from Mouse:
WIll all those saying it was fine please also answer the question where do you draw the line and how?
I wrote in another post that
I think it's prolly better having a doting father / son (or doting father / daughter) combo doing this than having a controller who is doing it merely to impress a girlfriend into giving him a knobjob later...
It's not the first time a "guest speaker" has talked to a pilot via tower equipment, and most likely won't be the last.
Also, I'm not saying it's fine. Had I been a passenger on one of the flights, I would have had to take a "Zen Moment" after seeing it on the news.
But having kept up with it, and having read approx 50 news articles and 500 posts here and there, I find it's not the end of the world, not even the beginning of it.
A few people have mentioned the constructive side of this, either here or on the "blue website with all the great photos."
What if it inspires one of the kids to become a controller, and become an excellent one who can be credited with saving lives? Isn't the tiny increase in risk NOW worth that in the future?
Also, what if all the coverage and rabid tongue-wagging surrounding this event un-inspires a controller who is not as adept at his job from doing the very thing I mentioned above? Could that potentially save lives?
I realize this is a hot issue, and never will the outlier sides agree. Some feel it's fine, some feel a head or two should roll.
But I think more can be learned if we all keep it in perspective.
It could have been a disaster if all the players involved were complete idiots.
Apparently, the guy's kids are well spoken and articulate clearly, and apparently he has a wonderful relationship with them.
Apparently, he chose his times well and conducted things well enough so there were no incidents, no complaints, and no noise until FOX picked it up.
Someone suggested he should have done exactly what he did - but at a G/A airport somewhere on a Sunday, and I agree with this.
But to answer your "draw the line" question...
Somewhere "south" of this brou-ha-ha, I would say.
It was a less-than-smart thing to do, but in keeping up with this topic I've read posts from controllers who had co-workers who read newspapers/magazines while maintaining space, posts from pilots who claimed to have recognized audio from TV programs and porn movies in the background while talking to ATC.
That, I think, is where you need to go drawing your line.
At least dad and kids were fully concentrating on the task.
Certainly not in keeping with best policies or regulations (?) but also certainly not the worst-ever transgression.
There are far more important things to worry about.
In reply to
The press as an entity are to blame here - what do they know about aviation?
etrang writes:
The press is to blame? Rediculous. The controller is responsible for his actions, his supervisors are responsible for theirs and their response to this. The regulating authority is responsible for their response.
Although it seems impossible, both are right.
Almost nobody would have known about the situation if it hadn't made FOX in New York. I don't think the aviation buffs who log in to liveATC had much of an issue with it either.
And, the controller is indeed responsible - he hasn't denied it. His supers haven't either, and have taken the appropriate steps. The FAA is taking the appropriate steps as well.
Aviation is filled with near-misses, and those represent the best learning tools.
One thing I respect is the disciplined approach to find the best balance between flying and dying.
If you do the former, you might also experience the latter; sheer statistics say it's so.
I've heard traffic control described as an art. I've heard it described as a discipline. I tend to think it's both.
And it's not the easiest career to attract great whopping numbers of the best and brightest to - it is perceived as being a very stressful avocation.
Maybe we shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater here. Given all the emotion this event has stirred up, perhaps it would be good to look at it as a learning event, something to model recruitment from.
Don't go copying and pasting and quoting and shooting down just yet.
This guy obviously loves his job. He obviously loves his kids. If he didn't, he wouldn't have mixed the two together, be-damned the outcome.
Could the situation be turned into a "positive" thing to appeal to parents just like him, to possibly entice getting more "2nd generation" controllers into the mix?
Just a thought...