Video: FAA tape of child directing air traffic at JFK

KendraWilder on March 3, 2010 at 4:59 PM

Take a chill pill will ya? A little fisking shall we?

Anything could have gone wrong in a blink of an eye, and lives could have been lost.

Planes don’t crash in a blink of an eye. Anything happening in a blink of an eye is going to be beyond the control of ATC. IOW, the lives of the passengers will depend on the pilot reacting wrongly or correctly, but an ATC is next to blind in any blink of the eye scenario you can envision.

And, in fact, if such an accident had occurred not only could there have been lives lost, but if the crafts had crashed on the ground who knows how many lives on the ground could have been lost.

The duo were doing departures. Dad wasn’t tracking other planes flying about. All he has to do is make sure that the planes on his cue are cleared to fly when safe. He then tells the kid what to say. No different than working with a trainee.

And the airline would have been sued for bazillions of dollars, not to mention the father going to jail for involuntary manslaughter. How would you think the child would have felt because his dad had to go to jail for just trying to show him something about his job? That kid would have been on a guilt trip for the rest of his life.

That’s assuming a mountain of quilt for a molehill. If anything, Dad would be extra alert having Jr on his lap.

Now consider the pilot who was in radio contact with the child. I’m sure that his plane was stopped, and he had nothing demanding going on which required his attention. That could/would have been prearranged, I’m guessing. But what about all of the other pilots who were listening in to that exchange? What if they were taxiing to the runway? What if they were landing their planes? What if they were taking off?

The only ones listening to them are the ones taking off or cueing to take off. The ones flying, taxiing around or landing are on different channels, depending on where they’re at.

Do any of you know what pilots must do when actively operating a flying craft? They must watch 360 degrees of space around them if at all possible. Even though there are air traffic controllers watching via radar, that doesn’t guarantee that at some split second some other aircraft wouldn’t suddenly be buffeted by wind sheer, or lose power, or have landing gear lock up, which might cause them to veer suddenly into the path of other aircraft landing or taking off or just taxiing. That’s why it’s crucial for the pilot to have absolute focus on what they’re doing at all times.

You’re obssessed by these unrealistic split-second scenarios.
1) Windshear -nothing for ATC to do in that split second and the pilot has seconds to do something if not in the critical zone between recovery & hard landing.
2) Lose power? More deadly to lose power on take-off than landing — either way beyond ATC’s ability to help in that “split-second”.
3)Landing gear lock-up? Huh? Again, anything happening to the plane is on the pilot and if he has time, he’ll relay the problem to ATC to clear traffic for him. Pretty much like Sully telling ATC to “wait one” while dealing with the emergency at hand. ATC only knows what the pilot tells him and can “see” for him if traffic is nearby.

To be listening in, and let’s not forget the surprise factor in hearing a child’s voice on the radio giving what sounds like orders to another pilot, talk about distracting, …. to be listening in to that exchange would cause the non-involved pilots to be looking at their co-pilots in surprise, and making casual comments about what the heck is going on. All the while the pilots and co-pilots are distracted form the task at hand which should have their complete attention and focus.

I haven’t heard anything relating to pilots being distracted from their job by a kid clearing planes for take-off. Unless you know more than what was related in this story.

That one seemingly innocent interaction involving a dad who was showing his kid what his job involved potentially place thousands of lives in jeopardy. If I’d been a passenger on one of the planes where the pilot was distracted just as we were landing or taking off, and I found out about it, you bet I would have marched at first opportunity to the airliner’s desk to start filing a series of serious complaints, ending with FAA complaints.

Shows what you know. What does an airline have to do with what gors on in the tower?

That the father/air traffic controller sought permission in advance would seem to be supported by the fact that his supervisor has been suspended as well. If I were the airliner and the FAA, they’d both be canned for unnecessarily jeopardizing so many lives.

Again, what’s with the airliner? Supervisor was suspended because like a captain of ship/plane, he’s responsible for anything and everything in his purview.

People like them know every single day they’re at work just how dangerous air traffic control can be and how crucial it is that they be able to have single-minded focus on their work.

Actually, ATC can be a boring & monotonous job. 99.9% of the time, it’s just choreographing to a tempo. Don’t believe everything you see from Hollywood.

I hope that the “rules” are tightened up after this incident. There is no excuse for this happening. None.

Psst. If the rules are tightened up, it’s because this story got out and hyped by both the media and Chicken Littles.

AH_C on March 3, 2010 at 9:57 PM