A Southwest Airlines pilot has been
suspended after he accidentally broadcast a four-minute anti-gay
rant, USA
Today reported.
The pilot, whose name has not been
released, accidentally broadcast over the Houston Center air traffic
control frequency a cock-pit conversation in which is he is heard
complaining to his co-pilot about the lack of “do-able” flight
attendants.
“Well, but I had Tucson to Indy all
four weeks,” the pilot is heard saying. “And, uh, Chicago crews
11 out of 12. There's 12 flight attendants – individuals – never
the same flight attendant twice, 11 f**king over the top f**king ass
f**king homosexuals and a granny.”
“11! I mean think of the odds of
that. I thought I was in Chicago, which was party land. After that,
it was just a continuous stream of gays and grannys and grandes.
Well, I don't give a f**k. I hate a hundred percent of their asses.”
“So, six months I went to the bar
three times. In six months three times. Once with the granny and
the fag, and I wish I hadn't gone. At the very end with two girls,
one of them that was part doable.”
At one point, a controller cuts in to
say, “We don't need to hear that.” (The audio is embedded in the
right panel of this page.)
The Wall Street Journal reported
that the FAA chided the pilot's behavior: “The FAA expects a higher
level of professionalism from flight crews.”
Gay
blog Towleroad.com published a statement from the union
representing Southwest flight attendants.
“Calling this broadcast a 'private
conversation' cannot dismiss the incident,” wrote TWU Local 556
President Thom McDaniel. “We have instructed our attorneys today
to investigate the possibility of filing an EEOC charge with the
federal government.”