The definition of Buffoon

From Google dictionary;

buf·foon Noun /bəˈfo͞on

1.A ridiculous but amusing person; a clown

I was thinking about some of the things done and said by Ed Masterson over his at the Air Traffic Manager Newark Tower and this word came to mind.

There are numerous things I could cite, but the most buffoonish thing I think Ed ever said to me was that after 20 years of not working airplanes at a major airport, he could walk upstairs, plug in a headset and run the Overhead runway 29 operation better than most of the controllers at EWR.

This might be a little technical for the non-air traffic controllers out there but to keep it simple - this is probably the toughest operation we (used to) run at Newark Airport. There are so many things going on, you're looking in so many directions to keep everything under control and on top of it all, your timing needs to be impeccable to hit the gaps on the landings and the departures. If one thing goes awry, it's a giant sh*tstorm for sure. (See DOT Inspector General's report)

To let you know a bit more about how hard it is to work at Newark as a controller, our current success rate among controllers who come from other facilities is about 30%. Yes, 7 out of 10 people WHO ARE ALREADY AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS FAIL TO MAKE IT AT NEWARK!! And we don't even run the overhead runway 29 operation anymore!

Anyway, this BUFFOON ED MASTERSON with his GIANT EGO thinks after 20 years or so he can just jump in and work it like a pro. Do you see why this word popped into my mind? A ridiculous but amusing person - a perfect description of Ed Masterson.