A child was allowed to give directions to pilots from the control tower at New York's JFK International Airport on Feb. 17 — a stunning event that has the Federal Aviation Administration investigating how it was allowed to happen. And, the FAA says, "the employees involved in this incident are not (now) controlling traffic."

Fox 25 in Boston broke the story last night. It says the child's voice is heard on five transmissions, and that the pilots appear to have enjoyed the exchanges. Here's the audio:

As you can hear, the conversations include this:

Child: "Air Mex 403, contact departure. Adios."

Pilot: "Contact departure, Aeromexico 403. Adios."

This morning, NBC-TV's Today Show followed the story, with news of the FAA probe:

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It sounds like the kid was being told what to say by an adult. But, what if a pilot had misunderstood or even briefly ignored the directions, thinking it was a prank?

Update at 1:20 p.m. ET. The FAA's statement is posted here.

It reads, in part:

"Two employees at John F. Kennedy Airport Tower are on administrative leave following an incident last month when a child was permitted to talk with pilots on an air traffic control frequency.

" 'This lapse in judgment not only violated FAA's own policies, but common sense standards for professional conduct. These kinds of distractions are totally unacceptable,' said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. 'We have an incredible team of professionals who safely control our nation's skies every single day. This kind of behavior does not reflect the true caliber of our workforce.'

"The two JFK Tower employees, a supervisor and an air traffic controller, are on administrative leave pending the outcome of an official FAA investigation into the incident which is already underway."