A Southwest Airlines pilot’s rant about San Franciscan “goddamn liberal f—s” went viral online earlier this week.
A Southwest spokesman has confirmed that the pilot did, indeed, work for Southwest, though he has not been publicly identified by name. The spokesman also confirmed that the audio was recorded on one of the company’s flights.
The spokesman claims that Southwest is “fully addressing the situation internally.” However, the airline told The Hill that the pilot’s outburst was an “isolated incident involving a single employee and not representative of the nearly 60,000 hardworking, respectful people of Southwest Airlines.”
The pilot’s tirade was picked up by the Mineta San Jose International Airport air traffic control scanner on March 12, and the recording was posted on Live ATC, a platform that livestreams air traffic control audio transmissions.
The pilot was apparently in the midst of receiving directions from air traffic controllers related to weather and runway conditions when he began his rant, saying, “F— this place, goddamn liberal f—s. F—ing weirdos, probably driving around in f—ing Hyundais, f—ing roads and shit that go slow as f—.”
He added: “You don’t have balls unless you’re f—ing rolling coal, man, goddamn it.”
Southwest has since issued a statement in response: “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.”
Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson Ian Gregor wrote on Wednesday that “FAA regulations prohibit airline pilots from talking about subjects that are unrelated to safely conducting their flight while taxiing and while flying below 10,000 feet altitude.”
