'Pops, is that you?' United pilot and daughter share story behind viral radio exchange

ABC 7 WJLA News ^ | September 6, 2026 | De'Anthony Taylor and Tom Roussey

[Ciaphas Cain]

A familiar voice on the radio brought an expected family moment to Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), and Kenny Katnik recognized it immediately.

It was her dad.

Kenny, a 24-year-old CommuteAir captain, and her father, United Airlines pilot Kent Katnik, were preparing for separate flights Sept. 1 when they ended up on the same radio frequency.

Their brief exchange spread online, giving listeners a glimpse of the family behind the flight decks.

Now, the two are sharing with 7News how it happened, explaining Dad's dry humor and looking ahead to the day they might fly together.

Kenny was headed to Syracuse, New York, on United Express Flight 4977. Kent, 58, was departing for Munich on United Flight 108.

Although they had eaten breakfast together that morning, Kent did not know his daughter would be flying that day. Kenny knew her father had a flight but had not expected to hear him while preparing for her own departure.

"His voice was the first I had ever heard on the radio," Kenny said.

She recalled her immediate reaction: "Pops, is that you?"

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TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Travel
KEYWORDS: airplanes; aviation

[Ciaphas Cain]

A fun story for a late Saturday night :-) Audio of the exchange on the article's page.

[whitney69]

They shouldn’t have done this. There is no frequency for small talk except fingers. And even with fingers, 123.45, commercial airline pilots rarely chat on radio frequencies; they focus on Air Traffic Control (ATC) instructions and converse with each other inside the flight deck.
And even fingers has other uses like being officially designated for oceanic air-to-air communications. If they are doing their job shouldn’t be playing on the radio.

wy69

[Ciaphas Cain]

In aviation communications parlance, what is "fingers"? I've never heard that term before.

(I could google it but some things I'd much rather get the info from real people who know their stuff :-)

[lee martell]

Is the policy against this kind of small talk mainly a security issue or an example of low quality professionalism?
I’m just asking. I see a cute, heartwarming story that very few Dads could ever share with their adult child, even less often if that adult child is a young woman Air Captain, but maybe others with ‘Air Experience’ share your reaction.

[thecodont]

http://steinmetz.org/peter/flying/FingersFreq.html

[Ciaphas Cain]

Thanks. That pretty much satiates my curiosity.

[Excellence]

I watch “Captain Steeeve” on YouTube. There are convos between ATC and pilots that are, shall we say, off topic, plenty of times. As long as it’s short it’s not a problem.