There’s a major aviation controversy in Colombia, after it was discovered that a teenager was given ”hands on” training in an air traffic control tower, down to giving planes takeoff clearance. Thanks to The Aviation Herald for flagging this.
Continue reading: Air Traffic Controller In Trouble After Allowing Teen Son To “Work” In Tower
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
The person in question should be fired simply because they clearly lack the level of judgement needed for this job.
Agreed! No retraining could possibly make up for this absolute lack of judgement.
Weird i just was watching an episode of air disasters where a russian pilot allow his kids into cockpit of 747 to fly the plane before it crashed.
Similar thing happened at JFK 15 years ago, Controller was suspended, but can't easily find what eventually happened. this article explains things nicely
https://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/03/03/air.traffic.child/index.html
I'm willing to bet that this is not the first time this has happened, and will not be the last time...especially in many countries considered part of the global south or developing countries (and I'm from one). The stupid thing was posting it on tik tok. I'm not condoning it but it speaks often to the way people see things differently...a proud father showing off his smart "matured" son, or giving him hands-on experience. On the other hand many of us will never understand the obsession many people in developed countries have with dogs and other pets. Dogs are often regarded as equal or even higher level than fellow humans
The child allowed to sit at the controls of Aeroflot 593 had 3 pilots looking over his shoulder and yet it ended in disaster. It may seem innocent enough to let him talk on the radio a bit, but this would be like using lube instead of dish soap on a slip-and-slide - it could go from fun to out of control faster than you can blink.
I remember there was an incident years ago at EWR or something like that where very late at night perhaps one of the controllers had his son visiting, and allowed him to give one ATC command to an aircraft just as a "fun" thing. And it got all sorts of investigation. It was clearly a child's voice, btw.
But this is way beyond that.
At least, not yet, we have dogs in the tower barking instructions...... Although if ATC were to be privatized I"m sure it could be considered !
... lol
Dad what does this button do? Noooooo don't... Ok we have to leave the country now and go off grid.
Unfortunately, what happens in the tower should stay in the tower. I’m sure this goes on all the time. How long could it take for the father to override something the sun may have said that was wrong, an eighth of a second. You don’t think the other controllers had an eye on them. Maybe it’s against the rules but there’s nothing that could’ve been corrected here in a split second.
Former ATC here. We always had plenty of tower visitors; no problem there. Ben, this nonsense is a hard “no”. No exceptions.
I really don’t think that’s the case. As Ben and many others pointed out, Aeroflot 593 provides a vivid example how such an even seemingly “innocent” and overseen interruption by someone unqualified can have disastrous consequences. There is a very good reason aviation safety laws are multilayered and exacting, and don’t rely on anyone’s ‘common sense’.
Anyone involved in this incident deserves to be removed from the ATC system. It’s actually gratifying and reassuring to see Colombia treating this every bit as seriously as any North American or European state, good on them.