FAA not amused as kid gives directions to pilots in JFK's air-traffic control

[Harry]

Employees at the Kennedy Airport air-traffic control tower are under federal investigation for apparently allowing a school-age kid to give directions to pilots.

 

The youngster, seemingly under adult supervision, makes five transmissions to amused pilots on a tape obtained by Channel 26 in Boston and confirmed as genuine by the Federal Aviation Authority.

 

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2010/03/03/2010-03-03_now_landing_your_plane__a_schoolboy.html#ixzz0h8Noh7xy

[metsfan]

Oh come on it's just a bit of harmless fun. Yea, might be a tad on the unprofessional side, but come on you can't suffocate the fun out of life.

 

- A

[Forest Glen]

He should get a fine. He shouldn't be fired. He was just trying to be a good father. If he was there supervising his kid then I don't see the problem. Once (pre 9/11) a T/O let me in the cab of the 42nd Street (S)huttle.

[Shortline Bus]

He should get a fine. He shouldn't be fired. He was just trying to be a good father. If he was there supervising his kid then I don't see the problem. Once (pre 9/11) a T/O let me in the cab of the 42nd Street (S)huttle.

 

agreed. There already a lack of good quality air traffic controllers out there. Still the FAA should make it clear to all airport employees no one is allowed to visit 'on the job' even relatives but to fire him for this is abusrd.

[airindia78780]

I'll bet that if this had happened at a smaller airport such as HPN that the news would have ignored it. This whole incident is being blown out f proportion just because JFK is one of the busiest airports in the country.

 

It reminds me of the incident last summer when a child was in the cab of a train, presumably the T/O's child, and actually came out of the cab to explain why the train was temporarily delayed.

[Shortline Bus]

I'll bet that if this had happened at a smaller airport such as HPN that the news would have ignored it. This whole incident is being blown out f proportion just because JFK is one of the busiest airports in the country.

 

It reminds me of the incident last summer when a child was in the cab of a train, presumably the T/O's child, and actually came out of the cab to explain why the train was temporarily delayed.

 

Correction. JFK is not just one of the busiest airports in the USA, it is in top 10 of busiest on the planet. Only Atlanta/Hartsfield-Jackson, Dallas-Ft Worth and Chicago/O'hare are busiest in US. Our country has 5 airports among the world's busiest including adding in LA's "LAX."

[akamtabx36]

i dont find it as sucha big deal its just a little fun like it is unprofessional but its not that bad because the kid just had a once in a kidtime opportunity its not like the planes crashed. he did clear them for takeoff and from my flight simulator expirience ive taken off and directed takeoff sequence.

[NX Express]

i dont find it as sucha big deal its just a little fun like it is unprofessional but its not that bad because the kid just had a once in a kidtime opportunity its not like the planes crashed. he did clear them for takeoff and from my flight simulator expirience ive taken off and directed takeoff sequence.

 

What if they did?

[KTrainExp]

What if they did?

 

If he did, then of course, fire the father. However, this didn't happen.

 

Fine, but not fire. I think that's something we all agree on.

[SevenEleven]

What if they did?

 

That wouldn't be likely. There's tons of training and safety mechanisms that are in place to avoid crashes. A misturn can be easily corrected and everyone is pretty much on alert.

 

The controller should get a slap on the wrists for it, and let it not occur again.

[m7zanr160s]

No big deal. The kid was not flying the plane. I'm pretty sure the father used good judgment as to what's the safest thing for him to get involved with. Pretty simple instructions. Now if no one is allowed in the control room...OK, wrong on someones part. I thought it was pretty cool. If you take your kid to work, I bet the first thing you look for is, what is the safest thing I can allow him to do to to show him what I do everyday? I bet that kid'll never forget that for the rest of his life.

[Deaks]

I bet that kid'll never forget that for the rest of his life.

Probably not, and I doubt the father will forget it either.

[nhrrwtby]

This was not a necessarily a safety issue, as the child was completely supervised. However, if the father was in any way distracted by the child's presence it could have had safety implications. A momentary lapse of attention for a tower controller can be deadly. Think of the controller who cleared the Comair flight for takeoff but didn't realize the aircraft was on the wrong runway.

 

It was, however, a collossal error in judgment. The father needs to be suspended for a period of time and be fined. Otherwise you don't send a clear enough message about the seriousness of the issue.

 

I am a licensed pilot and licensed Aircraft Dispatcher.

[Pilot]

This was not a necessarily a safety issue, as the child was completely supervised. However, if the father was in any way distracted by the child's presence it could have had safety implications. A momentary lapse of attention for a tower controller can be deadly. Think of the controller who cleared the Comair flight for takeoff but didn't realize the aircraft was on the wrong runway.

To think for a second the JFK tower controller was not in control of his aircraft or was having a momentary lapse in this situation is absurd. It'd be more likely that he was heightened in his awareness because he had his kid talking. The real point is that safety was never compromised.

It was, however, a collossal error in judgment. The father needs to be suspended for a period of time and be fined. Otherwise you don't send a clear enough message about the seriousness of the issue.

I disagree. An error in judgement would be to leave the kid to his own devices, or not tell his supervisor, or come in to work hungover.

I am a licensed pilot and licensed Aircraft Dispatcher.

I appreciate that you're trying to establish a foundation for your opinion, but I have to ask if you've never taken a friend or family member up with you. You've never let a passenger of yours "fly" for a little while? The situation is similar, you're giving them direct instructions on how to maneuver the aircraft while you watch to keep everything in check. In fact, I'd say the JFK controller was in even less of a situation one might call "precarious" because the kid was never "controlling" rather just repeating.

 

It's a damn shame people are wound so tight these days. You can have fun and be safe in the same situation, the two aren't mutually exclusive.

 

Lastly, for the record regarding Comair 191, I encourage folks to read the final report issued by the NTSB, http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/2007/AAR0705.pdf

 

The flight crewmembers's failure to use available cues and aids to identify the airplane's location on the airport surface during taxi and their failure to cross-check and verify that the airplane was on the correct runway before takeoff. Contributing to the accident were the flight crew's nonpertinent conversation during taxi, which resulted in a loss of positional awareness, and the Federal Aviation Administration's failure to require that all runway crossings be authorized only by specific air traffic control clearances.

 

The controller was not at fault in anyway in that accident. Certainly, he could have behaved differently, but his actions were consistent with local procedure and FAA regulations. The NTSB report makes it a point to suggest changes in the way the FAA handles controllers, encouraged a new "cross-check" regulation and questions the logic of only staffing one controller in the tower during the midnight shift.