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Maybe "Take Your Kids To Work Day" Is Not A Great Idea For Air Traffic Controllers
The FAA is investigating an incident where a child was allowed to direct traffic at JFK last month. If you listen to the audio it seems pretty clear that no one was ever put in real danger, but rules are rules and certainly there for a reason. It's fun to watch the reporters try to gin up outrage over the potential peril this situation put passengers in. I mean, it's much easier to talk about that than about the woefully inadequate system of child care we have in this country, right?
This is so stupid. A parent letting a kid 'direct traffic' amounts to telling the kid, "OK, now push the button and say this." The actual directing of planes is a puzzle they work out on a computer screen and that the kid obviously had nothing to do with.
When I was little (probably 6 or 7) my dad let me 'pilot' a private plane for a while. This consisted of holding the wheel in the copilot's seat. I turned the wheel a little, to see what would happen. We banked. Dad corrected our course with his set of controls. CRISIS NARROWLY AVERTED!
Yea, no shit. I'm concerned by actual issues or non-issues whose irrelevance is so extreme that it's awesome. This is just crap to fill up CNN.
They've now uncovered actual video footage of this incident happening. Check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No9sIvwP2us
Awesomeness
This night explain why my JetBlue flight from LA to JFK last month was diverted to Bikini Bottom. At least the pilots, Patrick and Squidward, handled things in a professional manner.
This is outrageous. My parakeet had to be 18 before he was allowed up there.
NBC is too stupid to know that it don't know what it's talking about. Did the kids cause any operational errors? No, so shut up.
As for the "adios" scandal, controllers have been greeting pilots and bidding them farewell in the pilots' native language for decades.
There's now multi-perspective coverage on the issue: http://bit.ly/9SHmmp