Friday, March 5, 2010

What Do You Think?


By now you've probably already heard the story about the air traffic controller at JFK who let his son and daughter make the announcement to clear a couple of planes for take off.  I must say, I am a little surprised by the harsh reaction.


Now, I am a big fan of "The Rules".  We have rules for a reason, and if rules are broken then there should be consequences.  But WOW, some people are freaking out like this dude took a nap while his toddlers coordinated airplane traffic above New York City.  The air traffic controller was right there - in control of the situation.  And the planes weren't in the air - they were in that long-ass line on the runway waiting to take off.


What do you think?  Should the guy be fired?  Should he be disciplined?

8 comments:

Miss Ginger Grant said...

I steal this from Nutwood Beth's facebook post:

How would you feel if this asshat were your brain surgeon instead of an air traffic controller?

"There sweetie- clip right there. NO! NOT THERE! THERE! NOOOOOOO! Oops!"

And in the control tower, the little brat stands to kill more than just one person!

Besides, kids and airplanes don't mix! Personally, Miss Ginger thinks they should have to be placed in hand luggage that must fit under the seat in front of the mother- where Miss Ginger doesn't have to hear them or watch them slobber!

But that's just me!

Sozo's Blog.com said...

I was actually surprised by the reaction too, David.

I mean, I understand what could have happened, but people are blowing it way out of perportion. It was cute, the pilots enjoyed it, you can tell by how they sounded. It wasn't a big deal and he was in charge. It's not like he was not doing his job, and it's not like others didn't see what was going on.

I mean everyone is like doomsday dramatic. The world is not ending people, everyone is fine. Goodness!

Anonymous said...

Not as bad as the baby wigs, but still pretty deplorable

Anonymous said...

At first I thought it was a bit of an overreaction and how the media reported it didn't help.

However, the controller violated some major rules to do what he did. So what other rules has he violated? How did he get a kid get past all the security? What does this reveal about the security? Is it secure?

the dogs' mother said...

Not fired but both Dad and supervisor need to have some kind of sanctions. To me it just brought up 'what else did they treat with a less than serious attitude'? And when things can go wrong in an instant (Capt. Sully and his bird strike) there should be no ambiguity going on.

MJ said...

OK, my thoughts are these. First, we do know the father was telling the kids what to say, but that in itself could be a problem as to time, etc. and what if the kid did not pronounce a word correctly or indistincly. Also, I have found that co-workers who bring their kids to work (yes, before the great recession I had a very good job) and those children were always a big distraction to everyone else working as someone is needed to more or less look after them. We really need ATC, so I am not in favor of firing this man despite his very poor judgement. I do believe both he and his supervisor should be reprimanded up the ying-yang and placed on an UNPAID leave.

Anonymous said...

Honestly, my first reaction was "what's the big deal?" But reading the comments of others, there are some valid points. Yes, it was cute, and nothing bad happened, but honestly, he probably showed some bad judgement. I don't think he should be fired, but if he broke rules, then there needs to be some sort of consequence.

nitrox11 said...

If I call 999, or in your country 911, I want to know that my call is being answered by a trained professional, not their kid. I also want the same kind of assurance from those who run the trains I go to work on every day - driven by a trained driver, not their kid they happen to be 'watching'.

I CERTAINLY want to know that when my butt is strapped into an aircraft filled with thousands of gallons of fuel, that it's not going to go up like a firework cos some guy brought his kid into work and let him say something stupid down the mike to a pilot who didn't know he was talking to a kid and turned left only to hit another plane, also filled with thousands of gallons of aircraft fuel. Shit happens, let's not help it on its way eh?

I don't give a shit if this makes me sound 'out of proportion'.

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