Kid Directs Traffic at NY's JFK Airport

(CBS)  The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating how a child was allowed to direct air traffic at the nation's sixth-busiest airport - New York's JFK International.

And an FAA official told CBS News Wednesday that the agency learned during its initial investigation that the same air traffic controller, Glenn Duffy, brought a different child, presumably also his child, into the tower the following night.

CBS News Correspondent Kelly Wallace reports the first incident, on Feb. 16, involved a child on the radio to pilots of planes awaiting takeoff. The boy was allowed to make at least five transmissions to commercial jets.

In tapes obtained by CBS News, the boy is clearly heard:

Boy: AMX 403, Contact departures. Adios.

Pilot: Contact departures. Aeromexico 403. Adios.

An adult -- reportedly a controller -- made sure the pilots were in on the joke.

"That's what you get guys when the kids are out of school!" the adult says on the tapes.

Another transmission from the tape:

Boy: Jet Blue 171 cleared for takeoff.

Pilot: Cleared for takeoff. Jet blue 171.

Boy: Jet Blue 171 -- contact departures.

Pilot: Over to departures. Jet blue 171. Awesome job. (chuckle)

The child's voice heard on the 17th sounds younger than the first and the child's interactions with pilots was much more limited than in the first incident.

In a statement, the FAA says, "Pending ... our investigation, the employees involved in this incident are not controlling air traffic. This behavior is not acceptable and does not demonstrate the kind of professionalism expected from all faa employees."

The FAA confirms to CBS News that the two employees who have been suspended are the controller who brought his son into the tower (the FAA confirms it is his voice on the recording) and the supervisor who "tolerated" the incident.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association says, "We do not condone this type of behavior in any way. It is not indicative of the highest professional standards that controllers set for themselves and exceed each and every day in the advancement of aviation safety."

Air control towers are highly secure areas, Wallace points out, and it's still not clear how this could have been allowed.

CBS News Travel Editor Peter Greenberg says, "You're dealing with two separate violations here: access to the tower itself, and access to radio frequencies. And you're dealing with a potentially dangerous situation. … The bottom line here is any air traffic controller on the ground in that particular case who was handling departure control would be multi-tasking, talking to more than one pilot at the same time. In order for his son, or whoever the kid is, to make those radio calls, he had to relinquish control of the microphone and stop talking to those other pilots.

"You're talking about multiple runways with both departure and approach, and one miscue can lead to disaster. The good news is, of course, if there is any good news out of this, is that this happened on the ground, and not at an air traffic control center, where you're dealing with many more planes in the air in terms of aircraft separation."

Usually, says Greenberg, "No one has an opportunity to talk on that microphone other than a licensed air traffic controller.

" ... Ironically, this incident happens at a time when the air traffic controller staffing levels are at a 16-year low. This is one silly way to actually promote that incident."

To hear the tapes and see Wallace's report, click on the video below:


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[Bod-ace]

It's a sad world we live in today, perhaps it's because I'm 45 and remember a time when people had faith in the competence of profesionals doing there jobs. I can remember a time when children were welcomed onto the flight deck of aircraft and allowed UNDER SUPERVISION to make small corrections, I myself did this twice and yes I was allowed to use the radio.
We trust these people everyday to do there job and keep us safe, dont you think they would use the same common sense with these young visitors, I for one cant see them saying "sit there boy and play with the buttons all you like I'll be next door making a coffee".
Mountains from mole hills comes to mind for me.

[jjfrost500]

against regulations- but its ok children are exempt because there so darn cute

[jjfrost500]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroflot_Flight_593-all u need is half a secound for the father to turn his back for a child to get his fingers on the wrong switch

[midofthewater]

Get a life CBS. Shocking and alarming the public over something like this is ridiculous!

[formrusmcsgt]

"You're talking about multiple runways with both departure and approach, and one miscue can lead to disaster.
---
And half the posters here say "so what?"

Incredible.

[tom_gwynn]

You're talking like these kids were unsupervised, just playing games. They weren't. There were on trainee mikes backed up with experienced air controllers, no different from dozens of trainees handling air traffic every day. The safety (or unsafety) of the situation is determined by the information they were transmitting to the pilots. We know from the tapes that information was spot-on correct. Whether the words were spoken by a 7 year old, a 45 year old, or a 99 year old with Alzheimer's is irrelevant to safety as long as the information was correct, and it was. The public was never in danger from these kids. Were I judging the case, I'd give dad a slap on the wrist, the kids some jr. air wings, and tell dad I expected to see his kids in ATC school as soon as they turned 18. The country is short enough on ATC's as it is, let's stop making a mountain out of a mole hill.

[formrusmcsgt]

by zimmmomma March 4, 2010 7:14 PM EST
I am truly saddened and ashamed by CBS and other news programs. Although it was wrong for that father to allow his children to direct the air traffic. It is equally as wrong for you to blast them and their father all over the news.
---
Yeah, safety breaches should just be swept under a rug and forgotten.....

Sheesh.

[AmericanWolf]

When did American's loose all sense of perspective, common sense and any grasp on reality? There were NEVER any lives in jeopardy or any real hard done. The problem as I see it is that we left the concept of real journalism as a thing of the past and replaced it with the current brand of "Newsertainment" in which we have people with no real investigative or journalistic experience (or integrality) read sensualistic sound bites intended to shock and alarm the public and we sadly have a general public so incredibly gullible and unable to think logically through even a simple situation that they believe whatever nonsense they hear without question. I so long for the days of Walter Cronkite * SIGH*

[obbbl]

Let Dad pay for a babysitter like the rest of the employeed people in the US. Most of us can not take kids into our workplaces, guess you'd like to see a nurse try to care for her patient's while trying to keep up with her kids because she couldn't get a sitter. Much like a nurse, lives are dependent on the ATC's attention to detail and expertise, which cannot be given at 100% if children are running amuck in the tower.

[Historyinthemaking]

Seriously...come on...seriously, I just joined to say ...SERIOUSLY! This is your news worthy event? I am not sure where we are going with this people, but it is a sad and scary place. Seriously..wow, I am going to curl up and pretend this never happened. I thought "the Tiger Hunt" was crazy or "Keeping up with the Obamas" was sick but this...Seriously!

[Historyinthemaking]

Seriously...come on...seriously, I just joined to say ...SERIOUSLY! This is your news worthy event? I am not sure where we are going with this people, but it is a sad and scary place. Seriously..wow, I am going to curl up and pretend this never happened. I thought "the Tiger Hunt" was crazy or "Keeping up with the Obamas" was sick but this...Seriously!