The Irish are no strangers to navigating in the rain, and that’s no different for one Aer Lingus pilot who was attempting to fly out of New York City's JFK Airport in 2018.
DublinAviation shared a video on YouTube showing what should've been a fairly direct route for an Aer Lingus flight departing New York City's JFK Airport turn into a dizzying detour.
Shortly after takeoff, an Aer Lingus pilot requested to detour slightly in hopes of avoiding a nasty patch of bad weather. The air traffic controller in NYC agreed there was spotty weather ahead, but it was in the lightest categorization of weather hazards and shouldn't pose any risk. Still, the pilot disagreed.
What followed was a back-and-forth between an increasingly frustrated air traffic controller and a pilot. The Dublin-bound flight was placed in a holding pattern above Coney Island before being redirected back into a queue behind several other flights.
“Before I go...” the pilot said, “We didn’t create any situation, we flew the aircraft in a safe manner, and my boss will be in contact with your boss.”
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“Everybody on the airport is turning left,” the air traffic controller responded. “I mean, there’s not too many options here in New York.”
“It’s not my first day in New York,” the Aer Lingus retorted. “It’s not my first day in an aircraft. I did what I had to do. GOOD DAY.”
*Originally published in July 2018. Updated in September 2023.
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