'F**k this place! Liberal f**ks!': FAA launches investigation after a pilot was caught on hot mic unleashing expletive-heavy rant against San Francisco-area residents
A pilot was caught on a hot mic making shocking comments about the Bay Area as he was piloting an aircraft in the region.
The expletive-laden rant, which was archived by Live ATC, took place on March 13.
The pilot, who has not been publicly identified, was captured on the air traffic control scanner of the Mineta San Jose International Airport.
Southwest Airlines Flight 531 was referenced in the recording, but it's not clear if that was cross-chatter caught on the radio. Southwest didn't return a request for comment from DailyMail.com
'F**k this place, goddamn liberal f**ks,' the pilot can be heard cursing, seemingly unprompted.
The audio, which is choppy at times, appears to record the pilot continuing his rant while making several odd comments.
A hot mic incident at the Mineta San Jose International Airport reveals the shocking moment an airline pilot went on an expletive-laden rant about the 'liberal f**ks' in the region
The audio was captured on an air traffic control scanner and archived by Live ATC (Pictured: Interior of Mineta San Jose International Airport)
'Eight guns out here somewhere as it is,' the pilot appears to say; it's not clear what he's referencing.
'“F**king weirdos, probably driving around in f**king Hyundais, f**king roads and s**t that go slow as f**k,' he continues.
'You don’t have balls unless you’re f**king rolling coal man, goddamnit,' the pilot adds, presumably comparing electric-powered cars to traditional gas-powered ones.
The airline the pilot works for has not been identified, nor is it clear whether or not he was landing an aircraft at the airport or departing.
A flight identification appears to be given before the rant, but it cannot be deciphered.
That flight does typically have routes from Las Vegas to San Jose, and San Jose to Seattle, but no flights are listed on March 13, per FlightAware.
The pilot and airline at the center of the hot mic incident have not been identified, although there is a reference to a Southwest Airlines flight towards the end of the rant
Additionally, the scanner may have picked up audio from other flights at the time.
One user on Twitter tagged Southwest Airlines in a post about the incident, but they have not confirmed that the pilot is theirs.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Southwest Airlines for comment.
'We can neither confirm nor verify who made those comments,' a Live ATC representative told SFGATE.
Meanwhile, a representative for the airport called the communication 'very unprofessional' and forwarded it to the FAA.
'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,' the FAA said in a statement to DailyMail.com
'The FAA is investigating communications that an airline pilot made while taxiing at Mineta San Jose International Airport last week. The FAA also reported the incident to the airline.'
The Bay Area, particularly San Francisco, is known to be a liberal region of the United States, as referenced by the pilot.
San Francisco is associated with liberal values, such as LGTBQ equality (Pictured: Then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris during San Francisco Pride parade in June 2019)
A March 2014 report by political scientists Chris Tausanovitch and Christopher Warshaw titled 'Representation in Municipal Government' ranks San Francisco as the most liberal city of at least 250,000 people in the United States, based on public policy preferences.
Oakland, another city in the Bay Area, ranks fourth in the same report.
Some values often associated with San Francisco include the fight for LGBTQ equality and the anti-war movement.
Harvey Milk was the first openly gay politician in the city of San Francisco prior to his assassination.
San Francisco was the site of a 150,000-strong rally in April 1971, a protest that opposed the Vietnam War.
Currently, the mayor of San Francisco, London Breed, is a Democrat, as is the city's entire Board of Supervisors.
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