New "controller" at KJFK Tower...
- Thread starter Ryans Dad
- Start date
sorrygottarunway
Well-Known Member
The people that didn't think this was okay... how long since you've been, well, "biblically involved" shall we say?
drunkenbeagle
Gang Member
Really? Some good fact checking there. 'Cause MULTICOM, UNICOM, FBOs, Fuel Trucks, and Dispatach have been talking to airplanes all these years. OMG!!!, they aren't controllers!!! Oh no!!!!
But seriously, who do I write a strongly worded letter to? I'm going to be really ticked off if this poor guy gets in any real trouble.
Mark815
Well-Known Member
I know right? I must be crazy because I allowed a 12yr old to pilot an airplane once AND make radio calls, i guess i should just find a new career before CNN comes after me!
I couldn't agree more. When I hear that the media goes to the people on the street, it just gets me pissed because people are so effing clueless. OMG THAT ONE CONTROLLER COULD HAVE COST THE LIVES OF ALL OF AIR TRAFFIC. GIVE ME A BREAK. This has got to be the DUMBEST story to make national news in a long time
:banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead:
Given today's environment, no argument there. Reprimand, sure. Job loss...I sure hope not.
ATC RET 2003
No More Vectors
So tell me please where does the buck stop? What kind of occupation you would consider "crossing the line" by letting your kid 'participate'? Would you want your surgeon's kid in the OR while you are on the table?
Matt13C
Well-Known Member
Not even in the same ballpark. However, they do allow people to watch surgeries. Letting a kid read off a clearance to a few aircraft is hardly akin to letting an untrained person do open heart surgery. All the kid needs to know how to do is speak. His dad or any other controller in the room just needed to write down the clearance on a sheet of paper and say here, read this. Its not like the kid is watching the radar while his dad goes to the bathroom.
People seriously need to lighten up.
Mark815
Well-Known Member
I'm sorry but holding a knife\scalpel is not even close to letting a kid make a radio call. I still don't see a problem with it, my best guess is that there prob were a bunch of controllers around them too while doing it, I doubt he was in the tower at JFK alone with a kid. To tell your a kid to say 'contact departure' is NOT risking the lives of people, I'm sorry. The pilots liked it and the controller also made his regular calls when needed.
Oh and I just opened up my comcast mailbox and it was front page on the news feed as "Child was directing planes at JFK" , yeah because he was sitting in a locked room telling all the aircraft where to go
Also how is this any different to a student pilot who is afraid of the radio, but ends up blocking the freq because he\she can't think of the right things to say? Just the media blowing things WAY out of proportion
How many "other" examples do you wish to use? Lord, please. . .
OK, a surgeon performing a "life or death" operation would not be an appropriate place to have a child, although in some surgical procedures, I would question why they're playing soft music in the background. . .
Another example? I would not take my children to Afghanistan or Iraq to see how "daddy or mommy" do their killing on the battlefield.
Any other examples for a response? Having my child mimic my voice calls over an air traffic control loop? Not a problem for me.
Lord, help those naive folks that are so prevalent in the world.
Thanks! This incident deserves a response to the FAA from me. Unprofessional? No. Perhaps appropriate at a small airport but with the stresses of JFK, always be concerned about the overly paranoid. . .cater to the worse case scenario and judge your actions appropriately.
AirmetTango
Well-Known Member
Agree 100%. The controller was clearing the flights to "Position and Hold". Every pilot in the world knows what's coming next...."cleared for takeoff" maybe? And whats next? Surprise..."Contact departure". Wow, huge safety and security risk.
...it was front page on the news feed as "Child was directing planes at JFK" , yeah because he was sitting in a locked room telling all the aircraft where to go
Gotta love the media...also notice how they keep playing the recording of the kid clearing the planes to takeoff, of the pilots and controller joking about "kids out of school", but CNN at least isn't playing the part where Jet Blue says "awesome job"...gotta keep the story slanted to the negative....
Amen to that!
touch-n-go
Well-Known Member
As already been said, this is only an issue because the media got involved and blew the story out of propoertion. Yet another example of how being human is no longer appreciated in our society in the name of "safety" and "security." In the end we are reduced to being machines who constantly have watch their "p's" and "q's" lest they do anything to jeopardise this illusory standard of "safety" or "security." Unbelievable. Hopefully this controller is not in trouble and that this does not discourage others from being human while being professional.
turbojet28
Well-Known Member
It's really too bad that this is what this has turned into. Hopefully nothing too severe will come of it. I guess this kind of thing tugs at me a little because my dad was the kind of guy that would've done stuff like this, and I know how big of a positive impact that would've had on me. Was the controller technically wrong? Sure. Hard to argue with that. However, where has common sense gone? I guess it has no place anymore.
Another thing, perhaps the FAA should consider that letting a veteran JFK controller go for something that amounts to trivial is probably not even the safest alternative. I guess I am being dangerous by maing the assumption that this guy has been there a long time, but it seems like experience is so easily ignored with these knee-jerk type reactions.
Another thing, perhaps the FAA should consider that letting a veteran JFK controller go for something that amounts to trivial is probably not even the safest alternative. I guess I am being dangerous by maing the assumption that this guy has been there a long time, but it seems like experience is so easily ignored with these knee-jerk type reactions.
MarkE
Greetings, Professor Falken
Aye yi yi. After reading some of the comments to this story on the internets this is not going to end well for the controllers. Some people are even calling for the pilot's heads since they didn't report it. Hello, 'proportion'...I'd like you to meet my friend 'blown out of'.