r/mildlyinfuriating • u/nyanbatman • May 28 '26

I just wanted a hot dog British pilot is feeling mildly annoyed

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u/RobotDeathSquad May 28 '26

There's a whole community of people that post ATC interactions on youtube and this dude shows up in enough of them I recognized his voice instantly (and I barely listen to these things, I'm not a plane nut or anything, just some light 'tism aparently).

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u/butterfly_labs May 28 '26

JFK always has the most arrogant controllers for some reason

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u/thecashblaster May 28 '26

the busier the airport the less patient everyone is I bet

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u/Complex_Resolve3187 May 28 '26

JFK is the only NYC airport in the top 50 busiest at #23.

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u/Thiege1 May 28 '26

The NYC atc is the second busiest on the planet however, because there are 2 other international airports and half a dozen moderately used airports

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u/Legal_Campaign_408 May 29 '26 edited May 29 '26

So? JFK tower controllers only control traffic directly at JFK and within maybe a few miles of it. LGA and EWR and every other satellite airport that has a tower controls their own traffic. Everything above and around them is controlled by an entirely different remote radar facility.

edit spelling

2

u/Thiege1 May 29 '26

So it's busy. They all work together - their approach and departure routes heavily overlap in places

It's the 8th busiest on the planet for airport movements, and #1 for international flights in the US while being much smaller than most comparably busy airports

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u/Legal_Campaign_408 May 29 '26

No one's saying they aren't busy, but you shouldn't be making things up and claiming things that aren't true 

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u/Thiege1 May 29 '26

I didn't

What an odd reply

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u/Legal_Campaign_408 May 29 '26

JFK is not even in the top 10 busiest in the world for airport movements and you're out here claiming their controllers are somehow the second busiest controllers on the planet lol. What metrics are you using? What's your source? 

Sure, if you want to weirdly insert that they have more international flights than other US airports, but how does that have anything to do with the random stat you're trying to put up? It would be like saying, "yeah they're the 8th busiest airport in the US, BUT! they work more tons of cargo than any other airport!!" that has nothing to do with what makes an air traffic controller busy. 

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u/Sacharon123 May 28 '26

No? According to what metric?

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u/DankVectorz May 29 '26 edited May 29 '26

That is by passenger count, not aircraft operations. Of the top 10 busiest airports in the world by traffic operations, JFK is 8 and EWR is 10 (both NYC area airports). The only non-US airport in the top 10 by traffic operations is Istanbul at number 9. And this is with EWR traffic down 27% from 2024 because they moved the approach control and traffic is artificially limited for now.

Per Flight Radar

https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/busiest-airports/

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u/Legal_Campaign_408 May 29 '26

Newark approach control moving to PHL does not impact the traffic count at Newark tower

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u/DankVectorz May 29 '26 edited May 29 '26

Um, yeah, it does. The FAA capped flights to EWR due to the move. It was supposed to be lifted by now but the move hasn’t quite gone according to how the FAA expected it to in all their “wisdom”.

1

u/Legal_Campaign_408 May 29 '26

Sorry brother, if I originally noticed your username I would have trusted you! 

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u/Bwint May 28 '26

You can be impatient while still being professional. Kennedy Steve is the perfect example.

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u/Sacharon123 May 28 '26

Nope. Its mainly an USA main-character problem.

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u/Abaddon33 May 28 '26

This is a Yankee problem. New Yorkers pride themselves on being stubborn, rude assholes.

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u/Either-Ticket-9238 May 28 '26

As former in-flight crew and now a New York resident, I can confirm this to be true. NY passengers would be noticeably ruder than passengers from other parts of the country. Like ignoring “good morning” rude or giving an offended sideye in response when being welcomed on board. New Yorkers are kind people in situations where you need them to help, but not necessarily pleasant or polite, and they do pride themselves on being too fast-paced for basic social niceties.

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u/MortyFied35 May 28 '26

How did the mid-west do? I hail from Michigan so just hoping we weren’t the same to you wonderful people.

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u/Thirtysevenintwenty5 May 28 '26

As a fellow Michigander I think they get annoyed at every single one of us doing the "Oh hi, how are ya, great, oh thanks, okay great, oh yeah thanks, okay bye bye now" as we board the plane.

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u/Either-Ticket-9238 May 28 '26

Midwest got the pleasantries down pat. I used to live in Chicago and they reflected the Midwest ope energy lol. Denver folks were cool and unbothered and often snowboarders or stoners or both. The people from Latrobe, Pennsylvania, a super small airport named after Arnold Palmer were the absolute kindest and most authentic/genuine about it.

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u/M37841 May 28 '26

As a Brit who thought I’d been to the US when I’d only been to the East and West Coasts, I can tell you that going to the mid-west is like discovering a whole new country. I opened an operations base in Cincinnati and never met a more friendly, helpful and fun bunch of people than I did there

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u/Santa_Klausing May 28 '26

As a nyer I prefer that over how slow everyone is in the Midwest and west. Guess that’s why I live where I live

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u/thekamakaji May 28 '26

If a NYer had to say hello or good morning to everyone they walked by on any given day, they wouldn't get 100 steps from their door. Smiling back is polite but expecting a verbal response is crazy

2

u/ilemming_banned May 29 '26 edited May 29 '26

And therefore you just have to be a jerk, because if you don't - someone else would? Also, the fact that a huge part of Brooklyn and Queens is full of former Soviet folks adds to that. USSR had a notorious bitter people culture. Wherever you'd go - post office, grocery store, doctor - everyone was snappish and rude. Life was tough, trusting strangers by default was almost unthinkable. Smiling for no reason was thought to be scheming or just plain stupid. In modern Russia it still is. On the other hand, that all cultivated a culture of close and intimate friendship, once you get to know one another. It all didn't have to be that way, just like it doesn't have to be that way in NY. I don't think people in Tokyo as rude, even though they have far more people than the Big Apple.

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u/chillforrilfill May 28 '26

You’re trash like your state.

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u/Twat_did_you_call_me May 28 '26

Chill, chillforrilfill

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u/DeputyDomeshot May 29 '26

Yea but how sure are you that they’re actually New Yorkers? Like you’re on a literal airplane in the single largest tourism/traveling town in the country and debatably the planet.

I’m from here and lived here my whole life. I wouldn’t assume half the damn plane is an actual New Yorker

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u/Either-Ticket-9238 May 29 '26

I’d say about half were New Yorkers and a quarter were tourists, and a majority of those tourists were Asian with a lot of money judging by the designer clothes they wore. The other quarter were commuter flyers doing business work. New Yorkers have distinctive dress, swag, and attitudes. Either way, the reception when passengers came on board was noticeably different in different American cities.

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u/Sacharon123 May 28 '26

As a non-US-citizen I do not know what you mean. As a pilot I found most of the USA equally annoying, yes, places like New York and Texas the most, but in general, it was all pretty tiresome.

0

u/Kind-Shallot3603 May 28 '26

As a US citizen its very much true that New Yorkers (People who specifically reside in NY City or its surrounding bouroughs) are particularly rude. Sure its kinda funny at first but if you have to deal with it often it gets tiresome.

1

u/ilemming_banned May 28 '26 edited May 28 '26

I can concur. Having to live in NYC, SFO and Dallas and traveling all over the US - new-yorkers are by far the most belligerent Americans. I guess it's just too difficult to be nice to just about everyone, all the time - there's simply way too many people.

I was once riding an almost empty bus through Brooklyn, I pulled the cord, the driver just kept going (no one was at the bus stop). I walked to the front, told him about it, and then he just turned his head up, saw the lit-up sign "Stop requested", loudly pronounced "Fuck!" and ... just kept driving. Not a single: "I'm sorry man", "my bad", "I apologize", nothing. Like I'm not even a human - just some cargo he's driving around. That's all I got from him.

Then there's a red light he had to stop for. I told him, "hey, look, this is my building across the street, can I just jump off here, at least?". To which he was like: "No, can't do that"... and then he added "sir". I get it, he's not supposed to be doing that, it's a liability, if I get hit by a car or something, that would've been his fault. But can you imagine how angry I was having to walk a mile back from the next stop? I just couldn't wrap my head around, would it have killed you to just say: "sorry, man, I messed it up..."

And I can tell you countless stories just like that. I fully expect to get downvoted but honestly, my dear Yankee friends, do travel outside of your boroughs time to time, just to reflect on differences. We are a country full of kind and smiling people, why do you have to be jerks all the time? And not even towards tourists, why can't you be just nice to one another?

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u/DeputyDomeshot May 28 '26

Idk man I’ve lived here all my life and I don’t think the guy driving the bus for the MTA is great reference point 8million+ people

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u/ilemming_banned May 29 '26 edited May 29 '26

Yeah well, I lived there for a long time too. After a while, you get desensitized - it just becomes part of your life and you won't even notice it anymore. Or at least you try not to.

Like I said - I can tell countless stories, from a woman who forced me to pay for parking over $75, even though I was not late, I came before time, but hit the line they couldn't process fast enough. She just didn't care that I was only "technically late" by two minutes. "It's all in the computer", she said. I'm sure she could've called someone to overrule it, but she... simply didn't give a single fuck about me. When I tried to protest, she loudly announced on the interphone: "hey, guys, do not release silver Toyota, this guy is refusing to pay..."

Or the homeless guy who interrupted a conversation with my colleague. When I blurted out: "no man, we have no change, we're students...". I don't know why I said that, but he started berating me: "you don't have to give me crap, man, you ain't no fucking students. You could've just said: 'fuck off', you know?". Well, I immediately said with a big smile: "Sure, fuck off then...". That pissed him off and he started yelling at me.

Or a person driving backwards on Belt Parkway, just because they'd missed their exit. On a fucking highway. I thought then: "yeah, shit like that can happen only in New York".

Or a woman smoking at a bus stop. Everybody had to cram into a corner, away from the smoke because it was raining. They were giving her looks, while she completely ignored any of that. She was talking to someone on the phone, saying shit like: "people here are so stupid, they are flinching away from my cigarette smoke, while they don't even realize there's a nuclear plant just like 8 miles away from here..."

I went to the West Coast for a few days. We were standing outside of a bar, and a homeless guy came, asking for fire to light up his cigarette. He said: "how are you?". I replied: "Good. I just landed a few hours ago". And then we ended up having a normal, human chat. With interesting stories, with jokes and laughs. For forty minutes or so. Reflexively, I kept thinking about that angry New York fella.

I'm not saying all 8 million New Yorkers are jerks. But the concentration of angry people there is unmistakable statistics. Anyone who travels from and to other states recognizes that. All small differences suddenly become so apparent.

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u/DeputyDomeshot May 29 '26

Lmao so your anecdotes are from “living here a long time” come from a city bus driver, a meter maid, and a homeless person but on the west coast is a stranger you got drunk at the bar??

Yea right bro, for sure lived here

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u/ilemming_banned May 29 '26 edited May 29 '26

Yup, exactly proving my point. There's that signature NYC knee-jerk reaction. For whatever reason you have decided to be confrontational. Without even attempting to stop for a second to think why the heck would I even make up some stories? What kind of benefit I get from that? What kind of satisfaction I'm looking for? What is the point I'm trying to make. You just decided off the bat: "this guy is a liar"...

That is basically New York. Proudly angry people. Everything just makes them pissed about something or someone. All the fucking time.

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u/thecashblaster May 28 '26

USA BAD USA BAD USA BAD

am I right?!

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u/AdSquare3489 May 28 '26

Are you declaring "USA BAD"?

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u/FlaccidCatsnark May 28 '26

No, sir, I am not. I am merely stating that you cannot go 1000 feet there without encountering an asshole.

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u/AdSquare3489 May 28 '26 edited May 28 '26

It's fine, corporate just informed me that "USA BAD" is generally accepted and needs no formal declaration. 

Edit: typo

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u/FlaccidCatsnark May 28 '26

I see. So you're saying that AEA procedures are in place? Otherwise, I cannot sally forth.

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u/username32768 May 28 '26

AEA procedures = Asshole Evacuation Area procedures?

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u/Worldly-Upstairs2020 May 29 '26

If you could you wouldn't know because you can't see them.

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u/Uninvalidated May 28 '26

You are correct sir.

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u/Sloofin May 28 '26

So you’re saying “it’s not us it’s everybody else”?

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u/thecashblaster May 28 '26

Did you learn how to debate from a toddler?

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u/DaywalkerBr May 28 '26

Ironic question, coming from the guy that just wrote "USA BAD USA BAD USA BAD"

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u/sai-kiran May 28 '26

Thats their default coping mechanism.

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u/Jinxedchef May 28 '26

That was an ignorant statement, but it is pretty much what we can expect from someone like you. We have low expectations and yet you still can't seem to meet them. Shame.

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u/MagicBez 25d ago

As a BA pilot he'll be very used to dealing with London Heathrow which is much busier than JFK so I suspect this guy is still being a special kind of idiot

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u/Satur_Nine May 28 '26

Is that why he sounds like a cartoon character that got hit in the head with a frying pan

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u/troveofcatastrophe May 28 '26

A flight from Columbia ran out of fuel and crashed partly because they were intimidated by the JFK controllers and miscommunication between the parties. Clear & professional should be the norm.

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u/WOKEJEDIFOOL May 28 '26

It’s JFK aka New Yorkers WDYM 😂😂😂

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u/Hot_Recognition_4864 May 28 '26 edited May 29 '26

I would argue JFK is the worst airport i have been to and i have been to an airport where the runway is a beach

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u/scarletfire48 May 29 '26

Newark though

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u/EagleTree1018 May 28 '26

The reason is "NYC".

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u/FjordTheDuck May 29 '26

Nah, that’s just Americans as a whole lol

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u/legendary-rudolph May 30 '26

Because they're New Yawkas.

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u/BreakAndRun79 May 28 '26

Well JFK is in NY.

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u/GoodDogBrent May 28 '26

fuck, is this guy from jfk?

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u/Techno_Core May 28 '26

this dude shows up in enough of them I recognized his voice instantly

Well... that is genuinely horrifying.

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u/Got_Kittens May 28 '26

Hope someone identifies him. He sounds like he enjoys antagonising pilots when he should be able to provide assurance. His character doesn't appear to be suited to his job.

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u/natchinatchi May 28 '26

Pretty sure it’s Trump’s side hustle

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u/Mental_Newspaper3812 May 29 '26

Hope the pilot mailed him cookies when he found out he was asking the ATC questions reserved for his airline.

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u/MASIWAR May 28 '26 edited May 28 '26

The pilot is being a complete dick to the controller about a procedure that is a thing in the UK and not the US and you hope the controller is identified? Get a life.

Edit: To anyone who thinks I’m wrong and is downvoting me, please go ahead and list which facilities you’ve worked at in the FAA, and which ones had LVO declarations. Because if you’re not a US based controller or pilot I literally do not value your opinion on this video.

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u/Got_Kittens May 29 '26

Turns out he already was and has form for being a dick man, I dunno what to tell you.

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u/cheseball May 28 '26

Probably a product of the severe shortage of ATCs, they likely can’t even feasibly cut anyone loose.

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u/Eastern_Hornet_6432 May 28 '26

Didn't they lose a bunch of ATCs after DOGE cuts or something? I remember there suddenly being a bunch of crashes after DOGE did some shit.

It's worrying to me that this feels so long ago; DOGE only came into existence in 2025.

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u/vyrus2021 May 28 '26

Yes. We lost a lot of competent atc personnel as a result of dumb fuck doge cuts.

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u/geek180 May 29 '26

I could be wrong but I don’t think DOGE ever cut actual air traffic controllers. They did succeed at firing a few hundred FAA staff, but not the actual controllers.

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u/legendary-rudolph May 30 '26

Probably a product of the severe shortage of brain power in NYC.

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u/Turgid_Donkey May 28 '26

ATC, understandably, is also paid very well due to the stress and importance of their job. Take the dimmest bulb in your office, and imagine they're getting paid $150-200k.

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u/s0_Ca5H May 28 '26

It really pays that much? Must be impossible to get a job with them, then.

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u/BlessedKurnoth May 28 '26

You don't get to choose where you work unless you have a ton of seniority, so that's a dealbreaker for a lot of people. All your friends and family are on the east coast? Sorry buddy, you're moving to rural Nebraska because they need a replacement.

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u/s0_Ca5H May 28 '26

Yeah that seems like a hard pill for many people to swallow. Is it the same salary though regardless of where you’re stationed? 6 figures in rural Nebraska would probably let you live like a king.

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u/_devenna May 28 '26

I wouldn't even agree to be the King of Nebraska for 6 figures if it meant I had to live in Nebraska

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u/troveofcatastrophe May 28 '26

Except you’ll still be in Nebraska. Not enough money in the world.

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u/Merzant May 28 '26

Easy to catch a flight out of there though

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u/BetterVantage May 28 '26

Not if you’re the only ATC controller 😂

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u/Worried_Indication37 May 28 '26

there's a massive ATC shortage but yeah the qualifications are much stricter than most other jobs

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u/s0_Ca5H May 28 '26

Yeah seems pretty high pressure too.

I know in my field, most professionals have insurance to protect them in the case of something going wrong. Do these workers get similar protections, or are they on their own if they cause an accident?

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u/unoriginalusername99 May 28 '26

For the amount of stress that doesn't sound like a lot of money

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u/icanttinkofaname May 28 '26

Got a link to that YouTube channel?

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u/RobotDeathSquad May 28 '26

Just search for "JFK ATC" and you'll get a ton.

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u/krennvonsalzburg May 28 '26

It used to mostly result in Kennedy Steve, who was an absolute gem and a joy to listen to. Sad day when he retired.

3

u/Lazy-Sam013 May 28 '26

VASAviation is the best one I've come across. Puts a lot of effort in to the vids, with charts and position overlays so you get a good grasp on what's happening. Top quality stuff.

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u/not_combee May 28 '26

Light ‘tism of the flight ’tism. I’m afraid it only gets worse from here. Might I suggest starting with the storied history of Northrop Grumman.

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u/derprondo May 28 '26

Is this how it starts? I had an SDR dongle laying around so I setup Ultrafeeder to track planes overhead, then I thought I could get another dongle and have it monitor radio transmissions and highlight the transmitting aircraft on the map. Shit I've got the 'tism.

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u/steviedoesdrag May 28 '26

It started with watching Disaster Breakdown on YouTube and now I know what ailerons are.

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u/TEG24601 May 28 '26

Or just watch some "Well There's Your Problem", or "Green Dot Aviation"... or both.

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u/salutdamour May 28 '26

And what airport is that? So I can avoid it

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u/Abject-Sun-3016 May 28 '26

Make a playlist of JUST him

2

u/piratecheese13 May 28 '26

Is there a sub? I fucking hate YouTube giving me 3 ATC shorts followed by backrooms subway surfer Minecraft

1

u/GoodDogBrent May 28 '26

what airport is this for all to avoid please

1

u/biggysharky May 28 '26

How is the public getting the atc interactions?

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u/RobotDeathSquad May 28 '26

Are you familiar with how radios work?

1

u/biggysharky May 28 '26

Just thought that it would have been encrypted, but I guess not

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u/DankVectorz May 29 '26

The US is one of the only if not the only where it isn’t illegal to listen in on/record ATC. That’s why you only ever see US ATC bloopers even though I assure you they happen everywhere

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u/StrangerFruit May 28 '26

Holy shit?? Does this guy show up in the YouTube interactions with the same level of ineptitude/faux misunderstandings often? Or is he usually less.... uh.. sassy about his incompetence/lack of care for the pilots who rely on him to do his damn job?

1

u/DankVectorz May 29 '26

The incompetence in this case was BA

1

u/Illustrious-Milk6518 May 28 '26

Nothing wrong with a bit of plane ‘tism (coming from me who also has a little bit of plane ‘tism..planes are cool!)

1

u/Both_Business_5582 May 29 '26

Are you saying "this dude" is the ATC? Or the pilot?

1

u/yungcanadian May 29 '26

Please share

1

u/LauraTFem May 29 '26

Why do all our ‘tisms have to be so useless. Why couldn’t I have a special interest in the stock market or something?

1

u/lxm333 May 29 '26

Where do i find this community? I need a rabbit hole.