Plane Answers: JFK kid controller incident and a smoking 757 {Gadling}

Mar 4th 2010 12:52PM This situation has been blown utterly out of proportion. This is a situation where a professional told a guest what to say to another professional. Both professionals (the pilot and the controller) had to agree with what was said or there would have been further communcation. The controller did not 'give up' control of the microphone, contrary to what the sensationalist CBS report stated. The kid was using a handset or second microphone, and the controller has the ability to instantly key up and override whatever the kid is saying should he say it wrong. The CBS story has other errors in it, too. The boy was speaking on local, not departure freq. Some expert.