Never Ever Let Your 11 Year Old Prop Your Airplane!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 06:21PM 
And I say again, never ever let your 11 year old prop your airplane. OK, now that I have the disclaimer out of the way, I’ll tell you that’s me as an 11 year old propping the first Breezy we had back in 1972. I decided to put these pics up because of the recent flap with the controller’s kids relaying instructions to crews of several active airliners back in February. Here’s another thing to be clear on: I’m not saying it was a good idea for the controller to allow his kids to relay instructions, but after careful review of the audio, I’m not gonna say it was a horrible idea either.
This is really such a complicated issue to make perfect logical sense out of, especially in our current culture, which I think is just one slippery finger away from losing its grip. Of course, letting your kids do your work as a controller isn’t the best idea in the world, but fundamentally, I’d far prefer a controller with a good head on his shoulders allow this, than to have a controller with a bad head on his shoulders quietly working his way thru the system.
I think the biggest problem in all of this is that both the media and the general public have no idea at all what goes on inside a control tower or any other facility where controllers are doing their work. I’ve been in several different facilities over the years, and the reality is that it’s pretty much nothing like you think it is before you’ve seen it. And anyone who’s talked to controllers over the radios in high traffic environments, or even just listened along, knows that it sometimes sounds like a foreign language with the way instructions and responses are tossed about in rapid fire and somewhat garbled fashion. I’m pretty sure the public perception of how the system works is very far from the reality.
With this in mind, the controller's kids did an excellent job… an A+ plus job in my mind. Plus, all they were doing was relaying instructions. At no time were the lives of anyone in any of those airplanes in the hands of those kids. In my opinion, for the media to suggest such a thing just further shows me that they are completely clueless. The really scary part is that at least 90% of the aviation related stories I see in the news media are significantly inaccurate. If they get aviation wrong, why would we honestly think they're really getting anything right? Anything.
My dad spent 35 years flying with United Airlines, and I was raised around that environment. When those pics of me propping the Breezy were taken, he had recently started flying United’s new 747’s. He knew how to deal with responsibility, and lots of it. He also knew I had the basic knowledge necessary to understand both the procedure of propping an airplane, and the risks of it. He knew I was just big enough to be able to handle the task physically, and, after teaching me how, he had reason the believe I would be able to accomplish the task, and do so well. I propped that 90hp Continental a lot as an 11 and 12 year old and never had even one problem doing it safely. And, if I may add, by the age of 13, I was completely competent as a pilot (not licensed of course) in the Citabria 7KCAB that we had. That's a 13 year old able to handle cross winds in a 150hp taildragger on a really narrow Elgin, Illinois runway. It's not because I'm special, but because I was fairly mature, and had the right opportunities with the right education and supervision.
I know that my story isn’t really apples to apples with the controller’s kids story, but I do think there’s some common ground here. Young people who have the knowledge needed, who can also be seen to understand the task and the risk, and are taught well and effectively supervised, simply have no trouble doing something that most people would say they couldn't do.
The controller in question, and apparently his supervisor, are very possibly going to lose their jobs over this. In my simple, been-propping-airplanes-since-I-was-11-years-old mind, that’s the real tragedy here.
Reader Comments (4)
"In my opinion, for the media to suggest such a thing just further shows me that they are completely clueless."
I don't think "clueless" enters into it at all, I think it would be more accurate to say they are maliciously sensationalistic. After all, "controller's kid relays information correctly" doesn't sell half as well as "hundreds of lives were in the hands of a child". I have no respect for today's news media at all because they all do this in one form or another.
I wholeheartedly agree. Nobody was ever in danger, the father was on the exact same console and could have overridden what was being said in fractions of a moment if something was done incorrectly, and those kids obviously understood what they were saying and why. As I said on Twitter, they sounded better than some controllers I've had in real life. And besides - pilots know what radio traffic to expect, what the controller is going to tell them next. They may not have known exactly which numbers they'd get for their next frequency, but if they fly New York frequently they probably even had that memorized. If the correct information was given, what does it matter the frequency of the voice that said it? If they allow airline briefings to be done in rap or other styles so long as the content is unchanged, ...
However, I will acknowledge that from an anticipating public perception angle they may have made some bad choices.
The media and the public are scared of aviation because they don't know what goes on on the inside. What we don't know we have a tendency to believe is far harder than it really is. They drag us on a rope behind a vehicle all the time because they just don't understand.
In episode 112 of FlightTime Radio (http://flighttimeradio.com/archives.htm) they talk about this event. One of the hosts is (was? he may be retired?) a controller and addresses the concerns anybody could have and explains why this isn't even a deal, let alone a big deal. That segment starts at 49:33 - if you're reading this you probably agree with them already, but it will give you further understanding of why you're right - and somewhere to point those who think it was a serious issue. He even tells a story of a similar event taking place - with senior FAA officials present.
Shame on the FAA (and Administrator Babbitt) for saying this was a dangerous action instead of just clearing the air and explaining a little bit of how the system works. I hope these guys don't lose their jobs over this. There are far worse examples of something unsafe that could happen in a number of other occupations.
Larry - Well, I certainly won't argue with 'maliciously sensationalistic', but I think clueless definitely enters in as well. Ultimately, they are catering to the lowest common denominator of human nature... and it ain't pretty.
Adam Fast - Well said! : )