The FAA says it has benched an undisclosed number of air traffic controllers from their regular duties as they investigate an incident in which a young boy is heard giving instructions to departing aircraft from the JFK Airport control tower. According to a recording found on the air traffic control database at LiveATC.net, the incident happened on February 17th.
At one point during the course of the child’s five transmissions, an adult male voice in the tower explains the situation to local air traffic: “This is what you get, guys, when the kids are out of school.”
The pilots involved seem to get a kick out of hearing a kid on the radio, but Jim Baker, a retired Delta Air Lines chief pilot, interviewed by Fox 25 News in Boston (which broke this story), thinks it’s no laughing matter.
“I’m sure the controller is probably a tremendous controller, but not a wise move, not a wise move. Not in this day and age,” said Baker.
Truth be told we might be a little jealous of the kid on the radio. Based on the recordings, the youngster did a great job and we’re sure he had an amazingly fun time doing it. But controllers sometimes make mistakes even without the distraction of children in the tower.
