Bring your child to work day

This entry started out to be just a comment in reply to a reader's comment, but once I got started, it seemed like it had expanded beyond that point. For those who have not already heard about this story, a brief synopsis:

A controller in New York apparently brought his kids to work and let them make transmissions giving control instructions to pilots.

Story links: NPR news blog
Times Online

But seriously, folks - I do not believe that the flying public was endangered in this instance, and I'll tell you why: As an ATC instructor, I have regularly had someone plugged in with me and talking to airplanes who has never done it before; we call in on-the-job training. Particularly in the trainee's early days, much of their instruction is in the form of what we call "parroting." This is when the instructor tells the trainee what to say, and the student then transmits the instruction to the pilots. An example would be "American 266, runway 25 right, cleared for takeoff." As the trainee progresses, the instructor does less of this; instead of feeding the student the exact words of the instruction, the instructor simply tells the student what they need to do, and the student formulates and then transmits the control instruction. Example: The instructor says "Clear American," and the trainee transmits "American 266, runway 25 right, cleared for takeoff." This process continues, with the instructor gradually transitioning through less and less specific direction as the student becomes more and more self-sufficient.

The entire time that this takes place, the instructor is plugged in right beside the student. As the instructor, my microphone has override capability, meaning that if both of us key up to talk, my microphone will cut out the student's mic, and the pilot will hear my instructions. As a trainee, one of your goals is to progress to the point that the instructor doesn't have to do this - and you know it's going to be a rough debrief session if he does.

There is no question of safety being impaired, and the operations proceed normally. The key to the whole thing is that I have the ability to override any transmission if the need arose. I expect that the fellow in New York did as well. Thus, I don't feel that public safety was endangered. I will concede that putting a younger child on the radio might give cause for questioning the soundness of the controller's judgement in this instance. Listening to some of the clips, it's clear that to me that the pilots could tell what was happening, and were in the spirit of the thing. What it comes down to is that many controllers like their jobs, and just like anyone else, we enjoy sharing what we like with other people who have an interest. Maybe he should start a blog . . .