An air-traffic controller put passengers in double jeopardy by letting his 9-year-old son direct planes at JFK - and repeating the stunt with the boy's twin sister the next day, probers said Wednesday night.
Controller Glenn Duffy was already in trouble for allowing his son to give instructions to pilots preparing for take-off on Feb. 16.
I have a problem with the phraseology there. (Besides the presumption that passengers were in jeopardy.) He might've already made the first error that got him in trouble, but he wasn't "in trouble" until the story broke two weeks later.
The saying "Rules are for the guidance of wise men, and the blind obedience of fools" is rather popular amongst PPruners.
Wow. Great saying, and it really cuts to the heart of the issue of the "rules violation" aspect of this. (I don't spend a whole lot of time here, but I'm married to an ATCO, and these kind of stories always draw me here to see what the professional aviation community is thinking.)
Fine, but if you do decide to ignore the rules then you should expect to take responsibility for your actions. This controller will soon be looking for a new job - I hope they feel it was worth it.
I assume you mean that you should expect to take responsibility for
the consequences arising from your actions. I don't disagree, but the fact of the matter is that, had the media not gotten wind of this, the consequences would have been nil. Controller Duffy may well lose his job, but that will come as a result of the media frenzy over this, and nothing else.