CBS Early Show Targets Kid Air Traffic Controller

The first item on the news on the CBS early show on the morning of March 3, 2010, was a report about a kid directing ground traffic from an air traffic controller's tower. That this was labeled as "breaking news" and was the first news item of the day was a misuse of the valuable air time in which CBS has been entrusted. This was a story about a child, apparently there with his dad on a "bring your child to work day" for the office. His dad, I'm sure, was proud to have his son on the job with him, and especially proud when he performed his dad's radio duties so well. For CBS and the FAA to make it sound like this was a terrible violation of FAA protocol and that the airport was suddenly at risk because of this is ridiculous and a grave misuse of their jobs as well.

They made it sound like we were at risk here of having children take over the control towers all across America. And that we had people employed by the FAA that were irresponsible adults saying, "lets get our kids to do our work!" I'm sure the child was supervised and that all levels of awareness were raised because of the kid being in the control room. The pilots seemed to be enjoying the change in the normal day as well, as you could hear the delight in their voices as they confirmed the information they received from their temporary controller. One pilot tagged on to the end of his confirmation, "awesome job!"

But, enter the FAA and CBS News to bring these wanton and irresponsible air traffic controllers back to their senses. This is grandstanding in the worst way by these two organizations, and any other news networks that carry this story. The FAA has released a statement about this story as reported by MSNBC: "Pending the outcome of our investigation the employees involved in this incident are not controlling traffic," the FAA said in a statement. "This behavior is not acceptable and does not demonstrate the kind of professionalism expected from all FAA employees." So they are already punishing these parents for being the kind of parent that wants their child to understand the type of job they do everyday. The FAA is punishing them for being the kind of parent that tries to instill a desire to do good work in their children. I would like to understand what kind of behavior they are wanting here from their employees. Is it to be bad parents? Is it to not try to raise kids that want to do the job their parents do?

This reaction by the FAA has actually put more planes at risk, as they have taken off the job the kind of personnel that I want to know are watching after my safety. The kind of employee that understands about the value of children. These are the employees that know that the airplanes they are directing have kids in them. This type of employee raises the kind of children that grow up in the environment where their parent takes their job seriously and the child is inspired to do that kind of job one day. They will always remember the days they got to spend on the job with their parent. This kind of child grows up to be the person that saves even more lives one day because he or she has lived it all his life and knows the responsibility they have.

The FAA could have handled this in a better way and CBS News had no reason to put this on the air at all, much less pile on the poor dad in the process. The FAA has much more pressing problems in the area, such as the lowest levels of staffing for these controllers since 1981. A recent report on the Homeland Security Newswire reports that staffing of certified air controllers for the New York area is down to 158, while the FAA says that they actually need 270 for the area. Now they are down to 157. This is the serious problem here - not that they had a child in the Air Traffic Control Tower. I'm sure this news item will not inspire potential air traffic controllers to the organization.

The Early Show has its own problems it needs to address, having been lowest in the ratings recently between the three network early news shows according to a recent report on mediabistro.com. Perhaps reporting about children in the control towers will increase its ratings?

Both of these organizations need to act like responsible adults and focus on the good here, not the bad. I hope the dad involved in this incident weathers the storm, and his son in not overly affected by the child-like behavior of the FAA and The Early Show.

Sources:
CBS - The Early Show, March 3, 2010
Homeland Security Newswire
MediaBistro.com