Childish

The idiom that children should be seen and not heard is probably nowhere more appropriate than in an air traffic control tower. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case at John F. Kennedy Airport in February.

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a report that a controller twice brought a child to work at the JFK control tower and allowed the child to radio instructions to pilots.

Audio recordings from mid-February — during the winter break for many New York schoolchildren — were posted last month on a Web site. In them, a child can be heard making five transmissions to pilots preparing for takeoff. The child seems to be under an adult’s supervision, because a male voice comes on after one exchange and says with a laugh, “That’s what you get, guys, when the kids are out of school.”

There’s nothing cute about this. Air traffic controllers have one of the most difficult, if not stressful, jobs going — much less at JFK, one of the nation’s busiest airports. Thousands of lives depend on them. It’s no place for child’s play.

The union representing controllers condemned the behavior, and the FAA has suspended the controller and his supervisor pending the investigation.

If found guilty, it should be over and out for these jokers.

 — The Observer-Dispatch, Utica, N.Y.