Attribute present, but operators identify as error.

I have a dataset I am reading in from a SQL database.  One of the attributes returned, 'datetime_aired' is passed through a Date to Numerical Operator, where I retain the original value (I am converting it to minutes to epoch and the new value is called datetime_aired_minutes).  I recieve the error that 'datetime_aired' is missing in the example dataset, even though I have confirmed that datetime_aired is defined as a date_time, and datetime_aired_minute is defined as an integer.


While I get results and I have datetime_aired in my resulting dataset - the error seems to prevent me from using datetime_aired or datetime_aired_minute in later  blocks.

#1. I thought that if an error identified something as missing that the procedure would fail.  What is going on, and how can I get access to datetime_aired as inputs for later in my procedure?

Code for my Date to Numerical Operator is below.  Read Database is omitted (believe me - datetime_aired is returned and is defined as a date_time).  I am running 5.3.008.

      <operator activated="true" class="date_to_numerical" compatibility="5.3.008" expanded="true" height="76" name="Date to Numerical" width="90" x="179" y="120">
        <parameter key="attribute_name" value="datetime_aired"/>
        <parameter key="time_unit" value="minute"/>
        <parameter key="minute_relative_to" value="epoch"/>
        <parameter key="keep_old_attribute" value="true"/>
      </operator>