If you missed these recent offbeat aviation incidents, here are recaps. An air traffic controller and his supervisor at JFK International Airport have been suspended by the FAA for allowing children to issue flight clearances to commercial jets. According to a recording found on the air traffic control database at LiveATC.net, the incident happened on February 17, and involved multiple aircraft. The New York Daily News identified the federal employee as 49-year-old Glenn Duffy. He took his daughter into the control tower and let her direct the departure of a Jet Blue flight, then gave his son the same opportunity. The boy was heard saying "Adios, Amigo" to an Aeromexico departure.
FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt said in a statement on March 3, "This lapse in judgment not only violated FAA’s own policies, but common sense standards for professional conduct. These kinds of distractions are totally unacceptable." The agency then suspended all "unofficial visits" to its air traffic control centers.
CAPTIONS: (ABOVE LEFT) JFK Control Tower (Photo from Airliners.net); (BELOW RIGHT) KLM Captain Martin Leeuwis (Photo by Martin Leeuwis); (BELOW LEFT) Corendon Airlines Boeing 737-400 (Photo from Airliners.net); (BELOW RIGHT LOWER) Leonardo DiCaprio in the film Catch Me If You Can (Photo from IMDB.com); (BELOW LEFT BOTTOM) KLM Captain Martin Leeuwis (Photo by Martin Leeuwis)
A video on the JFK control center incidents follows this article.
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It had apparently been common practise for FAA employees to bring their children into control towers, so they could watch their parents at work. Not everyone views the father's actions so harshly, feeling that it has been blown out of proportion as a serious threat to airline safety.
In a much more disturbing incident on March 2, a still unidentified 41 year old Swedish pilot flying for the Turkish carrier, Corendon Airlines, was arrested at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS), as he was about to fly 101 passengers aboard a Boeing 737-400, Flight CAI 202, to Ankara, Turkey (ESB).
The incident was reminiscent of the real life master of false identities, Frank Abagnale, Jr., portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio in the 2002 film "Catch Me If You Can".
The Corendon Airlines pilot, who had fooled airlines in Belgium, the U.K., and Italy for 13 years, logging
over 10,000 flight hours during that time, was said to be relieved that his deception was finally over, and reportedly removed his command stripes. He had a private pilot's license, but had forged air transport certification papers.
The Turkish low-budget airline was informed in advance of the arrest by Dutch police, and had a backup pilot, hopefully with genuine certification, ready to take over the flight.
A spokesperson for Corendon Airlines said the imposter had worked for the company for the last two years and had "expertly misled us with his false papers". He called it pure luck that the bogus pilot had never flown alone, adding that he will never pilot a Corendon Airlines flight again.
To get some insights into this bizarre case, we asked KLM senior pilot Martin Leeuwis, who has also flown military fighters in the Royal Netherlands Air Force, for his comments.
According to Captain Leeuwis, "I know as much as the newspaper stories tell me, but apparently he passed all regular tests, flew well according to cabin crew and started long ago with a private pilot licence which he 'upgraded' a bit. Modern aircraft are relatively easy to fly, with lots of automatic features, and should not create much problems in normal situations. Abnormal situations, such as emergencies, do not happen often but it amazes me that he could pass his half yearly test rides in the simulator without problems. Perhaps the level of the testing was not as it should be. Or he must have been a 'good' pilot."
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Comments
I enjoy when you write about these odd airline incidents! You have to wonder what these people were thinking. Did you hear that a man in a homemade plane (!) killed someone when it crashed on the beach? I didn't even know it was possible to make a plane from scratch.
Personally, I kind of thought that that it was funny on the tape how nice everyone was being about it. My dad, had he been a pilot, probably would have done the same thing with me. Clearly it is a big no-no, though because I bet if you took a poll on the plane of how many people would have been comfortable with that, it would not have been very favorable.
Never a dull day at with the airlines. Today UA pilots walk the picket line disrupting flights.
I think that this type of incidents should make rethink the hold picture about licenses and hours flown. In general 200 hours for a Comercial Pilot no seem to be too much, but what if you can pass every airline test and work and act as a real professional pilot. Is it too much important to have a valid license?. Maybe the question should be more related to legal issues in case of accident than about experience or know how on flying an aircraft, because it's esay to see that this guy have the knowledge....
it is completely not accpetable for any child to be in control of any function at any airport control tower at any time. That should be considered a very serious incident and reflects very poor judgement on all staff in that tower at that time.
As an air traffic controller, if you think a father in total control of the situation letting his child parrot his commands, you should hear the mistakes trainees make while training. Those are more dangerous. If you are afraid to fly because of the kid, how would you feel if you found out a trainee made a mistake and put your plane in jeopardy? Oh, by the way, the only way to train is to do it on the job. Get real people.
Continuing from above (I apologize for submitting before finishing) ... Having done this for decades, the flying public was not in jeopardy. The father could have take control immediately if a situation developed. Trainers are fast enough to respond to correct a situation -- you just never hear about these incidents (usually). My children have seen the tower but I have never let them speak on the radio (and I am not going in on my day off to let them.. lol) Aviation is a touchy subject but just make sure everything is in perspective and be sure to talk to those involved in the business to make an educated decision.
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