A Southwest Airlines pilot was caught on a hot mic making an expletive-filled rant against the San Francisco Bay Area.
The pilot, who has not been identified, was heard on a radio frequency at Mineta San Jose Airport (SJC) as the flight taxied for departure.
“F**k this place, godd**n liberal f***s. Like eight guns out here somewhere as it is. F*****g weirdos, probably driving around in F*****g Hyundais, F*****g roads and s**t that go slow as f**k.”
“Our corporate Culture is built on a tenet of treating others with concern and dignity and the comments are inconsistent with the professional behavior and overall respect that we require from our Employees,” the spokesman said in a statement. “This situation was an isolated incident involving a single Employee and not representative of the nearly 60,000 hardworking, respectful People of Southwest Airlines.”
As a policy, the FAA does not identify the subjects of an investigation. But Will Lawton, a private pilot based out of SJC who routinely listens to LiveATC and who initially reported the incident, believed he knew which airline is involved.
“My opinion is that voice talking during the stuck mic situation matches the voice at the end saying ‘Southwest 531 ready to go,'” Will Lawton tweeted out, “As to whether it was the captain or the first officer, there’s no way to know, and only Southwest would have a record of what pilots were working what flights on that day.”
Stanley Roberts a podcaster from Philadelphia tweeted out, “Maybe the #pilot should have added this to the beginning of his rant. Attention @FAANews: My next rant is mine and mine only, it does not reflect the thoughts or opinions of @SouthwestAir! But then again that disclaimer doesn’t work on @Twitter either.”
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