Leaving and Returning to the FAA

Moving to another federal job, what it does to your retirement, and the two ways back.

Moving to another federal job

FAA controller jobs are in the excepted service; most other federal jobs are in the competitive service. An interchange agreement between OPM and the FAA bridges the two: it lets an FAA employee be appointed to a competitive-service job without competing as an outside applicant. The current agreement runs through April 29, 2028.

To use it, you need:

a permanent FAA appointment,
at least one year of continuous service at the FAA, and
no break in service, not even one workday, between the FAA job and the new one.

The no-break rule is the one that catches people: resign first and the agreement no longer applies. The only exception is an involuntary separation, which leaves a one-year window. Have the new job’s start date set before your last day at the FAA.

An announcement’s “This job is open to” section says whether interchange-agreement eligibles can apply. Jobs open to the public, including direct-hire jobs, need none of this. Appointed through the agreement, you get competitive status right away, and the probationary period for a first competitive appointment doesn’t apply (a supervisory one can).

From OPM’s interchange agreements and their appointment conditions (5 CFR 6.7).

What it does to your retirement

Your FERS service goes with you; a move to another federal agency doesn’t end it. What changes is which retirement rules you can use.

The ATC retirements count only ATC years. Retiring at any age with 25 years, or at 50 with 20, takes that much service as a controller. Leave before you have it and those routes close, unless you come back and finish them.
The regular FERS rules apply instead: your minimum retirement age (MRA, 57 if you were born in 1970 or later) with 30 years, 60 with 20, 62 with 5, or a reduced annuity at the MRA with 10.
The multiplier is the regular one, 1% of your High-3 a year (1.1% if you retire at 62 or later with 20 years), with one exception below.
Age 56 stops mattering. Mandatory retirement applies to controllers, not to a non-controller job.

The exception: 1.7% on your ATC years

If you retire at your MRA with 30 years and have at least 5 years as a controller (or a first- or second-level supervisor of controllers), every one of those ATC years still earns 1.7%. For example, 8 years as a controller and 22 in another federal job:

8 ATC years × 1.7%	13.6%
22 other years × 1%	22%
Pension, as a share of High-3	35.6%

On a $120,000 High-3, that’s $42,720 a year instead of $36,000 at 1% for all 30 years. Retire on any other basis and the ATC years count at the regular rate.

From 5 U.S.C. § 8412 and § 8415(f). More on the multipliers: Your Pension.

Coming back to the FAA

There are two ways back. Both are at the FAA’s discretion; neither is a right to a job.

Reinstatement

Through a facility, for former CPCs.

Who: Former FAA controllers who left as certified professional controllers (CPCs), after finishing their one-year probation.
How: Contact the facility you want to work at. Send a resume or work history, your certifications (CTO, pink card), and SF-50s for your first 2152 appointment, the end of your probation, and your separation.
Where: For the first 12 months after you leave, only your former facility. After that, other facilities too, depending on the FAA’s needs.
Selection: Up to the FAA. A past field training failure can be a reason not to select you, and the medical and security requirements still apply.
Age: You must have been hired into the 2152 series under the maximum entry age. Not past 56, unless an exemption applies.

The direct-hire notice

On USAJOBS, for any experienced controller.

Who: Anyone with 52 consecutive weeks of full-time, certified work separating live traffic within the last 5 years, at an FAA facility, a DoD civilian, military or National Guard facility, or a federal contract tower.
How: Apply to the notice with copies of your certifications (front and back), a resume of up to two pages showing hours per week for each job, and SF-50s for your first 2152 appointment and, if you were one, your CPC certification.
Where: Any FAA facility. You must be willing to go anywhere; your area preferences may be used, but the FAA decides.
Selection: On the spot, with no ranking and no veterans’ preference. The notice is a resume pool, so a position may or may not come from it.
Pay: Former CPCs come back on CPC pay levels, and former developmentals rehired within a year of leaving on developmental levels. Everyone else starts at the trainee rate. Then field training at the new facility. See the pay scale.
Age: Hired into the series by 35, which a former FAA controller already was. Not past 56.

The FAA posts the direct-hire notice for a year at a time and reposts it each fall. The current notice is open through October 4, 2027.

From the FAA’s reinstatement page and its direct-hire notice for experienced controllers. The notice lists the FAA’s Aviation Careers office as its contact: [email protected], (405) 954-4657.

How long you have

Your last day Both ways back are open. Reinstatement is to your former facility only, and a developmental rehired through the direct-hire notice in this first year comes back on developmental pay levels.
12 months out Reinstatement opens to other facilities.
About 4 years out The direct-hire notice closes to you once your last 52 consecutive certified weeks fall outside the 5 years before you apply. After that, reinstatement is the only way back.
Age 56 Neither way is open, apart from reinstatement’s exemptions.

Checked November 2, 2026. From OPM’s interchange agreements, the FAA’s reinstatement page and direct-hire notice, and 5 U.S.C. §§ 8412 and 8415.