Southwest 737-700 ©Pylon757
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A Southwest Airlines pilot inadvertently caused a bomb scare when he attempted to wish the mother of an air traffic controller happy birthday.
The incident came after a traffic controller at the Federal Aviation Administration Terminal Radar Approach facility alerted a pilot that his mother was on Southwest flight 1155. When the pilot took to the PA system to wish the controller’s mother a happy birthday, panic broke out when passengers mistok the words “mom on board” for “bomb on board”.
Flight attendants and the pilot tried to calm concerned passengers by explaining the mix-up, but the Associated Press reports that, “two passengers were disgruntled enough to complain to security officials.”
An unnamed official from the FAA stated that while the agency did review air traffic control communications, it is “not investigating the pilot or the flight crew.”
Read more at USA Today.