Arrogant Pilot LIES To Controller!

When I was still a student, I heard the words you never want to hear after I landed. "Taxi to the base of the tower and shut down." I did as instructed, all the while wracking my brain to figure out what I had done wrong. I had asked the controller to repeat an instruction once, but wasn't that what you're supposed to do if you're unsure? Anyway, after a couple of minutes, the door at the base of the tower opens and out pops the controller. She walks over to the airplane, smiles, and say "Hi. You're not in trouble. Have you been talking on radios a long time?" I confirmed that I had both military and SAR-related experience with hundreds of hours on radios, but was a student pilot. "Can you do me a favor? Can you remind us you're a student when you call, please? The thing is that you don't SOUND like a student, and we're likely to ask you to do something that you're not familiar with." She was totally cool about the whole thing. The controllers are focused on keeping people safe. There's absolutely no reason to be a jerk to them.

Suspend this arrogant fool's Licence until he learns Pilot etiquette and to follow ATC's Instructions !!!

I'll never forget making a poor VFR decision to agree to pick up a friend in a mountainous area with some crappy weather moving in. It was a 5 hour drive for him to drop a car off and I didn't have the heart to tell him, No, after he had already left hours before. I got almost all the way there but weather had already closed off the last mountain peaks and forced me to turn around. On the way back clouds formed in front of me and left nowhere to go but up. January in a C172 @ 10k' above PA... not a very warm place to be. I swallowed my pride, called ATC to let them know the situation. I'll never forget, he said, "Is the plane IFR rated?" Negative. "Is the pilot IFR rated?" Negative. "Understood." Next thing I know, airliners departing from Allentown PA are calling out holes in front of me. ATC asked, "Can you maintain VFR through any of those?" Uh, Affirmative! I got through a hole right above my destination and said, "I guess you want me to call you, huh?" ATC said, "Have a nice day sir." I thanked him and then the airline pilots and got some very satisfying clicks back. Aviation is a great community.

This guy seems to think we don't really need air traffic control. He is dangerous and needs to be grounded.

I absolutely relish the controller’s response of “living here 25 years has nothing to do with following air traffic control instructions” 👏 👏

As a retired ATCer, this is the kind of guy you remember for the next time he requests to enter your airspace ... you save yourself another round of headaches with a simple "unable".

What a fool - endangering others should cause him to lose license.

Not following ATC instructions should be an immediate license suspension pending a hearing for possible revoking of license for life.

30,000+ hours and I’ve never heard such arrogance! Unsafe is an understatement. I hope he had certificate action. Keep up the good work.

I'm glad you covered this. I've seen comments and videos defending the pilot and crucifying the tower controller when as far as I see there's absolutely nothing the tower did wrong. Also notable is how low he gets. You're supposed to remain 500 feet above terrain (and 1000 feet above densely populated areas) unless you're on approach for a landing, and this guy got as low as 275 feet. He actively disrupted a traffic pattern when he wasn't even in the pattern himself. Unacceptable.

Great work Air Traffic Controller. Sad to know people like him are flying airplanes.

That so-called pilot should never be allowed to fly again. He would kill somebody. .

Just unbelievable! The controller actually was very nice. This guy was indeed arrogant, incompetent and just wanted his way or the highway. Aviation is a big family of very nice, helping and humble people, this guy sure doesn't belong.

As someone who wishes they could afford to spend the time and money to get a pilot's license, I can't believe there are people who actually have them and care so little about keeping them.

The only appropriate response to someone who has just completely disregarded air traffic instructions who then says “I’ve been living here 25 years” is: “congratulations sir…you’ve been an asshole for a lot longer than that.” I’m ex RAF and although I’ve flown with some arrogant guys, thankfully none of them were quite stupid enough to completely ignore ATC. That’s a level of stupid that gives me the willies 😳

Unbelievable! He was indeed arrogant. Lesson: "If you want to a great pilot, be humble, approachable and credible." Thanks, bwana Hoover for sharing.

There is no place for this kind of conduct. I hope he gets all the consequences of his negative conduct coming his way.

I can't stand people with attitudes like this guy. He's probably the same way behind the wheel of his car, dealing with waitstaff in restaurants, and pretty much everywhere else. I once scolded a guy who kept blowing through the stop sign in front of my house, and he got all pissed and yelled, "I'VE BEEN LIVING HERE SEVENTEEN YEARS!" Yeah, and you've never seen this stop sign?

no pilot ever wants to hear” we’re gonna need you to call this number”

That good old boy basically said "I've been flying here for over 25 years and I've never needed anybody on the ground to tell me how to get where I was going, and I'm not about to start now". The problem with this clown is that they could pull his license but that won't keep him out of his beloved cub.