Child Directed Air Traffic

IAAP, and I wouldn’t have minded. As long as traffic wasn’t heavy and the kid was told exactly what to say, I don’t see why it would have been such a big deal. I think it’s great to bring your kids to work like that and show them what you do everyday.

I caught the very tail end of this on the radio and assumed something horrible had happened, and I come on here and see it was just some kid talking to pilots? Jeez. The child said what the father would’ve said anyway, the pilots seemed to be aware of what was going on and acted accordingly, I fail to see how this is unprofessional….

It’s not like the FAA doesn’t have more important things worry about or anything.

I’m a helicopter pilot, and it doesn’t bother me. As long as the dad told the kid what to say and when to say it, it’s not a big deal. Woulda been kinda nifty to have a kid talk to me on the radio….

Doesn’t bother me one bit. The father was right there probably telling the kid what to say. It would’ve been different if this kid was there talking random nonsense with no adult supervision, but that wasn’t the case.

When I was a little kid (around ’80), I once got to fly in the cockpit with my dad, then an airline pilot. He had me speak over the radio to Chicago as we approached. He told me exactly what to say, it was just something like the flight # and whatnot. He did it as a joke for the traffic controllers, for them to hear a little boy’s voice on the other end.
It was a good joke and a thrill for me, and no harm done. Of course that was a different time for airlines (flying in the cockpit?!).

@Gordon Daily

I doubt that there is anything classified going on in the civilian ATC towers. Are random people allowed up there? I would sure hope not. But it does not seem likely that this guy’s kid was a trained terrorist or anything.

Was it the most common sense thing to do? Probably not, but I bet it was a real treat for the kid, and that is pretty priceless in my book.

The kid sure brightened those pilots’ day, you can hear it in their voices.
Clearing a plane for take-off is the best time to let a kid talk on the radio, because the plane is sitting still on the runway, with nothing threatening nearby.
No chance of a crash or mid-air collision.

I think the reaction of the administration is disproportioned and I feel sad at the idea of the consequences, the guy is at risk of losing his job for this, and the poor boy, how is he going to cope with the guilty feeling he certainly has now.

And as usual the media coverage (including outside the US) was airing the news as if this event was a major safety concern, while indeed the take-off messages are not a very potentiallly dangerous situation, if you hear the radio communications, you can hear the pilots were really cheerful.

Not even close to being an issue. Air Traffic Controllers are a responsible lot, and I would not expect any degree of consequence. The alarmist media and the culture of Zero Tolerance is at fault for not placing this in proper context. At least the kid didn’t do something truly heinous like bring a butter knife to school.

This really is a non issue for me that the FAA has completely blown out of proportion. I really hope they don’t fire the guy or anything.