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.
18-year-old gives pilots instructions in Bogota tower
Aerocivil, Colombia’s civil aviation authority, has suspended the licenses of several air traffic controllers at the country’s busiest airport. Specifically, this happened on July 21, 2025, at Bogota’s El Dorado International Airport (BOG).
During this incident, one of the controllers reportedly allowed his 18-year-old son into the tower for nearly an hour, and he even gave instructions to pilots across a variety of interactions. The teenager may have had up to 20 interactions with pilots, including giving takeoff clearance to an aircraft.
This is a direct violation of Aerocivil regulations, which state that “under no circumstances may anyone outside the air traffic control services be permitted to manipulate the control communications equipment.”
Following the incident, Aerocivil took action, and has suspended the licenses of two air traffic controllers, while disciplinary action is being taken against five other controllers, who were complicit in this. Aerocivil intends to refer its findings to the Attorney General’s Office of Colombia, to decide whether the acts warrant criminal charges.
While Aerocivil has made it clear that this represents a “serious violation of air safety regulations,” it notes that at no point were active flight operations compromised. The air traffic controller who was the father of the teen suggested that this was “hands on” training, to support his son’s selection process to become an air traffic controller. Oh my…
What makes this situation so incredibly stupid
How was it actually determined that a teenager was in the air traffic control tower and giving instructions to pilots? Well, he posted video of him doing it on TikTok, of course.
The spectacularly bad judgment that people show in order to get a little attention on social media really is something. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised the teenager didn’t have better judgment, but maybe the air traffic controllers (including the teenager’s father) should have at least not taken videos of him, or should have insisted that he not post them online?
Now, call it a controversial take, but in theory I don’t have a huge issue with what happened. It’s not unheard of to have visitors in the air traffic control tower, so the only thing that was unusual here is that he was communicating with pilots (yes, obviously that’s a major detail).
But I imagine this guy was an aviation geek, and I imagine he was just parroting what he was told to say, and that his father was right there with him, watching everything that was going on, and ready to step in. This stuff shouldn’t happen, of course, because aviation needs to operate with as much of a safety margin as possible.
My point is simply to say that I don’t think anyone was put at risk here. It goes back to the safety margin, though, and when you start normalizing this kind of stuff, eventually something goes wrong. It’s a bit like the 1994 accident of Aeroflot flight 593, an Airbus A310 that crashed, killing all 75 people onboard. The reason? The pilot’s 15-year-old son was visiting the cockpit, and accidentally disengaged the autopilot.
Bottom line
Several air traffic controllers at Bogota Airport are facing disciplinary action, after one of the controllers allowed his son to get some “hands on” training, with him having transmitted as many as 20 communications to pilots.
This obviously violates regulations, never mind that this happened at the country’s busiest airport. Perhaps what makes this situation the most ridiculous is that the teen decided to post video of him doing this on social media, which shows bad judgment on so many levels.
What do you make of this Bogota ATC controversy?
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