Kennedy Steve

[Thumper]

I stumbled onto these when I was looking for some live ATC (air traffic control) communications.* These are recorded ATC conversations between a ground controller (Steve) at New York's Kennedy airport and the pilots and tug drivers that enter and exit the two taxiways he's responsible for. Maybe I'm crazy but these are hilarious. He pokes humor into stressful situations, there's running jokes between him and the TUG drivers, and the bain of his existence are the ramp controllers that send planes onto, or allows them off of his turf.

I read an article about him. He used to be a banker or stockbroker and decided to take this up. He retired from ATC last year, and it's everyone's loss.

* This is just one recording, not sure if it's the funniest, I haven't heard this one all the way through. There are dozens of them ranging from 2-5 minutes long.

[geonuc]

What do you suppose BLOCKED means?

[Thumper]

When two people are stepping on each other on the radio, they say they were blocked. The guy who writes the text of the conversation, writes, "Blocked" when two people are talking at once and he can't make out what was said.

In one of the clips, Steve refers to some epic "blocks." Such as, "Wow that was an epic block. That was a block on top of a block." and "You know Folks, this thing only works when just one of us speaks at a time."

[Thumper]

"I'm not breaking up. The radio may be breaking up but I'm very much intact."

[SciFiFisher]

"I'm not breaking up. The radio may be breaking up but I'm very much intact."

Concrete thinking is a great way to do humor.

[Thumper]

I don't think he's happy with Delta 2540...

[Sigma_Orionis]

He's pretty good

[SciFiFisher]

I loved the segment with Jetblue Tug2: "If you are nodding your head I can't see it."

[Thumper]