Pilots Argue: “Get A Faster Airplane And Shut The F*** Up”

As an aviation geek, I love interesting air traffic control interactions. Well, here’s one of the saucier ones I’ve heard, which is more in line with what you’d expect on Jerry Springer than on an air traffic control frequency.

Cargo jet & private jet pilot get into argument

VASAviation has air traffic control audio from a recent incident that happened in Southern California. It involves two aircraft — N323EZ, a Cessna Citation, and ABX Air 3111 (callsign ABEX 3111), a Boeing 767 operating a cargo flight on behalf of Amazon.

Both planes were on the same air traffic control frequency, shortly after departing the region. The Cessna Citation was ahead of the Boeing 767, and that meant the 767 had to slow down a bit for spacing. When the 767 was given instructions to do that, the pilot of ABEX 3111 responded “I need to go fast cause I’m too fat to be going this slow.”

Eventually ABEX 3111 gets a frequency change, and that point, N323EZ says to the air traffic controller, “hey center, now that ABEX isn’t on our frequency to whine about my speed, 323EZ, can I get higher?”

As it turns out, ABEX 3111 was still on the frequency, so he chimes in and says “maybe you should get a faster airplane and shut the f*** up.” Ouch. Eventually the pilot apologizes, saying “I apologize about that, I just didn’t like that guy arguing with me.”

However, the pilot of N323EZ decided to have the last word — “he was whining because I had to slow him down, cause I’m in a slowtation, but maybe that’s why he’s a cargo dog and not working for a real carrier.”

You can hear the communication for yourself below.

Both pilots were being immature in this interaction

This is one of those interactions where I think there’s enough blame to go around, and neither party was acting professionally.

The pilot of N323EZ started the drama, by talking about the other pilot “whining.” Of course the pilot of ABEX 3111 then took it to the next level, by telling the guy to “shut the f*** up,” which crosses the line, and then some. But go figure that the pilot of N323EZ still needed to have the last word, calling the other guy a “cargo dog” who isn’t working for a “real carrier.”

All petty drama, but it makes for some good listening, eh?

Bottom line

It’s not often you hear one pilot tell another to “shut the f*** up” on an air traffic control frequency, but that’s what recently happened in Southern California. The Boeing 767 pilot wasn’t happy about having to be slowed down by a Cessna Citation, and it escalated from there.

What do you make of this air traffic control interaction?