SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – A Southwest Airlines pilot departing from Mineta San Jose International Airport has been caught with an open microphone, delivering a power-term mixture against the liberal Bay Area population.
Aviation and travel blog One Mile at a Time published the account of a Twitter user who posted air traffic control audio starting March 13. Someone is heard to say that his flight was “ready to go,” followed by a series of f-bomb insults.
“F – this place, damn liberal FS.”
“Eight guns here somewhere like it is.”
“F-ing weirdos, probably driving around f-ing Hyundas, f-ing roads and s – going slow like f-.”
The audio was archived on Live ATC, a website that livestreams and records air traffic control broadcasts.
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Will Lawton, the Twitter user cited by the blog, said in a Facebook post that he is confident that the person heard in the audio is a Southwest pilot.
“I’m pretty positive based on the same vote at the end of the rant that says ‘Southwest 531 ready to go,'” said Lawton, indicating he is a pilot on his Facebook profile.
A Southwest spokesperson told KPIX 5 that the person heard in the audio is an airline employee.
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“Our corporate culture is based on the principle of treating others with care and dignity and the comments are inconsistent with the professional conduct and general respect we require from our employees,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement. . “This situation was an isolated incident involving a single employee and not representative of Southwest Airlines’ nearly 60,000 hardworking, respectful people. We are not publicly discussing employee issues, but we are tackling the situation completely internally. “
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FAA spokesperson Ian Gregor told the San Francisco Chronicle in a statement, “FAA regulations prohibit airline pilots from talking about topics unrelated to conducting their flight safely while taxiing and flying below 10,000 feet. height.”
“The FAA is investigating communications a pilot made last week while taxiing at Mineta San Jose International Airport,” the statement said. “The FAA has also reported the incident to the airline.”