Child Directs Traffic At JFK Airport

An FAA investigation is underway after a child was heard giving instructions to pilots from the air-traffic control tower at JFK. The child made five transmissions to pilots who responded enthusiastically to the boy controller. "Pending the outcome of our investigation, the employees involved in this incident are not controlling air traffic," the FAA said in a statement. "This behavior is not acceptable and does not demonstrate the kind of professionalism expected from all FAA employees."

Comments

great thinking, that

[SuperRenaissanceMan]

How could this possibly have seemed like a good idea? I know that no harm was done, and probably none could have been done in such a controlled environment, but these are the people that think eye drops are a threat to national security. You simply don't deviate from the norms when you deal with the FAA.

It's important to keep kids from work!

[timothy]

Especially if it might be interesting.

Letting them relay instructions to pilots -- oh, no!

This is inherently dangerous -- a pilot expecting the gruff, masculine voice of a Real Man Controller might swoon at the dulcet soprano of a boychild, and assume he was nearly to heaven already, and that he's just to get rid of this silly chunk of aluminum tube ...

Wait.

No, that's dumb.

This is typical rule-addicted asinine knee-jerkism.

Raise your virtual hand if you've ever done (and learned from) something that took supervision, but which wasn't considered age-appropriate. How many kids, completely free of helmets of work permits, get small paying jobs working on computers? (Oh no again -- computers have e-lec-tric-i-ty!).

I am glad for the kid, and contemptuous of the keystone cop investigators. Glad they've solved all the *big* problems.

timothy

Re:It's important to keep kids from work!

[Anonymous Coward]

Americans are so anti children. I'm surprised anyone ever learns anything in this fascist nanny state. When I was a kid, my dad took me to a computer show. We had to be followed by a security guard, because their insurance didn't cover anyone under 18. At that time I probably knew more about the computers and software than most of the other attendees. A few years later, I went to a different show in Asia with an uncle, teens were everywhere.

Re:It's important to keep kids from work!

[bill_mcgonigle]

This is typical rule-addicted asinine knee-jerkism.

the lifeblood of the bureaucracy.

Re:It's important to keep kids from work!

[FuckingNickName]

That's a fantastic strawman you have there. You see, if a kid accidentally slips a metallic screwdriver into a power supply while he is holding a grounded American flag in the other hand, he risks at worst killing himself and the flag. But when the guy with several years of training, environmental conditioning and a huge paycheque drags in some kid who could just as well shout "Mayday!" for kicks, several hundred people's lives may be affected. Even if the kid is perfectly competent, how can we rule out airwave piracy? A pilot who might have something far more important to do may feel it necessary to double check the origin of the instructions.

Yes, children are mollycoddled too much. But the appropriate correction is to give them appropriate safety guidance so that they may do whatever they want safely, not to complain about the existence of safety procedures which stop people enjoying death/injury, nor to complain that children are not given the same privileges as air traffic controllers, policemen, surgeons, and so on.

FWIW, when I was around 10 years of age I got to take a tour of the cockpit of the commercial jet I was flying home from a family holiday in. The pilot let me enter a bearing to steer the plane (perhaps... maybe he had preprogrammed something and got me to type a number at just the right moment). Should he have done this? I'm not sure. The impact is very different from the ATC pirate transmission. Was that experience wondrous for me? No, all I was doing was typing in a number, just as at school I would, in the amateur radio club, start off by sending a greetings message across the world using a kit I knew nothing about. The learning and the growing is in being able to prepare/train/build for yourself, not in having a privileged or lucky connection which enables you to make something happen by following a script prepared by someone with more ability and power than you.

That's the job of presidents.

The real reason everyone is so upset...

[inthealpine]

The real reason everyone is so upset is that we learned today that a child can be taught to do what no doubt overpaid bureaucrats fuck up on a daily basis. I heard some of the recordings, the kid sounded like he was sure of himself and the flight crews seemed completely fine with the situation. I know I know, it was a child (under the direct supervision of an adult) directing air planes OH MY GOD!!!!!!! Isn't that what caused 9/11???!?!?! (oh wait that was the adults). What was this kid doing expanding his experiences in the real world, enjoying and learning and ....FUCK ME.... building self confidence???

WHERE IS CONGRESS?? We need congress to find this poor child and make sure he is put in front of a TV and becomes part of the mediocrity. Fire his father so he becomes part of the unemployment line (don't worry public assistance will help with the TV/cable bill).