A student comes in, and they've done the work. They've studied the 7110.65. They can recite phraseology. They've got the words. And then they sit down in the lab, the scenario starts running, and it all falls apart.
Why?
Because there's a massive difference between memorizing phraseology and understanding phraseology.
Memorization gets you the words.
Understanding gets you the right words, in the right situation, delivered the right way, at the right time.
And that second part — that's what the academy is actually testing.
The 7110.65 dedicates a huge section to how we communicate as controllers, and that's not an accident.
It's that important. Clear communication isn't a soft skill in this job. It is the job. When your phraseology is solid, you're telling that pilot exactly what you need them to do, in a way that leaves absolutely no room for doubt. When it breaks down, everything else breaks down with it.
What Happens When It Falls Apart
Picture this. You're running a scenario, and in the back of your mind there's a quiet alarm going off. How do I say this? Is this right? What's the phraseology for this situation? That little voice is eating up brain real estate — and it's going to cost you.
When part of your brain is busy figuring out how to say something, the other part doesn't have the bandwidth to understand what's happening in the scenario. You hesitate. You start overthinking. You know you're falling behind, and so you just start saying stuff to fill the silence. And that — just saying stuff — is one of the fastest roads to a bad score at the academy.
The spiral is real. You mess up a clearance, you have to say that wonderful word correction, go back and restart, and the whole time your brain is screaming tick, tick, tick. The clock is moving. You're losing ground. And now it's even harder to get the phraseology right because you're already rattled.
I've seen it happen. I've watched students unravel in real time, and it almost always traces back to phraseology that wasn't locked in before the pressure started.
And in the radar lab, the stakes get higher fast.
In non-radar, a phraseology error might cost you a fraction of a point. Walk that same bad habit into the radar lab and it's two points per error. Ten of those and the best score you can pull is an 80. Another ten and you're looking at a 60.
That's how fast it adds up.
That's how important phraseology is.
What Happens When You've Got It
Now flip that around. Your phraseology is locked in. It's clean, it's clear, it's textbook. You give a clearance, the pilot reads it back, you catch any errors, you move on. Clean. Quick. Confident.
Something interesting happens when you reach that point.
The scenario slows down. I know that sounds backwards, but it's true.
When you're not burning brainpower on how to say something, you suddenly have capacity to actually see what's happening. Aircraft that felt like they were moving fast start to feel manageable. Problems that seemed like they came out of nowhere start to show up early enough to solve.
Your confidence goes up. And confidence in ATC isn't just a feeling — it has practical effects.
The other pilots on frequency can hear it. When they hear you give a clear, confident clearance and catch a bad readback, they know someone competent is running that sector. It calms them. It builds trust. And that trust makes everything run smoother.
On the other hand, when phraseology is sloppy, when transmissions ramble, when pilots hear things that don't sound quite right — everybody on frequency tenses up. That tension compounds.
The last thing you need when you're busy is a frequency full of confused, anxious pilots calling back to verify something you should have said correctly the first time.
So How Do You Get There?
Number one: make it your top priority.
Not one of your priorities. The top one. Whether you're in tower, TRACON, non-radar, radar — the phraseology for your option has to come first. Before you worry about traffic management, before you worry about strip marking, before anything else. Get the phraseology right.
Practice it out loud.
This is non-negotiable. You cannot develop phraseology by reading it silently or thinking through it in your head.
You have to say it.
Your mouth has to form the words.
Your ears have to hear it.
Get a classmate, take turns being the pilot and the controller, and hold each other accountable.
If the phraseology isn't textbook, stop. Do it again. Don't let bad habits cement themselves because you let something slide in practice.
There's a reason the instructors in the non-radar lab will stop the clock when you miss a clearance phraseology-wise, especially in those first few days.
They're not punishing you.
They're protecting you from locking in the wrong version of something.
Take advantage of that.
Don't chase speed.
I know the temptation. You hear controllers on LiveATC moving fast and it sounds impressive, and when you're running a scenario you feel like speed equals competence. It doesn't.
There used to be a saying on the walls of every classroom at the academy: fast is slow, slow is smooth, smooth is fast.
Focus on getting it right every single time, and speed will come on its own.
I've watched it happen over and over again.
But when controllers chase speed before accuracy, they end up going backwards — fast mistakes are still mistakes, and they're harder to catch.
Use every resource you've got.
Send your spouse or partner flashcard content so they can drill you over FaceTime.
Point to your strips as you work through clearances.
Talk ATC until it becomes uncomfortable not to.
The goal is to get to a place where the phraseology isn't something you're doing — it's just how you communicate.
The Real-World Stakes
I'll tell you something from my own time working live traffic.
I had a pilot on final who was about to touch down with his gear up. And what I needed to say to him had to be immediate, clear, and unmistakable — because if it wasn't, he was going to crash.
The phraseology that came out was textbook, straight out of the 7110.65. He went around. He got back on downwind and said, thank you, I was going to land.
I almost told him: no, you were going to crash. That wasn't going to be a landing.
The phraseology worked because it was second nature. There was no hesitation. No fumbling for words. The situation was serious and the communication matched that seriousness. That's the goal.
Now, when you're at the academy, nobody's going to crash if you flub a clearance. I know that.
But bad phraseology at the academy becomes bad phraseology at your facility. And at your facility, it's not about losing points — it's about whether a pilot stops at the altitude you actually told him, or a different one, and conflicts with somebody else.
I've seen that happen too.
The Foundation You're Building
Here's the other piece of this that I want to leave you with.
Every facility does phraseology just a little bit different. Every trainer has their preferences. When you get to your first facility, you'll have to adapt. But if you built a solid foundation at the academy — if the fundamentals are locked in, if textbook phraseology is your baseline — that adaptation is easy. You're adjusting an already-strong foundation, not building one from scratch under live-traffic pressure.
George Bernard Shaw once said that "the single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has actually taken place."
That hits hard in this job.
As controllers, we fall into that trap constantly.
We think we said something clearly.
The pilot heard something different.
Both sides walk away thinking they're on the same page — until they're not.
Don't be that controller.
Clear communication in air traffic control isn't just helpful. It is essential. Learn the phraseology early. Practice it relentlessly. Make it your first language. And when it clicks — and it will click if you put in the work — you'll feel the difference immediately. The scenario slows down. Your confidence goes up. Things you used to miss, you start to catch.
That's the payoff. That's why phraseology is Driver #3.
Next time, we're digging into driver number four: practice. And not just the idea of practice — what it actually looks like, and how to do it in a way that builds real competency instead of just logging hours. Stay tuned.
FOR HELP:
To set up a FREE call: sidebysideatc.com/scheduler/free-consult
Pre-Academy
If you are heading to the Academy in the next few months, I put together a structured 90-day preparation blueprint that walks you through exactly what to focus on each month before you go. It's designed to help reduce shock and build confidence before day one. You can download it at: sidebysideatc.com/page/blueprint .
I also have a video where I explain the different things that are on the enroute Non-Radar Map. You can get that video at: sidebysideatc.com/page/map-video .
Already at the Academy
If you are already in the enroute radar portion of the Academy and feeling a little behind or lost, I have a 72-Hour Radar Recovery Plan that will help you get past those feelings and start building confidence. You can download that at : sidebysideatc.com/page/72-hourplan .
If you are interested in my Coaching Programs, you can get information at :
or
sidebysideatc.com/page/radar-recovery if you are needing help with the beginning of enroute radar.
Mentorship Program
For information about my mentorship program : https://sidebysideatc.com/page/mentorship
Questions
You can email me questions, or comments, at: tomhanes@sidebysideatc.com .
The Hardest Thing About the FAA Academy —
And It's Not What You Think
When people ask me what the hardest part of the FAA Academy is, they expect me to say the information overload. Or the map. Or the SOP. And yes, all of those things are real challenges. But none of them are the hardest thing. Not even close.
Let me tell you what I actually saw break students over my five years as an instructor and lead at the Academy — and more importantly, what you can do about it before you ever set foot in Oklahoma City.
It's Not the Information
When you go through the en route portion of the Academy, they hand you the equivalent of two three-inch binders full of material. Lessons, end-of-lesson tests, background information, procedures — all of it. I used to tell my students on day one: you are about to take a master's course in three months. That is the volume of information they're going to put in front of you.
But here's the thing — the information, as overwhelming as it feels, is actually presented in a fairly well-organized way. Yes, some of it you'll never use again. Some of it is background material that feels disconnected from anything practical. But it builds a foundation, and your instructors walk you through it. It's a lot, but it's manageable with the right approach.
The map isn't the hardest thing either. Most people have never looked at an airspace map before they arrive — unless you've been through a CTI school or have a pilot's background. And now they're giving you two and a half weeks to memorize one well enough to pass a test. That sounds rough, but they give you dedicated time in class to study it. You just have to use that time. And the map matters beyond just passing a test — it's what you're going to be working with for the next three months, so learning it well is worth every minute.
The SOP isn't the hardest thing either, even though you need to know it forwards and backwards — better than your evaluators know it. That's a high bar, but it's an achievable one.
So what is the hardest thing?
Low Scores Are Coming — And That's Okay
Before I get to the main answer, I want to talk about something that trips a lot of students up along the way: getting a low score on an eval.
It's going to happen. And for most students at the Academy, it will be the first truly low score they've ever received on anything. Most people who make it to Oklahoma City have been high achievers their entire lives. Good students, hard workers, people who are used to performing well when it counts.
The Academy has a way of humbling all of us.
My first evaluation as a student — I got a 49.
Two guys in my class got 90s on that same eval. I'm not going to pretend that didn't bother me, because it absolutely did. My A-Lead looked at me before we ran the next problem, could tell I was in a bad mood, and asked what was going on. I told him. He looked at me without hesitating and said: you will pass and they won't.
I thought he was out of his mind. He was right. Neither of those guys who scored 90s on their first eval passed the program. Neither one of them had a job with the FAA at the end of that class. I did. And I went on to have a 26-year career.
A low score can be a blessing. What that 49 did for me was make it crystal clear that I needed to practice more. I thought I had it. I didn't. That score woke me up, and that wake-up call was exactly what I needed.
So if it happens to you — and there's a good chance it will — don't let it define you. Let it motivate you.
The Real Enemy: Nerves
Now here's what I actually consider the hardest thing at the Academy, the thing I watched derail more students than anything else over five years of instructing: nerves.
I know what you're thinking — of course nerves are an issue.
But I want to reframe how you think about this, because most students are approaching it completely wrong.
Being nervous doesn't say anything about how competent you are. It doesn't say anything about how prepared you are. It says one thing, and one thing only: you care about what is about to happen. That's it.
Nerves are not a warning sign.
They are not evidence that you're going to fail.
They are evidence that this matters to you.
I played soccer from the time I was seven years old, through college, a little bit after — very, very semi-professionally, as I like to say — and then got into coaching and found out I loved it even more than playing. I've spent a lot of my life watching how athletes perform under pressure, and one thing stands out.
I watch golf, and I've heard the commentators — many of them former tour players — talk about what happens to the top golfers in the world on the final day of a tournament, coming down the stretch on the last few holes.
They get nervous.
The adrenaline pumps. These are the best players on the planet, and they still feel it.
Why? Because it matters to them. What is about to happen matters to them.
And that's the same thing your nerves are telling you at the Academy.
The question isn't how to get rid of nerves. The question is how to use them.
Build Your Pre-Shot Routine
One of my trainers at Fort Worth Center introduced me to the concept of a pre-shot routine, and it changed how I thought about performance under pressure.
A professional golfer standing over a critical shot with 20,000 people lining the fairway and millions more watching on television — how do they still execute? They have a routine.
By the time they step up to the ball and begin their swing, everything else in the world has been shut out.
The routine gets them there.
You need the same thing for your evals.
When you walk through that door into the lab or the classroom for your evaluation, nothing from outside that room should be able to reach you. It doesn't matter what happened earlier in the day. It doesn't matter what's going on at home.
I've had students dealing with genuinely difficult things in their personal lives while trying to get through the Academy — things that would be hard for anyone to set aside. But when you cross that threshold, all that has to go away. The only thing happening in your world is the problem in front of you.
I'll be honest about the golfers who miss a shot and blame a camera shutter in their backswing — they weren't focused. That's it. The camera didn't cost them the shot. A lack of focus did. I've played golf and had someone talking in my backswing, heard it, and still hit one of my best shots of the day.
When you're truly focused, the outside world doesn't get in.
Develop your routine.
Whatever it takes to get you locked in before you start — use it every single time. Make it automatic. By the time you're in your eval, that routine should be so ingrained that it carries you through the door on autopilot.
Practice Is the Antidote
The best thing you can do to manage nerves is to make the eval feel as familiar as possible before it ever happens.
And the way you do that is through practice — specifically, practice that simulates the pressure of an actual evaluation.
In the last week of the radar lab, the goal as instructors is to get you running problems on your own. We try to pull back and let you struggle when you need to, because you need to be in that situation before it counts. If an instructor is still trying to guide you through problems and offer advice during that final stretch, it's completely acceptable to say — respectfully — that you'd like to try it on your own.
That's not disrespectful. That's smart preparation.
Do the same thing in non-radar. The last seven or so problems are excellent preparation for your eval. Tell the instructor upfront that you want to treat it like an eval. They'll give you that space. Use it.
The more times you've put yourself in a high-pressure situation before the real thing, the less unfamiliar it feels when it counts.
You can't perfectly replicate the feeling of an official evaluation, but you can get close enough that your nerves work for you instead of against you.
Sleep Is Not Optional
Here's something that gets overlooked: rest matters enormously when it comes to performance under pressure.
The night before your evals, try to get as much sleep as you possibly can. I know that's easier said than done when adrenaline is running high and your brain won't stop running through scenarios. But even if sleep doesn't come easily, let your body rest. Stay in bed. Don't get up and start pacing or studying. Give your body the recovery it needs, because you are going to need every bit of mental sharpness you have the next day.
Sleep won't replace preparation, but poor rest can undermine it.
You've done the work. At that point, the best thing you can do is rest.
Nerves Mean You're Ready
I want to leave you with this, because I think it reframes everything.
The students I watched walk into evals visibly shaking, sweating through their clothes before the first practice problem — those nerves weren't the enemy.
In many cases, those students passed.
What mattered was whether they had put in the work, built the habits, and developed a routine that could carry them through the pressure.
The more knowledge you have going in, the more practice you have behind you, the more confidence you'll feel when you cross that threshold.
That confidence doesn't mean the nerves go away. It means you've earned the right to use them.
Being nervous means you care. And caring is exactly the right starting point.
So practice hard, know your material, build your pre-eval routine, and get your rest.
The nerves will be there.
Let them remind you of what's at stake — and then go do what you've trained to do.
FOR HELP:
To set up a FREE call: sidebysideatc.com/scheduler/free-consult
Pre-Academy
If you are heading to the Academy in the next few months, I put together a structured 90-day preparation blueprint that walks you through exactly what to focus on each month before you go. It's designed to help reduce shock and build confidence before day one. You can download it at: sidebysideatc.com/page/blueprint .
I also have a video where I explain the different things that are on the enroute Non-Radar Map. You can get that video at: sidebysideatc.com/page/map-video .
Already at the Academy
If you are already in the enroute radar portion of the Academy and feeling a little behind or lost, I have a 72-Hour Radar Recovery Plan that will help you get past those feelings and start building confidence. You can download that at : sidebysideatc.com/page/72-hourplan .
If you are interested in my Coaching Programs, you can get information at :
or
sidebysideatc.com/page/radar-recovery if you are needing help with the beginning of enroute radar.
Mentorship Program
For information about my mentorship program : https://sidebysideatc.com/page/mentorship
Questions
You can email me questions, or comments, at: tomhanes@sidebysideatc.com .
Phraseology Is King
If you know how to talk to a pilot — if you know how to say it the way the FAA wants you to say it — then the pilot is going to understand you. And if something ever does go wrong, you'll never have to explain why you didn't use correct phraseology. That's why I call it what I call it: phraseology is king.
It's one of my all-time favorite subjects, and I want to break it down for you today in a way that actually helps you prepare — not just understand why it matters, but know what to do with it.
It's Not As Standardized As You Think
Here's something that surprises a lot of students: you would think phraseology would be the same everywhere. And in theory, it should be. The 7110.65 lays out exactly what the FAA wants you to say. But in practice, phraseology varies — from facility to facility, from school to school, from program to program.
The phraseology you're learning at your CTI school is going to be slightly different from what they teach at the Academy. What they teach at the Academy will be slightly different from what they use at Advanced ATC. And when you get to your first facility, it'll shift again.
I've worked at five different facilities, worked at the Academy, worked at Advanced ATC — and I can tell you from firsthand experience that every single one of them did things slightly differently.
This is actually one of the hardest things I dealt with as an instructor at the Academy.
Students who came in with prior air traffic experience — especially from the military — sometimes struggled more than students who were starting from zero. Military phraseology is different from FAA phraseology. Different structure, different habits, different muscle memory. And unlearning something is often harder than learning it fresh.
So here's the mindset I want you to carry into every stage of this process: learn the phraseology where you are.
Don't worry about how it differs from where you were before. Don't worry about how it'll differ from where you're going next. Your job right now is to pass — pass your CTI school, pass the Academy, get to your first facility, and get through training there.
Focus on what's in front of you.
It's a Language — Treat It Like One
I used to tell my students in Oklahoma City that over the course of my life, I've tried to learn about seven different languages. Spanish, French, Italian, Russian — yes, I actually took Russian in high school — Portuguese, English, and air traffic control.
And there's a reason I can only speak two of those seven fluently.
The ones I speak are the ones that meant something to me.
The others just haven't mattered enough, yet.
That framing — air traffic as a language — isn't just a metaphor. It's the most accurate way I know to describe what you're actually doing when you learn phraseology.
You're not memorizing scripts. You're learning to think and communicate in a different language, one that has its own grammar, its own rhythm, and its own consequences when you get it wrong. And just like any language, the goal isn't to think about what you're saying while you're saying it.
The goal is fluency.
You have to get to the point where the phraseology just comes out.
My primary trainer at Brownsville put it to me directly: "you want to say it right every time, and you want to get to the point where you don't have to think about how to say it right. It just comes out right."
That's the standard.
That's what you're working toward.
Why Second Nature Matters So Much
Here's why this is so important, and it goes beyond just sounding professional.
When you're in the radar lab at the Academy, it is very easy to tell who has studied and who hasn't. Who knows the phraseology for a point out and who's guessing. Who can give a clearance without hesitating and who can't.
And as an instructor watching from the other side of that room, I can tell you — the students who have the phraseology down cold have a massive advantage. Not just in how they're perceived, but in how they're actually able to perform.
When phraseology is second nature, your brain gets freed up to think about the things that are harder to automate — traffic flow, separation, the picture. The cognitive load of figuring out what to say is gone, and you can focus on what you're actually supposed to be managing.
That's the real payoff.
The reverse is also true.
When phraseology is a struggle, everything else gets harder. You're splitting your mental bandwidth between communication and decision-making at the exact moment you can least afford to. You fall behind, you start guessing, and the whole thing starts to unravel.
Good Phraseology Can Actually Protect You
Here's something I've seen firsthand that a lot of people don't talk about: good phraseology can lull an evaluator to sleep. And I mean that in the best possible way.
I've been watching a student work a problem, and they sounded so good — so clean, so confident — that I completely missed a separation error they made. It happens. When someone sounds like they know exactly what they're doing, your brain starts to relax. That's human nature.
Your job during an evaluation is to put that evaluator to sleep.
Start so clean, sound so professional, that they feel like they can relax and just observe. I've seen students come out of evals saying they had a couple of small errors that didn't get caught. That's not luck — that's what good phraseology does.
The opposite is equally true and equally powerful. Bad phraseology at the start of a problem puts that evaluator on full alert for the next 40 to 45 minutes. Their ears perk up. They lean in. They start watching for everything. And now every small mistake gets caught because you've told them — through your communication — that they need to pay close attention.
You don't want that.
You want them relaxed.
Good phraseology is how you get there.
The Cost of Getting It Wrong
In non-radar at the Academy, a phraseology error will cost you a fraction of a point. In the radar portion, it'll cost you two points. That doesn't sound like much until you think about it this way.
Imagine you have a stack of 100 one-dollar bills. Someone comes along and takes two. You still have 98 — fine. Then another person takes two. Then another. Then another. After ten of those, you're down to 80 points maximum, and that's assuming you did everything else in the problem correctly.
And here's what I can tell you almost with certainty: if your phraseology isn't spot on, it's rarely the only thing in that problem that's off.
Weak phraseology and weak performance tend to travel together. So those two-point deductions add up fast, and they add up on top of other errors you may not even realize you're making.
The flip side is that phraseology is one of the few things in air traffic control that is almost entirely within your control before you ever set foot in the radar lab.
You don't need scenarios to practice it.
You don't need simulators.
You just need repetition.
How to Actually Practice
So how do you build that fluency?
Here's what I did when I was starting out with very little experience talking to aircraft.
I practiced the phonetic alphabet by reading license plates as I drove to and from the Academy. Every plate became an aircraft. Every car on the road was traffic. If I had someone in the car with me, we'd run point-outs back and forth the entire trip — one of us giving the point-out, the other taking it, then switching. Back and forth, over and over, until it stopped feeling like practice and started feeling automatic.
You can do the same thing.
The opportunities are everywhere once you start looking for them.
But — and this is critical — it does not help to practice bad phraseology.
Bad phraseology is as harmful as no phraseology, maybe worse, because it builds the wrong habits into your muscle memory and makes them harder to undo later.
If you're practicing with classmates, hold each other accountable. Correct each other. Keep the standard high, because the standard you practice to is the standard you'll perform to under pressure.
Phraseology and Strip Marking: Two Sides of the Same Language
One more thing I want to touch on, because it ties directly into phraseology: strip marking.
If phraseology is learning to speak the language of air traffic control, strip marking is learning to write it.
They're two sides of the same coin, and they have to develop together.
You need to be able to say the right thing and write the right thing simultaneously. That's the reality of working traffic.
The good news is that phraseology and strip marking are, in my view, the easiest things you're going to learn in this career — easier than learning a map, easier than building a mental picture of complex traffic flow.
They seem overwhelming at first, but they become manageable fast with consistent practice. And once they're solid, they become the foundation that everything else gets built on.
If you can't communicate what you're doing in a way the pilot understands, none of the rest of it matters.
You can have the perfect plan in your head, the best clearance anyone has ever constructed — and if you can't say it right, the pilot won't understand it, they'll read back with confusion, and now you're twice as busy as you were before.
The Standard to Hold Yourself To
My first trainer said it to me in a way I've never forgotten: if you sound confident, if you sound professional, that pilot will follow your instructions without question. That's the power of clear, correct communication.
Pilots trust controllers who sound like they know what they're doing. And when you get busy — really busy — that trust is everything. You cannot have pilots second-guessing your instructions at the exact moment you need them to act immediately.
I had a Seminole on short final with no gear down. I was busy, but I saw it, keyed up, and gave him the correct phraseology. He went around, came back, landed safely, and thanked me.
In a split-second situation, there's no time to think about how to say something.
It just has to come out right.
That's what all the practice is for.
So wherever you are right now — CTI school, preparing for the Academy, already in Oklahoma City — learn the phraseology where you are.
Master it.
Get to the point where it comes out without thinking.
Phraseology is king.
Always has been, always will be.
FOR HELP:
To set up a FREE call: sidebysideatc.com/scheduler/free-consult
Pre-Academy
If you are heading to the Academy in the next few months, I put together a structured 90-day preparation blueprint that walks you through exactly what to focus on each month before you go. It's designed to help reduce shock and build confidence before day one. You can download it at: sidebysideatc.com/page/blueprint .
I also have a video where I explain the different things that are on the enroute Non-Radar Map. You can get that video at: sidebysideatc.com/page/map-video .
Already at the Academy
If you are already in the enroute radar portion of the Academy and feeling a little behind or lost, I have a 72-Hour Radar Recovery Plan that will help you get past those feelings and start building confidence. You can download that at : sidebysideatc.com/page/72-hourplan .
If you are interested in my Coaching Programs, you can get information at :
or
sidebysideatc.com/page/radar-recovery if you are needing help with the beginning of enroute radar.
Mentorship Program
For information about my mentorship program : https://sidebysideatc.com/page/mentorship
Questions
You can email me questions, or comments, at: tomhanes@sidebysideatc.com .
The Six Drivers of ATC Success: Driver #1 — Purpose
I want to talk about something that almost nobody discusses when it comes to getting through the FAA Academy.
Not phraseology. Not radar. Not the map. I'm talking about purpose — your why — and it might be the single most important thing that determines whether you make it through or not.
This is the first of "The Six Drivers of ATC Success." These are the six areas that, in my experience as a controller and as a classroom instructor at the Academy, make the biggest difference in whether a student struggles or succeeds — not just at the Academy, but at your first facility and beyond.
The six drivers are:
- Purpose
- Plan
- Phraseology
- Practice
- Picture
- Performance
Each one matters. But we're starting with purpose, because without it, the other five are a lot harder to hold onto.
What Purpose Actually Means
I want to borrow a quote here from Nick Saban — and before you think I'm some huge Alabama fan, I'm not. But the man says things worth repeating. He said, "You have to know what you want to accomplish and have the determination to follow through."
That's what purpose is.
It's not just knowing you want to be an air traffic controller.
It's knowing why you want to be one.
Everyone shows up to Oklahoma City excited. The first few weeks have energy. People are motivated, they're studying, they're getting into it. But not everyone finishes. And one of the biggest differences between the students who push through and the ones who don't isn't raw intelligence or prior aviation experience. It's having a strong foundation of why they're there in the first place.
I'll be honest — this doesn't get talked about much. I didn't see it discussed a lot on Discord. We didn't even spend much time on it in the classroom when I was an instructor. And that's a mistake, because it matters more than almost anything else.
What Happens When You Don't Have It
Here's what I saw over and over again in students who struggled.
They came in thinking the Academy would be like college. And I'll tell you — Basics actually is a bit like college. But once you get past Basics, that comparison falls apart completely.
After Basics, you start getting bombarded with information.
Especially in the en route option, where they throw the map at you, give you an enormous amount of material, and you're expected to absorb all of it — even when you don't yet understand how it all fits together.
The first few weeks of non-radar are genuinely disorienting. You're getting information you know you need, but you can't yet see why you need it or where it's going.
And that's when it starts.
The discouragement. The self-doubt. The question creeping in: Is this really for me? Am I the kind of person who can actually do this job?
Once that voice starts talking, everything gets harder. You start focusing on the mistakes instead of the learning. You stop recovering quickly. And without something solid to come back to — a real reason, a genuine foundation — it's very easy to start slipping and very hard to get back on track.
I've watched it happen in students' eyes in real time. We'd finish a lesson, open it up for questions, and sometimes the questions wouldn't come for a day or two because it takes time to process. And as you're waiting for it to click, you can feel the weight of everything piling up.
That's the moment purpose either holds you up or lets you fall.
Purpose Is What Keeps You Showing Up
Here's what I've seen in students who do make it through — including some who struggled significantly along the way. They have something to hold onto.
A real reason.
Not a vague idea of a good job, but a genuine, personal answer to the question of why they drove or flew to Oklahoma City and put themselves through this process.
That purpose doesn't make the Academy easier. I want to be clear about that. It won't make the scenarios less demanding or the information less overwhelming. But it makes you stronger. It keeps you coming back to the table even on the days when your brain hurts and you're not sure you understood anything that happened in class.
It helps you understand that mistakes are part of the process — that they're how you learn — instead of treating every mistake as evidence that you don't belong there.
Something like 90% of students who go through the en route portion of the Academy feel overwhelmed at some point. Ninety percent. So if you're feeling that way, you are not alone and you are not failing. But the ones who get through it are usually the ones who have something pulling them forward when the motivation runs dry. And motivation always runs dry at some point.
It's not a question of if — it's when.
Purpose is what's still there after the motivation is gone.
You Can't Do This Alone
I want to talk about something connected to this, and that's the role of your classmates.
Because purpose doesn't just affect how you show up individually — it affects how your entire class functions together.
No one — and I mean no one — has ever passed the Academy on their own. Not one student who made it through did it in isolation. The classes that succeed are always the ones that work together. And when an entire class has a strong sense of why they're there, something remarkable happens: a steadiness sets in. A confidence. An ability to absorb the hard days without falling apart, because when one person is struggling, someone else is holding steady, and that steadiness is contagious.
If you're one of the students who comes in with more experience — whether that's military, aviation, or anything else — understand that your classmates are watching you. They're learning from how you carry yourself.
That's not pressure; it's opportunity. You have a chance to raise the level of the entire class just by staying engaged and being part of the team.
And here's the humbling truth: there will be a moment, guaranteed, when you're stuck on something and the classmate you thought was behind you knows the answer. It happens all the time. The Academy has a way of equalizing people in unexpected ways.
Stay humble.
Stay connected.
Work together.
How to Actually Build Your Purpose
Now let's get practical, because this isn't just a concept — it's something you can and should do deliberately.
Write it down.
There is something that happens when you commit your reason to paper that doesn't happen when you just think about it.
It becomes real.
It becomes specific.
Take a few minutes — before you get to Oklahoma City if you can, or right now if you're already there — and write down honestly why you started this journey.
And I want to be direct here: don't write down the money. I know that's part of it for a lot of people, and there's nothing wrong with wanting financial stability. But at the Academy level, and as a new graduate, the money isn't there yet. It will come. But it is not a purpose that will carry you through the days when the Academy kicks you in the face — and it will kick you in the face. That's just the reality.
Write something real. Write something personal. Write the thing that, if someone asked you at your lowest point why you were still there, would actually be the honest answer.
Then keep it somewhere visible. Put it on your bathroom mirror. Tape it to your backpack. Put it somewhere you'll see it every day — including weekends, because the mental work doesn't stop on Saturdays or Sundays. The more you're reminded of your why, the more it becomes part of how you think. And when you hit a rough scenario or a day when your brain just won't cooperate, seeing that reason gives you something to come back to.
This Foundation Doesn't Stop at the Academy
I want to leave you with this. The Academy is where your purpose gets tested for the first time. But it won't be the last time.
When you get to your first facility — and you will get there — you're going to need that foundation again.
The challenges are different, but the pressure is real, and the days when you wonder if you're cut out for it don't disappear once you have your certification. Having built that strong sense of purpose at the Academy means you arrive at your facility with something already in place. A framework for handling difficulty. A habit of coming back from mistakes instead of being defined by them.
So before we get into the other five drivers — plan, phraseology, practice, picture, and poise — I want you to sit with this one.
Ask yourself the honest version of the question.
Why are you doing this?
Not the polished answer you'd give in an interview.
The real one.
The one that gets you out of bed on the morning after a hard day.
That's your purpose.
Write it down.
Hold onto it.
It might be the most important thing you bring with you to Oklahoma City.
FOR HELP:
To set up a FREE call: sidebysideatc.com/scheduler/free-consult
Pre-Academy
If you are heading to the Academy in the next few months, I put together a structured 90-day preparation blueprint that walks you through exactly what to focus on each month before you go. It's designed to help reduce shock and build confidence before day one. You can download it at: sidebysideatc.com/page/blueprint .
I also have a video where I explain the different things that are on the enroute Non-Radar Map. You can get that video at: sidebysideatc.com/page/map-video .
Already at the Academy
If you are already in the enroute radar portion of the Academy and feeling a little behind or lost, I have a 72-Hour Radar Recovery Plan that will help you get past those feelings and start building confidence. You can download that at : sidebysideatc.com/page/72-hourplan .
If you are interested in my Coaching Programs, you can get information at :
or
sidebysideatc.com/page/radar-recovery if you are needing help with the beginning of enroute radar.
Mentorship Program
For information about my mentorship program : https://sidebysideatc.com/page/mentorship
Questions
You can email me questions, or comments, at: tomhanes@sidebysideatc.com .