Child directing Air Traffic in JFK

Trotter

I heard this on the radio this afternoon. A child was brought to work with his Dad in the ATC of JFK airport. There's quite a storm brewing and the FAA aren't happy campers. I think he did quite well, and I hope it doesnt give our government any cost saving ideas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-G5xV_N8N1U

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8547875.stm

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Does the kid have an RT licence?!!

I imagine that controller, and his supervisor would be in deep Sh1t.

It's not like its a small county airfield.

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Some more info:

An air traffic tower controller at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport permitted his 9 year old son to transmit six clearances on JFK's tower frequency on Feb 16th 2010 from approximately 19:54L (Feb 17th 00:54Z) to 19:59L

The FAA said, this is not the professional behavious they expect from their employees and not acceptable. The controller as well as his supervisor have been suspended until an investigation is complete.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association NATCA said, they do not condone such behaviour, that is not indicative of the highest professional standards air traffic controllers set for themselves.

Jammyc

Cmon! Its hardly like he let the child make the freakin decisions. No pilots were stressed over it. No harm no foul right?

Edit Thinking more on it I see that it was pretty unprofessional, but I hope he only gets a warning.

lord lucan

Jammyc wrote: »

Cmon! Its hardly like he let the child make the freakin decisions. No pilots were stressed over it. No harm no foul right?

Edit Thinking more on it I see that it was pretty unprofessional, but I hope he only gets a warning.

I can see the FAA maybe making an example of someone on this one. Purely on PR terms alone it looks bad,at a time when passengers are subjected to ever more rigorous searches and scans that someone can bring their kid into the control tower of one of the worlds busiest airports and let them make a few 'calls' to aircraft,albeit supervised,is going to go down badly with the travelling public.

bongi69

lord lucan wrote: »

I can see the FAA maybe making an example of someone on this one. Purely on PR terms alone it looks bad,at a time when passengers are subjected to ever more rigorous searches and scans that someone can bring their kid into the control tower of one of the worlds busiest airports and let them make a few 'calls' to aircraft,albeit supervised,is going to go down badly with the travelling public.

+1

I'm sure the other aircraft on the same frequency had a laugh over it though

Trotter

It is crazy when you think about it though, but its sad in a way. All the kid was doing was repeating what someone was saying. Its a happy little fella doing something that he'd never forget regardless of whether it was on TV or not. Its sad we have to be so security conscious now, but its a sad reality.

I still giggled and thought he was fantastic.. then again, I'm not in charge of aircraft security.. My job is growing kids' confidence so they can do extraordinary things so I'm biased.

lord lucan

Trotter wrote: »

It is crazy when you think about it though, but its sad in a way. All the kid was doing was repeating what someone was saying. Its a happy little fella doing something that he'd never forget regardless of whether it was on TV or not. Its sad we have to be so security conscious now, but its a sad reality.

I still giggled and thought he was fantastic.. then again, I'm not in charge of aircraft security.. My job is growing kids' confidence so they can do extraordinary things so I'm biased.

I had the same reaction too. And while a lot of people will see that it was a kid repeating instructions from his father,it'll only take a couple of tabloids to make an issue out of it and it'll become a huge mess!!

I loved the pilots reply about "wish i could bring my kid into my job" was classic!:)

Steyr

Funnily enough it was a bring your kid to work day i believe.

pclancy

32L just handles departures right? So the risk was pretty small, just lining up planes, letting them takeoff then over to departure..seems fine, harmless fun.

But if something had gone wrong...the slightest slip of concentration from him or a pilot...could have been very bad.

That controller must be in trouble.

Run_to_da_hills

Children and avaition do not mix.

lessons of the past should have been learned. :rolleyes:

Plowman

This post has been deleted.

lord lucan

Apparently there were 2 kids involved,each on different days!!

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Air-Traffic-Controller-Allows-Child-To-Direct-Jets-At-New-Yorks-JFK-Airport/Article/201003115566631?lpos=World_News_Third_Home_Page_Article_Teaser_Region__3&lid=ARTICLE_15566631_Air_Traffic_Controller_Allows_Child_To_Direct_Jets_At_New_Yorks_JFK_Airport_

tricky D

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Children and avaition do not mix.

lessons of the past should have been learned. :rolleyes:

Nor do apples and oranges:rolleyes:

f22raptor

i think if the plane had changed course or something was miss heard we d be all saying how silly this was, so safety first in my book

Danbo!

The kid only cleared planes for take off and told a couple to contact departure, the latter being a formality as the pilots would contact departure anyway.

The planes were directed to position and hold at 31L, and were given weather updates, by a qualified controller. I honestly cant think of anything that could have gone wrong here.

f22raptor

ok thats a fair point, but how many of the people on thoses planes at the time would have felt safe knowing there being controlled by a kid, i would nt board a plane if i knew?

Danbo!

f22raptor wrote: »

ok thats a fair point, but how many of the people on thoses planes at the time would have felt safe knowing there being controlled by a kid, i would nt board a plane if i knew?

99% of the passengers would want to get off the plane, mainly thanks to sensationalism in the media regarding air travel scaring the **** out of your average joe who has no interest in aviation.

Most people read the headline and assume the kid was actually directing planes, as in deciding himself what runway to take off and land on, and how to taxi to it, etc. He wasnt telling them to change course, altitude, or anything like that. His father/another controller directs the plane to position and hold, and the pilots will just wait and the end of the runway until cleared for take off. Obviously in this case, his father checked, and told his son to relay ".....clear for takeoff...."

Im not an air traffic controller, but I do listen to liveATC quite a bit, and theres nothing I can think of that the kid could have said in place of "cleared for take off" that would have resulted in a safety issue.

Jammyc

Besides that, the pilots knew what was happening and if they had gotten a strange command, they wouldve double checked it.

Blue Punto

Stee wrote: »

99% of the passengers would want to get off the plane, mainly thanks to sensationalism in the media regarding air travel scaring the **** out of your average joe who has no interest in aviation.

Most people read the headline and assume the kid was actually directing planes, as in deciding himself what runway to take off and land on, and how to taxi to it, etc. He wasnt telling them to change course, altitude, or anything like that. His father/another controller directs the plane to position and hold, and the pilots will just wait and the end of the runway until cleared for take off. Obviously in this case, his father checked, and told his son to relay ".....clear for takeoff...."

Im not an air traffic controller, but I do listen to liveATC quite a bit, and theres nothing I can think of that the kid could have said in place of "cleared for take off" that would have resulted in a safety issue.

Its all a bit of Hoo Haa

For the reasons above

How many of the people who are moaning about this as a child went up to the cockpit of the plane they were on going on holidays.
And if their experiences were the same as mine they might well have being sitting in the Captains seat.

As a kid I remember going up to the cockpit of EI-BCR on the way to Almeria and the pilots were more than comfortable with me sitting in the Captains seat and making small banks (while the co-pilot assisted me)

The pilots involved seemed to understand all the directions given to them and the child involved prob knows more about his Dads job than most people posting on this forum or the media for that fact

ATC is a stressfull job as has been well publicised this as can be heard on the tape brought a little light relief

HOO HAA

On another note

How many people leave their car into a garage expecting it to be serviced my a qualified mechanic.
Would they be happy if they new if was a 1st year apprentice !!!!!


This is how professionals should do it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWDEIvjwaFU

amen

As a kid I remember going up to the cockpit of EI-BCR on the way to Almeria and the pilots were more than comfortable with me sitting in the Captains seat and making small banks (while the co-pilot assisted me)

that caused and AeroFlot Airbus to crash.

Only ppl in the pilots seat on a commercial flight should be the pilot.

That said I have been in the jump seat of some EI jets. Before 9/11 is you asked nicely you were nearly always allowed up.

castie

amen wrote: »

Only ppl in the pilots seat on a commercial flight should be the pilot.

That makes no sense as the kid WAS in the pilots seat so your saying he should be the pilot??

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Think he means only pilots should be sitting in the pilots seat.

silverharp

Blue Punto wrote: »

This is how professionals should do it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWDEIvjwaFU

that's another airline I wont be flying with

Beeker

Child in ATC........................that would never happen here in Ireland:D

andy_g

ok heres another good one from JFK lads

Plowman

This post has been deleted.

andy_g

there is tons of these for jfk its mad but hillarious at the same time ill find more in a min

Blue Punto

amen wrote: »

that caused and AeroFlot Airbus to crash.

Only ppl in the pilots seat on a commercial flight should be the pilot.

That said I have been in the jump seat of some EI jets. Before 9/11 is you asked nicely you were nearly always allowed up.

I never caused any aeroflot A310 to crash
And "CR" was way before 9/11 and back in those days I was never refused access any time I asked

I even remember being in SHN one day when a LH 747 was on training and the crew tried their best to get us one board for one of the sorties but could not get clearence for us before we had to return home
(A chance missed that will never happen again in these times of over sensitivity)

Danbo!

andy_g wrote: »

ok heres another good one from JFK lads

This is great too, love the controllers attitude "Eh, yeah.... go ahead and do what you need to do"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQVuVq_VN9g