When news came through on Wednesday of a six-year old child taking control of one of the busiest airports in the United States, it sounded really stupid. Not surprisingly, an air traffic controller at New York’s JFK airport, the 6th busiest in the States has been suspended and rightly so. It was just fortunate that nothing horrific happened; otherwise we would be hearing one of the world’s greatest cock-ups.
US officials have opened investigations into the incident on February 17th, when most pupils in New York were on a half-term break from school. More reports have come in that a seven-year old girl was allowed similar responsibility by the same individual to take control of the tower, only one week later. The JFK airport handles over 1,000 flights a day and serves 48 million passengers, with normally top-notch quality.
Whether the pilots were annoyed or not, they didn’t sound it on the transcript. In fact, they found the whole incident quite humorous.
TRANSCRIPT OF THE INCIDENT
Child: JetBlue 171 cleared for takeoff.
Male pilot: Cleared for takeoff JetBlue 171.
Man: Here's what you get, guys, when the kids are out of school.
Male pilot: I wish I could bring my kids to work.
Child's voice: JetBlue 171 contact departure.
Male pilot: Over at departure JetBlue 171. Awesome job.
[New transmission]
Child: 403 clear for takeoff
Adult: 403 clear for takeoff. Thank you very much and have a great day.
Child: AirMex 403 contact departure. Adios.
Woman pilot: Contact departure Air Mexico 403. Adios.
Child: Contact departure. Adios amigos.
Man: Adios amigos. Over departure JetBlue 195.
Very quickly, a probe has been launched by the Federal Aviation Administration, who in a statement said: “Pending the outcome of our investigation, the employees involved in this incident are not controlling air traffic. “This behaviour is not acceptable and does not demonstrate the kind of professionalism expected from all FAA employees.”
To conclude, this incident is shocking to hear about and though maybe will see it as bone-starving hilarious, imagine if something bad had happened at JFK on February 17th, no-one would have been laughing then. This was a bad case of just ‘Plane Stupid.’
Yes, definitely not a good move for this father. And to do it twice, as well. Its like some people are stuck in a certain mode at the world we live in, these days.
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