And A Little Child Shall Lead Them

Grand Rants ^ | 03-04-10 | Stoutcat

[Stoutcat]

Commercial passenger aircraft, the 6th busiest airport in the country, and a child at the mic of air traffic control; what could possibly go wrong?

Fortunately nothing did go wrong, but heads may roll because one evening about two weeks ago, a child (clearly with the assistance of an adult) was directing planes on the ground at Kennedy Airport.

[choctaw man]

An all new meaning to career day at the elementary school...

[RightOnline]

Two kids took the mic. Yeah, Dad was with each one, yada yada.....but as a former pilot, I’ll call this one as totally stupid. These controllers deserve to lose their jobs.

[Dansong]

Kids helping Dad with air traffic control troubles me less than the kids in Washington INSISTING on helping me with my healthcare...so glad the MSM is spending hours/days on the airport story.

[GeronL]

Yes they do.

I hope no paramedics get this idea. Or surgeons. lol.

[Above My Pay Grade]

>>>Commercial passenger aircraft, the 6th busiest airport in the country, and a child at the mic of air traffic control; what could possibly go wrong? <<<

I think that sentence sums it up perfectly. Those who think this was “harmless” or a “good Dad raising his kids’ self-esteem” are just not thinking clearly on this.

At minimum, the ATC and his supervisor should be fired. I would also like to see a criminal investigation into this.

The fact that nothing went wrong does NOT mean that lives were not put at risk. Also, in a broader sense, the nonchalant attitude towards a very serious job, that this ATC displayed with this stunt, gives rise to all types of dangers to air safety.

Some have argued that the father knew what instructions the kids could safely give the pilots, so there was no risk. I would argue that by showing such poor judgment allowing the kids to give any instructions at all, he demonstrated that he cannot be trusted to judge what would or would not put planes at risk.

[Pollster1]

I give the dad points for involving his son in his life and for the coolness of the boy’s experience. Still, the penalty for potentially putting lives in danger (busy airport, distracted air traffic controllers, ...) outweighs any positives as a parent. The man is a better father than air traffic controller, and he should make fatherhood his full time occupation after that blunder.

What gave this man the idea that it would make sense to put a child on the microphone in the tower? That’s as risky as putting a child with no experience in charge of GM and Chrysler at the same time as he pretends to run our country. What kind of moron would think that was a good idea?

[theBuckwheat]

As a pilot, this incident was not upsetting in the slightest. These “guest controllers” were clearly being prompted for every word they should say, and everything that was said was in exact agreement with the standard controller protocols. Indeed, if you listen to the tapes, you will notice that the pilots were receiving the exact clearances they expected to receive, and some quickly caught on to exactly what was going on, and even played along with it.

And that is the point: the professionals on the scene all knew everything was under control. Only the people who haven’t the slightest idea what constitutes a proper ATC clearance came unglued at this incident. I didn’t read of a single pilot complaint.

In my opinion, the worse that should happen to the parents involved is that this is not to be done again, if only because the public gets upset. We should save our energy and wrath for the real problems in aviation safety, like the government’s refusal to profile passengers and instead to frisk blue-haired old ladies.

[Stoutcat]

I respect your experience as a pilot; however I strongly disagree with your "no big deal" outlook on this. In recent history (just several months prior to this incident), an ATC was chatting with his girlfriend while directing air traffic. Literally seconds later, because of his inattention, a small plane and a helicopter crashed into each other over the Hudson River, with deadly results. Don't even try to tell me that a father--with his small son present in the tower and holding the mic--was able to give his full attention to all the planes under his care. Nope, not buying that. This was a big deal, and the only reason people are making light of it is that there were no tragic results. This time. Do you want to take that bet again if there's a next time? I don't. As a commenter said earlier, he's a good dad, but he's a very bad air traffic controller. I don't want him on the boards when my family or I fly.