Not saying that ATC is really all that easy, I had a friend who was going to become an air traffic controller, but I think this is pretty funny. Had something gone horribly, horribly wrong I could understand the upset, but it seems even the pilots were having a good time. Controller Lets Kid Take Over at JFK | NBC New York Adios, amigo!
I saw this one earlier and couldn't believe it either, the fact that a lot of the pilots thought it was cool blew my mind too
They are really low on ATCs, so desperate times call for desperate measures? I've thought about trying to become an ATC (they're well-paid), but I've heard that you're over-worked due to short-staffing.
I'm not sure that it is possible for them to be overworked. I was under the impression that it was union work and you are only allotted a certain amount of hours a week/month. Maybe I'm wrong...
Well, I know that planes run nearly 24/7 into and out of large airports, so I'm sure that some of the time they can have you working weird hours or during the holidays. I also don't know what an airport would do if they were short-staffed of ATCs. Would they make everyone work a little more or would some volunteers just take on the extra work in exchange for more pay? I read somewhere a couple of years ago that most of the ATCs were going to retire in the next ~10 years and that unless they start training a lot of people right now, we could see shortages in the near future.
Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (1968) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia I'm not sure what they do when they are short staffed, but I'm pretty sure they've been short staffed since the 80's. I know a lot of unions are very strict about their hours and schedules, though.