JFK air traffic controller let two kids direct planes: FAA officials
By ANIThursday, March 4, 2010
NEW YORK - The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), investigating a shocking recording of a child giving transmissions to pilots from the air-traffic control tower at the John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, has revealed that the controller’s second child gave directions to two separate planes on February 17.
The revelation came a day after the controller, who brought his son to work and let him direct several planes, and his supervisor were suspended over the February 16 incident.
According to FAA officials, the Kennedy Airport air traffic controller let a second child do the same thing.
On February 16, the controller’s young son had made a total of five transmissions to pilots operating four separate aircrafts.
“JetBlue 171 cleared for takeoff,” The New York Daily News quoted the boy, as saying in his first call.
The controller then gave more detailed instructions to the pilot and said: “This is what you get, guys, when the kids are out of school.”
Talking about the issue, Jim Baker, a retired chief pilot at Delta airlines with forty years of experience, said lives hang on every transmission and the incident raises safety concerns.
“I have never ever heard a small kid in the tower giving instructions for an airplane to take off or cross a runway or any kind of instructions,” Baker said.
John F. Kennedy Airport is the sixth busiest airport in the United States with thousands of planes taking off and landing every day.
Meanwhile, in a statement released to FOX 25 the FAA said: “Pending the outcome of our investigation, the employees involved in this incident are not controlling air traffic. This behavior is not acceptable and does not demonstrate the kind of professionalism expected from all FAA employees.” (ANI)
