Officials are currently investigating how, on Feb. 17 of this year, a child was allowed to direct airplanes at New York’s JFK airport. The child was reportedly with his father, a certified air traffic controller, on a day that many children were out on break. Though the child was supervised, the amount of liability placed on the airport because of this incident was high.

If, for some reason, one of the planes had crashed or incurred some form of damage during the time the child was in the control room the consequences would have been devastating. Not only would this airport face possible closure but our country’s reputation for aviation safety would be struck another blow.

Aviation officials assure the public that this is not indicative of the administration’s concern for air traffic safety. We have to wonder, however, what policies the control room has. This is not to say that we do not feel for the father and his child, for this incident seems to have occurred as merely a result of a father wanting to spend quality time with his child while at work. However, we have to realize that this occurrence could have easily turned from harmless father-son time into a national catastrophe. It is better that the air controller be chastised or suspended for a short time than condone behavior that could have ended in disaster.