Fri, Jun 24, 2011
He Was Apparently Not Happy About Transfer To Houston, Among
Other Things
Faced with a transfer to Houston and other apparently personal
frustrations, a Southwest Airlines pilot inadvertently let an
expletive-laced tirade go out over an ATC frequency March 25th. He
was suspended by the airline after the nearly-two-minute rant.
The Fort Worth Star Telegram's aviation blog Sky
Talk reports that the unnamed pilot dropped several f-bombs
over the open microphone. He also made disparaging comments about
gays and older co-workers. He expresses his dislike for Houston,
"one of the ugliest bases," with "like maybe a handful of cute
chicks." On the audio recording linked from the blog, a controller
is heard cautioning the Southwest pilot that he has an open mic and
that he should be careful about what he is saying. But the tirade
continued.
The stuck mic switch was apparently eventually noticed in the
cockpit, as the rant ends rather abruptly ... at which point a
Skywest and one other pilot tell the controller "that wasn't us."
The Skywest pilot remarked "and they wonder why airline pilots have
a bad reputation."
The pilot has since been reinstated in his position. In a
statement reproduced on the blog, Southwest said "The Pilot in
question has been reprimanded, receiving a suspension without pay
for a length of time. Prior to being reinstated, he underwent
additional diversity education to reinforce the Company's
expectations for all Employees to demonstrate respect for others.
The pilot is remorseful and has formally apologized to both FAA
Controllers and his base Leadership. Southwest’s Flight
Operations Leadership has also sent an apology to Southwest Flight
Attendants and his fellow Pilots."
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