The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating employees at the Kennedy Airport air-traffic control tower for apparently allowing a school-age child to transmit directions to pilots.
The young boy, apparently under adult supervision, made a handful of transmissions to pilots on a tape deemed genuine by the FAA.
JFK TOWER (Child): JetBlue 171 contact departure.
PILOT: Over to departure JetBlue 171, awesome job.
A male voice, seemingly the adult supervising the child, joins in with a laugh.
JFK TOWER: That's what you get, guys, when the kids are out of school.
The child is heard communicating with a Jet Blue pilot, on an active runway at one of the nation's busiest airports. The pilot seems to be impressed.
But FAA officials are not amused, saying in a written statement:
"Pending the outcome of our investigation, the employees involved in this incident are not controlling air traffic. This behavior is not acceptable and does not demonstrate the kind of professionalism expected from all FAA employees."
A spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association released this statement:
"We do not condone this type of behavior in any way. It is not indicative of the highest professional standards that controllers set for themselves and exceed each and every day in the advancement of aviation safety."
And while the transmission may have momentarily broken up the tension in a notoriously stressful profession, there's a chance the tower employee in question may very well be forced to say goodbye to his job.
The urgent question, one of many, is how the child even got access to an area that is supposed to be highly restricted.
The FAA said the control tower is a highly secure area for air traffic controllers, supervisory staff and airport employees with a need to be there.
FAA spokesman Jim Peters said children of the tower's employees are allowed to visit but would need to get approval from the FAA first.
CBS News Travel Editor Peter Greenberg said no one has the authority to communicate with a "sterile" cockpit.
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