A kid in control tower in JFK

[andyouare?]

And he died?

No, andy hung tough. Louie died.

Over Macho Grande?

No. I don't think I'll ever get over Macho Grande.

 

[Smallpotatoes]

I wonder if the dad will have to go to a Turkish prison.

 

[Double J]

Here is the audio if anyone wants to hear it.

http://www.gadling.com/2010/03/03/child-jfk-air-traffic-control-tower-faa-not-amused/

I don't see the big deal on this and it sounded like the pilot knew what was going on.

Hell, it was an adult voice on there that messed something up and said "Sorry." Kid didn't enunciate well, which would be the biggest concern.

They should have had Barbara Billingsley there. She speaks jive.

 

[Bamadog]

Reporter: What kind of plane is it?
Johnny: Oh, it's a big pretty white plane with red stripes, curtains in the windows and wheels and it looks like a big Tylenol.

Steve McCroskey: Johnny, what can you make out of this?
[Hands him the weather briefing]
Johnny: This? Why, I can make a hat or a brooch or a pterodactyl...

The kid shouldn't have been up there. Period. Father should be fired, flogged, put in the stocks, forced to watch three days worth of Obama speeches with his eyes taped open and generally lampooned as a inhuman ******* with no concern for the flying public.

Even if the "Adios Amigos" bit is hilarious.

 

[Small Town Guy]

If Pushing Tin taught us anything, it's that these guys are cowboys, living on the edge, seconds away from disaster and a month removed from a bad marriage. If bringing Junior in for a shift helps alleviate some stress, so be it.

 

[21]

STG--if a guy is that close to the edge, he shouldn't be landing airplanes.

And isn't it so goshdarn cute it is when little kids get to drive, sitting on dad's lap? Love that. Adorable.

Dad is lucky the kid didn't misunderstand the line and say the wrong thing, or decide to be even cuter and make up the lines all by his big boy self.

 

[Moderator1]

They talked this a.m. about an Aeroflot pilot in the early 90s who let his kids - 16 and 12 - FLY a plane. Yep, it crashed. Everyone died.

 

[MacDaddy]

I can't wait for the SWAT team's bring your kid to work day.

 

[Ace]

They talked this a.m. about an Aeroflot pilot in the early 90s who let his kids - 16 and 12 - FLY a plane. Yep, it crashed. Everyone died.

That guy definitely should be fired then.

 

[Armchair_QB]

If Pushing Tin taught us anything, it's that these guys are cowboys, living on the edge, seconds away from disaster and a month removed from a bad marriage. If bringing Junior in for a shift helps alleviate some stress, so be it.

"Big sky. Lotsa room."

 

[Double J]

They talked this a.m. about an Aeroflot pilot in the early 90s who let his kids - 16 and 12 - FLY a plane. Yep, it crashed. Everyone died.

That guy definitely should be fired then.

"Cross him off, then!"

 

[PCLoadLetter]

They talked this a.m. about an Aeroflot pilot in the early 90s who let his kids - 16 and 12 - FLY a plane. Yep, it crashed. Everyone died.

Immortalized in the Elvis Costello song "Daddy Can I Turn This?", which was apparently the last thing anyone heard on the radio transmission.

 

[Boom_70]

I thought the "adios amigos" was a tad racist. Bob Griese was suspended for making a taco joke.

 

[Dyno]

There was an article in GQ (I think) about a year or so ago, about the craziness that is the tower at LaGuardia. How the equipment is antiquated, how the FAA (or the NTSB, I can't remember) and the unions don't get along and how dangerous the entire situation is for the overworked staff in the insanely overcrowded skies over NYC.

Having read that, I can't find this situation any less than alarming. Maybe if it had happened at a smaller airport I might not see it that way.

 

[Iron_chet]

FWIW on an airline industry board I frequent nobody is seeing this as a real big deal.

 

[Boom_70]

FWIW on an airline industry board I frequent nobody is seeing this as a real big deal.

Worth nothing to me. If I'm sitting on plane I want pilot fully focused on getting me from Point A to Point B.
Vaya Con Dios Flight Controller.

 

[TigerVols]

If you're an aerojunkie like me, and you listen to ATC from around the country all the time, you frequently hear casual conversations between pilots and towers.

OTOH, you usually don't hear too much lighthearted anything out of a big hub ground control tower.

I fall on the fire-the-bastards side of this argument.

 

[User 1019]

Best line of the story, "Adios amigo." I doubt that's your usual air traffic controller verbage.

Well, that depends.

English is the standard ATC language, but if the pilot and the ATC controller are comfortable in another language, they can use that as well. And there's always some sort of "See ya" or "Good day" verbage that gets tagged on at the end.

Disagree. When I'm sitting on the Runway 23, waiting for a clearance, I don't want to hear something that sounds like, "French, French, French, French. Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Runway 23,"

I have kind of mixed emotions on this one. Obviously, this probably wasn't a great idea, but I think it's more a "no harm, no foul" situation. Safety is priority number one and this lacks that.

Again, but I don't want to find out the hard way.

Neal Boortz was talking about this this morning. He's a pilot as well and he had little issue with it. I tend to agree with him.

At a less busy airport, yeah. At JFK, no.

Wasn't the plane the kid was talking to on the ground?

Not all of them. When you hear, "Contact Departure," that's a tower controller releasing the pilot to contact the air traffic controllers who separate traffic on IFR plans or those on VFR plans who choose to flight follow with ATC.

Those he told "clear for takeoff ..." were on the ground.

 

[Boom_70]

They have already had 1 mishap in NY area this year when the guy at Teteboro was talking to his girlfriend while providing flight guidance. That was the one where plane crashed into tour copter over the Hudson.

There is just no room for any possible distraction.

 

[21]

Forget about the kid talking to pilots, why are there any kids (or guests of any age) in there at all?? 'Dad, I need a dollar....where's the bathroom...i spilled my Coke...when are we leaving...'

I get that the dad in this case had a no-school emergency...but if you're in that job, you need a backup plan in place.