maven&meddler

Alright, everybody needs to take a deep breath here. This kid was NOT directing traffic that was in the air or in danger of doing anything more than making the ‘fuzz’ look sillier than it usually does.

The air traffic controllers at JFK do an awesome job in one of the most difficult aviation control environments in the world. My husband, Capt. Maven, has flown into and out of JFK many times over his professional aviation career and he wasn’t perturbed by this ‘childish’ incident.

Capt. Maven has said more than once that pilots going in and out of JFK had better pull their heads out of the dark place, because these JFK controllers are just that sharp and on top of it. You don’t want to be on the back side of their power curve.

That kids were being allowed up in the tower during the late departure bank to Europe - well, that might be a bit sketchy. Better to have them there during an off-peak time. People are allowed to visit air traffic control facilities. That’s not unusual.

Dad Controller was obviously feeding the kid a script as the heavy iron was driving around on the ground and this hasn’t got anything to do with the regrettable incident where a controller was yakking it up on the phone with his girlfriend as an aircraft dropped off the radar.

Another thing to note: not every controller is controlling aircraft which are in the air. There are controllers that are assigned to Approach, Departure and Tower. Ground controllers, well, control aircraft that are taxing around the airport. Sounds like Dad was doing this duty, which can get hectic as you’ll hear below, but seldom to the point of tragedy.

The flap all stems from getting caught, then the feds all have to get their feathers in a big fluff in order to prove they’re on the ball and paying attention.

Would I want to be a passenger on an airplane - in the air - with a kid reading the script? No.

That wasn’t the case here.

I do hope this controller gets his job back. I’ll bet he never tries it again.

Capt. Maven just stepped in to listen to the JFK tower video … and says “.… tempest in a teapot.”