OT - Uptight Nation just got a little higher blood pressure
Did you ever go to work with your dad, pressing a few buttons in the crane as he directed you, or helping the secretary sort mail? Yeah, you can't do that anymore.
Child talks to a few pilots from air traffic control, gets dad suspended.
The kid was under the close supervision of his Dad the whole time, never gave any critical direction, and caused no problems whatsoever. Yeah, lets fire this guy! What an unprofessional jerk!
I guess the FAA doesn't DO "take your child to work" day.
Tough line to ride, but this seems harmless.
All I ever did was play with magnets at my dad's desk, but it was the best part of my week every time. Walking through server rooms is so badass when you're seven.
It seems pretty harmless, but given everything that has happened recently, it probably wasn't the smartest thing to do either. I hope they don't fire the dad, though.
I would be more okay with them coming down hardline on this if I didn't hear all the horror stories of plane maintenance from my pilot cousin. There's no point in being all uptight about the air traffic control if you're not censuring airlines for sending out planes with only half the brakes working.
I'm pretty sure there is greater risk involved in the traffic control than every-day maintenance. 50% effective maintenance of day-to-day issues, while definitely undesirable, would probably cause fewer disasters than 50% effective air traffic control
I think it's entirely reasonable to suspend the guy. It's not that this one instance was a big deal, but you've got to set the precedent that such behavior is unacceptable. Let people cross one line and someone will be sure to cross the next.
Tell that to my cousin who landed, nearly flipped the plane over into the grass, and was later told, "Oh yeah... that won't go on your record. That was a known problem with that plane. We'll get it fixed soon."
(For the record, he quit that airline about two weeks later and that plane was still being flown the same way.)
If airlines are negligent about mechanical issues, that's awful, but does that justify negligence in other areas?
I think the guy should get a reprimand but that is all. The thing about work is, some jobs you may be responsible for other peoples lives such as the case here. While if you man a desk what harm is there if my child presses the link that kicks off a compile? Need to be more careful in certain environments.
It does seem harmless, but ATC (especially at a field like JFK) is an extremely exacting job. The controller shouldn't even have had the kid up there. That's really on his supervisor.
FYI, control towers at busy fields aren't the kind of places with lots of side conversations. The SoCal ATC is in a dark, very quiet room. I've toured there in my capacity as a military pilot, and that just isn't the type of place for kids.
I saw this on the cable news networks (why do I watch that crap?) It seems to be waaay overblown. Obviously the FAA can't let the guy get away with it because it would set a bad precedent, but I don't think he should be fired either. Perhaps a 90 day suspension or some such thing. One thing to keep in mind is that he wasn't directing planes in the air, he was directing ground traffic. Obviously that is still dangerous at an airport as busy as JFK, but it's not like he was granting landing clearances or anything. The pilots seemed to get a kick out of it too. All in all, dangerous yes, but nothing to get too worked up about.
I love how the FAA talks about how the kid got into a "secure" area like it was some of threat to security. Yeah, I bet there was a high risk that Junior was going to blow the tower up. For that matter it clearly wasn't very secure.
I'm assuming that dad was sitting there with a second headset on and feeding the kid lines, and able to jump right in and correct any mistakes and the like. I heard one clip where the kid clears a jet for takeoff and then the father comes on and confirms it and starts talking to the pilot to actually handle it.
On the morning news they interviewed this pilot who went on about how this was a risk and everything. They also had clips of the kid talking, and it was clearly the voice of a kid. I was thinking "Look genius, if you'd fly your plane into the side of a terminal because some squeaky little voice on the radio told you to, you have no business flying a jumbo get."
C'mon, we're not talking about a job in the library or some boring mid-management office somewhere. Taking any kid in there is completely dumb and liable to result in getting his ass in hot water, and this guy should have known that. Firing him might be a bit harsh, but he was the one who put his own job in jeopardy, especially since he apparently didn't get prior authorization from his superiors.
A surgeon could take his own kid into surgery, sit him in the corner 15 feet away all scrubbed up with a mask and gown on, and then do a gall bladder operation. The surgeon might argue that his kid was absolutely no threat to the patient, but somehow I don't think the hospital authorities would see it that way.
A) The guy didn't sneak him in. Everyone knew he was in there.
B) The only time the kid talked to the pilots, the pilots knew not to do anything till they got the official word.
C) The kid being present in the room isn't inherently dangerous, unlike having a kid in a surgical room.
The air-traffic controller is basically the eyes and ears for distant pilots looking to land. You put a kid in there, and he can easily distract those eyes and ears from their job. He should not have been allowed in there.
I don't know, the kid could've reset ground level at minus-200 feet as he was talking planes in like in "Die Hard 2".
I know it seems harmless, but there is potential for mix ups while working as an ATC. They're job is to scan the the skies (or radar) and direct traffic coming in and out of their airspace. They have to tell planes when to land, give them altitude directions, and keep them at a safe distance from other flights. I know the kid was only clearing them for take-off at the direction of his father, but the FAA is pretty clear on its safety regulations, and this was a lapse of judgement. Not the biggest deal, but certainly something that he should have thought through.
We have clearance, Clarence. Roger, Roger. What's your Vector, Victor?
Does he like Gladiator movies?
As long as the pilot's kid wasn't answering the cockpit phone.
It's no wonder a lot of kids don't want to grow up. Hell, I'm 27 and I don't wanna grow up. Because apparently when you grow up, you get a giant stick in your ass, surgically implanted.
You've apparently never been sued. Or never had to fight an insurance company over a claim.
In both cases, you'll discover that having a stick up your ass about doing things "by the book" is a big help.
You let kids in the control tower? What other regulations were you violating?
Ha - as if trial lawyers and insurance companies and such folks weren't among the people with the largest sticks in the ass to begin with.
That's why they win
"In another exchange, the child bantered with the pilot of Aeromexico flight 403, ending the conversation by saying, "Adios, amigos."Awesome.
Bob Griese approves of this message.
There are some jobs that children shouldn't visit. I don't give a fuck if the surgeon's kid isn't causing any trouble, I don't want him assisting.
What if the kid asked as they're closing, "Dad, is that sponge still supposed to be in there?"
and I would change my worldview.