"Salus Populi Suprema Est Lex" *
cicero (106 BC - 43 BC)
Roll on the floor laughing. Tears, phlegm, the works! My wife doesn't see the funny side though, at all....
Did the ATCO err? absolutely, [probably] broke local, and FAA rules, posible even FCC.
Did the Pilots err? possibly.
Did the ATCO Supervisor err? If aware of the event, absolutely.
Was safety jeopardised? probably not.
Was it correct? absolutely not.
Should it occur? No.
Was it funny? ROFL, LOL.
Should parties be sanctioned? Absolutely. But I would think with understanding of the human condition.
Would it show up as a question on the ATCO's fitness for promotion? Would be a open question on supervisory skills/ability to maintain a compliant program....
We preach and teach human factors, tacitly acknowledging the human element of events, yet cannot see that this is also the strength of a system; it is not rigid, it is flexible. Computer based system are perfect, until they fail completely (MS BSOD, NASA Mars Climate Orbiter sort of stuff).
An excessively harsh penalty to the ATCO for being human and erring, would appear to ultimately be a punishment to the child, for being a child and showing interest in the occupation of his father. Frankly there are far more serious issues to deal with from a compliance and regulatory aspect, and the risk to the public was negligible.
This wasn't AFL593 at Novokuznetsk, nor was it PAA1736/KLM4805 at Las Palmas, and the conditions were evidently quiet enough for the event to be "conducted" such as it was.
"Lord, what fools these mortals be!"
William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616),
"A Midsummers Night's Dream" Act 3 Scene 2.
I am more concerned with the continued disregard of the FAA to the travelling publics safety in the condition of KJFK's infrastructure. The lack of lighting, navaids, poor design and congestion are real risks to the public, far higher on any day than the actions of a misguided parent. That JFK is the entry point to the new world/first world is embarrassing given that it has a level of operational excellence nearly equivalent to Malabo, EG or Harare Zimbabwe.
The use of short, non standard lit ungrooved runways with tailwind/wet conditions due to design and community noise concerns etc directly impacts operational safety, and requires crews to assess the conditional acceptability of each approach to this airport.
With the problems of non standard communications at JFK on a good day, I'm not sure that the child voice wasn't an improvement.....
FDR (not a substitute)
*
"[The] Welfare of the People is the ultimate law"