Wanted: A new generation of air controllers

Chicago air traffic controllers are now working mandatory six-day weeks to cover the controller shortage.

CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) -- It is one of the most stressful jobs imaginable: managing the arrival and departure of dozens of flights every day at one of the busiest airports in the United States.

"You've got 12 airplanes listening to your every word, wanting to know what to do next," says Ray Gibbons, an air traffic controller in Chicago.

Gibbons was hired by the government as a permanent replacement. When air traffic controllers went on strike August 3, 1981 to protest stressful working conditions, President Ronald Reagan gave the 11,000 strikers an ultimatum. When most controllers didn't return, the government hired permanent replacements.

Now Gibbons and thousands like him are on the verge of retirement -- and there's disagreement over how ready the country is to make up for those losses.

The United States could soon be facing a crisis in its air traffic control system.

CNN NewsPass VIDEO Thousands of air traffic controllers hired 20 years ago to replace strikers are due to retire over the next several years. CNN's Jeff Flock reports (July 24) Play video

The Federal Aviation Administration says it is ready to hire 1,200 new controllers in the next year to help fill the retirement gaps, although it admits that goal is "a challenge."

A Government Accounting Office report issued last month concluded the FAA does not have a "workforce strategy to address impending controller needs."

Before the strike, there were 15,000 controllers and about 14,000 flights a day. Today, roughly the same number of controllers handle more than twice as many flights -- 35,000 every day.

In Chicago the need is so great, controllers are forced to work a sixth day each week.

The pressure can be enormous. Gibbons says one controller who was nearing retirement, but not planning to leave, quit abruptly after a few difficult sessions in the tower.

Gibbons himself says when his time comes, he'll go, too. "I love the job, I just wish there were more of us."