A hysterical pilot dressed in civilian clothing took over an intercom on a San Francisco bound-flight and starting ranting about politics and her divorce, according to a report.
The early morning diatribe at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport continued until the unnamed pilot–who was scheduled to charter the flight– was overcome by tears, and removed from the United Airlines plane, officials and witnesses said.
The aircraft was sitting at the gate when the pilot took control of the microphone, and started complaining about the presidential election and her personal life, passenger Randy Reiss tweeted.
“She got on in street clothes and asked if we were ok with her flying like that. We all said okay. Cute, right?” he posted to Twitter. But the charm quickly wore off, according to Reiss’ Twitter feed.
“So then she says “sorry, I’m going through s divorce.” Ummm uh oh.” He wrote, before the pilot allegedly said “I don’t care if you voted for Trump or Clinton. They’re both a–holes.”
The woman, who is believed to have been suffering a nervous breakdown, scared Reiss and other passengers so much around half of them decided to disembark, he said.
While waiting to re-board, Reiss came across the pilot, who he tweeted was still in tears and apologized for the incident.
“Being a pilot is a tough and stressful job,” the passenger wrote. “This particular pilot did not seem emotionally equipped to do that job today. I hope she gets the help she probably needs.”
Flight 455 eventually left the airport, though it was two hours later than planned, the airline said.
“We hold our employees to the highest standards and replaced this pilot with a new one to operate the flight,” A United Airlines statement read in part. “We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience.”
So, she's off the flight. pic.twitter.com/4Lzq8O9jzY
— Randy Reiss (@undeadsinatra) February 11, 2017
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