Child Directs Airplane Traffic At JFK, FAA Investigates (AUDIO)

An audio clip has been released with the distinct voice of a young child directing air traffic over one of the nation's busiest airports.

Officials at the Federal Aviation Administration and a union representing air traffic controllers at John F. Kennedy International Airport may have mouthed the legendary words of Ted Striker.

Surely you can't be serious.

Both released statements to My Fox Boston condemning the behavior and indicating that the employees involved are no longer controlling air traffic pending the outcome of an investigation. FAA officials have confirmed the authenticity of the audio to the station. The child apparently made five transmissions.

While authorities were not amused by the incident, voices of adults on the radio channel sounded like they were in high spirits. One pilot told the child he was doing an "awesome job."

A voice from the tower chimed in, "That's what you get guys when the kids are out of school."

The audio is undated and it's unclear if the tower's comment had anything to do with recent storms in the region. Schools in New York City experienced two snow days last month. There had only been two similar cancellations in the past six years.

Despite an old tradition of letting children visit the cockpit of planes during flight, there is no indication that they have ever been allowed such access to secure airport control towers. My Fox Boston reports:

Jim Baker, a retired chief pilot at Delta airlines with forty years of experience, says lives hang on every transmission and this 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" says Baker.

LISTEN:

Comments

[3in1]

03:10 PM on 03/06/2010

My kid work with me at Chicago Center. He loved to put the flight progress strips in the plastic holders.
Back during strike we brought in girls and Eastern stews in to help out. Babbitt and LaHood are covering for their poor testimonies with Senator Bond. Sounds like JFK controller pull a plebe stunt with superviser standing by. Now they have closed every tower and center to visitors. Why doesn't Babbitt and LaHood get that contract signed with the controllers.

[jordanair]

08:39 AM on 03/05/2010

but i hope do not make the kids dad lost job.

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[win2kpro]

07:39 PM on 03/04/2010

As a pilot I think this incident has been blown out of proportion by the media and some posters. From some of the hysteric comments I see you would think the kid was alone in the tower directing traffic.

The kid was simply relaying what his dad was telling him. Someone please explain to me what harm was done?

[MaMaWorksAtHome]

02:59 PM on 03/04/2010

I am kinda half-n-half on this subject while I do agree that the FAA and the media needs to get a sense of humor as the situation was not that serious. On the other hand the dad should have let the kid direct maybe just one plane and not several planes.

[AirViceMarshalPark]

02:49 PM on 03/04/2010

"I logged my first flight hours at FIVE, took command for the first time at 7, and earned my wings by age 11."

You can't log legal flight hours unless you have a Student Pilot's license and the minimum age for that is 16. You can't be pilot-in-command without at least a Private Pilot's license license and the minimum age for that is 17. The only kind of "wings" you can earn at age 11 would be water wings.

I am Commercial, Multi and Instrument rated and have been a pilot for 50 years. I got my Student license at age 16.

[AcaciaJules]

03:08 PM on 03/04/2010

Yeah, I know of lots of children who have a private pilots licence. What about those twin girls, who had to use blocks on the the peddles just to fly?!

[Waltfl]

01:37 PM on 03/04/2010

Jus for the record. Another article, that sheds a little different light on incidents like this.

news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100304/ap_on_bi_ge/us_air_traffic_controllers

[Jazzcomedian]

12:36 PM on 03/04/2010

The pilots seemed okay with it, so obviously they didn't see a danger. In fact, they seemed to enjoy it. Obviously the dad was handling everything important, and the kid was just repeating the instructions, not making decisions. Oh the humanity. All the hysteria and indignation is overdone. If they fire the controller that will be a travesty.

[mcmutter]

07:32 AM on 03/04/2010

Bestest daddy in the whole wide world .........

[reallymolly]

10:48 AM on 03/05/2010

I don't see how the guy was being a bad dad at all. Seems like he's just bad at following the rules of his job.

[mcmutter]

12:57 PM on 03/05/2010

Actually I goota side with the dad - other than having family in the workroom there was no real danger - all the ground traffic instructions were acknowledged and monitored, everyone on those planes remained safe.

[JFetch]

03:59 AM on 03/04/2010

Everyone is making a bigger deal about this than is needed in my opinion. Nobody was in any danger. He did break the rules, but that's between his boss and him(and the TSA), not politicians. The pilots even sounded like they enjoyed it.

[tompoe]

12:05 AM on 03/04/2010

Such a cute boy. The father must be very proud. His boy now knows it's all right to do things that are not permitted, if he knows the right people. This is all about values, and no consequences should be realized. We can all look forward to the video on Youtube, showing the boy at show-and-tell in class next week. Let's see how the teacher handles things.

[bluejoni2525]

11:51 PM on 03/03/2010

Children should not be directing airplanes period !!! The parent should be fired at once for horrendous judgement !!! Children do not belong in the control tower !!! This is terrible to hear what kind of parent allows this ????

[Jazzcomedian]

12:39 PM on 03/04/2010

If they fire that controller over this, that'll be a travesty.

[born right]

08:48 PM on 03/03/2010

Crank up the phony indignant outrage machines!! Oh the horror! Where is that indignation while the children run rampant in congress? Many adults aren't as articulate as that child. No harm, no foul. I think a beer summit is in order. So much for that kid aspiring to be an ATC after this.

[gfs5541]

08:03 PM on 03/03/2010

whizzobutter said to me:

"Here we go. Another genius opinion from another genius who obviously doesn't fly much."

Yeah, you're right. I don't fly much, but I know certain facts from this incident:

(1). No one died from this.
(2). The kid was supervised by his parent and their colleagues at the time of the incident if you bothered to listen to the audio.

Am I a genius or what?

[smiley cyrus]

07:25 PM on 03/03/2010

The job the kids did was GROUND CONTROL....that is, the movement of airplanes from the terminal over to the runway. None of the aircraft were in the air, although a misstep or mistaken word could have put two planes at the same place/time.

It was not a good idea, but having said that, it appears that none of the pilots felt threatened by a kid guiding them from a taxiway to the line for a takeoff slot.

Yes it's serious, maybe a firing is in order, but the media has gone hyper over this. It can be handled within the agency. If there are going to be congressional hearings, I'd rather they look at the banks and the Fed.

[Todd12345]

04:18 PM on 03/04/2010

No , ground control handles aircraft to the runway.
The local controller handles arivals and departures . IE clear for takeoff = local controller