ATC Goes Ballistic On Sleepy Spirit Pilot For Reckless Behavior With Trump, Air Force One

Of COURSE it was Spirit Airlines. Come on. If I had a nickel for every time Spirit was at the center of some sort of tomfoolery, I wouldn't currently be dropping the price of my old house and begging someone to buy it!

For those who don't follow the happenings in the sky too closely, a Spirit plane over Long Island late Tuesday night got a little too close to Air Force One, which was carrying Donald Trump (duh). Now, I don't know what "too close" really means in flying terms. 

Too close on the highway, for me, is when some dummy on his or her phone veers into your lane. Happens all the time. God forbid they wait 10 more minutes to mindlessly scroll TikTok for the next five hours. We live in such a dumb time period. 

But, in the sky, it's different. Too close could be a few miles. I believe in this case, it was roughly eight miles. May not seem close to you and me, but it's a little sweaty when you're up there – especially when the president is involved. 

Anyway, this Spirit pilot got an EARFUL from the fella over in Air Traffic Control, who at one point told him to get off his iPad after BEGGING him to turn 20 degrees to the right:

Spirit has places to be, rain or shine

Tough look for this Spirit pilot here. No sugar-coating this one. He was asleep at the wheel here. Now, I have no idea what he was doing. Maybe he was on his iPad. Maybe he was taking a leak. Maybe he was getting his food. I assume there's a chance he was banging the flight attendant. Doubtful, but possible. 

But, this is also Spirit Airlines. Like I said, it's the Wild Wild West at Spirit. When you book your flight on those bright yellow planes, you better come prepared and with your game face on. You could see a fight or three. You could see someone lashing out at the gate attendant. You will almost certainly pay for a Wifi service that won't work. 

But, there's also a good chance your ass is getting to your destination on time. Spirit will fly through ANYTHING. Anything. Low-budget airlines have a bottom line to hit, and they're gonna do their damnedest to hit it every single time. 

Nothing is getting in their way. Not a hurricane. Not the President of the United States. 

So, of course, this was a Spirit plane and pilot that pissed off the ATC for getting a little too close to Air Force One. I wouldn't expect anything different. Frontier? Maybe. Allegiant? Perhaps. 

But Spirit? Yeah, baby. All day!