WWYD if you discovered you were flying with a flat Earther?

[phill1174]

I’m fortunate that most co workers see me and assume where I stand on multiple topics. Word does get back to me about the conversations people feel free to have when they think they’re among “friends”. It’s sad to see people feel like that have to power through a trip to save CRM, especially somewhere that has 12-14 day pairings.

Personally if you can’t be professional have fun explaining to the company why their airplane is sitting in Saigon with no FO .
Enough grunts and muttering “interesting” gets people to knock it off.

 

[derg]

I flew with a guy who was absolutely dying to tell me why he didn’t want to lay over in MSP.

I robbed him of the opportunity.

Flatearther, weird anti-city dude, I think I’d handle them the same way.

“That trip? I refuse to layover in MSP”

“K, but sometimes you may find yourself on the arrival and there’s this sneaky ‘Circle D’ on the arrival that’s an anomaly in the software”

“Well, I hope to never see that”

“Cool, The big point on the bus is ‘phase awareness’ and knowing what the jet is going to do because it literally tells you. There’s no guesswork. Moving on to what Circle-D means again…”

 

[Inverted]

I flew with two flat-earthers at NetJets because NetJets CAs are, by and large, completely unhinged freaks. At least they were a decade ago, when I was there. As you can imagine, if a pilot believes the Earth is flat, they will literally believe every dumb conspiracy theory. I was fed all the high points. Aliens and pyramids, frogs are gay, one world government, 9/11 was fake. All the fun and festive high-point topics for idiots.

You won't change their mind; you won't fix them; you won't educate them. It's almost as if we could have predicted the MAGA movement...

 

[arkavgal]

I flew with two flat-earthers at NetJets because NetJets CAs are, by and large, completely unhinged freaks. At least they were a decade ago, when I was there. As you can imagine, if a pilot believes the Earth is flat, they will literally believe every dumb conspiracy theory. I was fed all the high points. Aliens and pyramids, frogs are gay, one world government, 9/11 was fake. All the fun and festive high-point topics for idiots.

You won't change their mind; you won't fix them; you won't educate them. It's almost as if we could have predicted the MAGA movement...

How they explain the fact that one can point a plane due east or west , and continuing in that direction of travel, arrive back at the same point without making any turns?

 

[Inverted]

How they explain the fact that one can point a plane due east or west , and continuing in that direction of travel, arrive back at the same point without making any turns?

Those flights are fake. Trackers are doctored etc.

They have an answer for everything. I even asked him to explain lat/long using a flat-earth model. He just said, "It works the same as it would on a round Earth," so I asked him how you could circumnavigate Antarctica if, on the flat-Earth model, there is some ice wall. He started getting mad at that point, so I decided to just look out the window for the rest of the week. Flat-earthers are the absolute bottom of the barrel conspiracy theorists. I actually think it should be disqualifying to hold a medical and ATP if you think like this.

The other flat-earther I flew with at NJA didn't even lead with that one first. Literally day 1, leg 1 of a 7-day trip, this guy on the freaking climb out hands me a binder and says "this is some information I think you should take a look at," and I am like oh great, another religious nutjob who is going to push some views on me. Usually they save it for the 3rd day, but this guy is coming out hard. It wasn't religion; it was "evidence and documentation" of an alien/human subspecies that the government breeds and keeps in underground caves. They were breeding these things to eventually take over the world.

He was dead serious too; this wasn't a "I am gonna screw with this FO and have a bit of fun with him" thing at all. He said he had personally seen aliens; the Earth was flat, the Freemasons control the world, etc etc.

If that wasn't weird enough, he had 9 kids and a wife at home. He kept a Bluetooth earpiece in his ear at all times, even while flying, and he would have his wife on the phone literally 24 hours a day. He made her stay on the phone nonstop. We would sometimes spend hours and hours in a crew lounge at some FBO somewhere, and he would go hours without saying a word, then would simply ask, "Are you doing laundry?" He would use airplane wifi and keep her on Zoom or FaceTime audio just to have her on the phone.

He told me that he knew the Earth was flat and had seen government photos of the flat Earth that NASA and the U.S. were hiding from us.

These turds live among us and some become CAs at the airlines or fractionals. It's mind-blowing.

 

[arkavgal]

Those flights are fake. Trackers are doctored etc.

Even if they've traveled around the world themselves?

I actually think it should be disqualifying to hold a medical and ATP if you think like this.

A company could terminate someone for believing this (and harassing other crew members about it).

It was "evidence and documentation" of an alien/human subspecies that the government breeds and keeps in underground caves. They were breeding these things to eventually take over the world.

He was dead serious too; this wasn't a "I am gonna screw with this FO and have a bit of fun with him" thing at all. He said he had personally seen aliens; the Earth was flat, the Freemasons control the world, etc etc.

That's wild. I will admit, I think aliens likely exist and may have visited Earth. If that happened and the US government knew, it probably kept it a secret from the public for understandable reasons. I believe people may have seen aliens. I've read enough that it raises questions. But that's as far as I go. But that's all hypothetical. It's my opinion not supported by any hard facts. It's possible none of it is true. I don't go around telling people the government actively engaged in a cover-up or conspiracy about aliens. That's nonsense without proof.

If that wasn't weird enough, he had 9 kids and a wife at home. He kept a Bluetooth earpiece in his ear at all times, even while flying, and he would have his wife on the phone literally 24 hours a day. He made her stay on the phone nonstop. We would sometimes spend hours and hours in a crew lounge at some FBO somewhere, and he would go hours without saying a word, then would simply ask, "Are you doing laundry?" He would use airplane wifi and keep her on Zoom or FaceTime audio just to have her on the phone.

Are long personal phone conversations allowed in the cockpit? No SOPs on that? Seems like a distraction for both pilots. If I were the other pilot, I would feel like my privacy was being invaded if someone had a personal zoom call on the cockpit.

 

[phill1174]

Those flights are fake. Trackers are doctored etc.

They have an answer for everything. I even asked him to explain lat/long using a flat-earth model. He just said, "It works the same as it would on a round Earth," so I asked him how you could circumnavigate Antarctica if, on the flat-Earth model, there is some ice wall. He started getting mad at that point, so I decided to just look out the window for the rest of the week. Flat-earthers are the absolute bottom of the barrel conspiracy theorists. I actually think it should be disqualifying to hold a medical and ATP if you think like this.

The other flat-earther I flew with at NJA didn't even lead with that one first. Literally day 1, leg 1 of a 7-day trip, this guy on the freaking climb out hands me a binder and says "this is some information I think you should take a look at," and I am like oh great, another religious nutjob who is going to push some views on me. Usually they save it for the 3rd day, but this guy is coming out hard. It wasn't religion; it was "evidence and documentation" of an alien/human subspecies that the government breeds and keeps in underground caves. They were breeding these things to eventually take over the world.

He was dead serious too; this wasn't a "I am gonna screw with this FO and have a bit of fun with him" thing at all. He said he had personally seen aliens; the Earth was flat, the Freemasons control the world, etc etc.

If that wasn't weird enough, he had 9 kids and a wife at home. He kept a Bluetooth earpiece in his ear at all times, even while flying, and he would have his wife on the phone literally 24 hours a day. He made her stay on the phone nonstop. We would sometimes spend hours and hours in a crew lounge at some FBO somewhere, and he would go hours without saying a word, then would simply ask, "Are you doing laundry?" He would use airplane wifi and keep her on Zoom or FaceTime audio just to have her on the phone.

He told me that he knew the Earth was flat and had seen government photos of the flat Earth that NASA and the U.S. were hiding from us.

These turds live among us and some become CAs at the airlines or fractionals. It's mind-blowing.

Plot twist: She’s still finding time to bang the UPS guy. Or or… she doesn’t have the time to do whatever he think she’s doing because she has 9 kids to take care of while he gets a peaceful night of sleep in hotel rooms and can eat dinner uninterrupted.

Every other month I hear a story in this industry that makes me regret not going into family law.

 

[Roger Roger]

I flew with a guy who was absolutely dying to tell me why he didn’t want to lay over in MSP.

I robbed him of the opportunity.

Flatearther, weird anti-city dude, I think I’d handle them the same way.

“That trip? I refuse to layover in MSP”

“K, but sometimes you may find yourself on the arrival and there’s this sneaky ‘Circle D’ on the arrival that’s an anomaly in the software”

“Well, I hope to never see that”

“Cool, The big point on the bus is ‘phase awareness’ and knowing what the jet is going to do because it literally tells you. There’s no guesswork. Moving on to what Circle-D means again…”

I’ve got 3 siblings living in Minneapolis Minneapolis (not Bloomington, Skyler!). I hear it all!

 

[Roger Roger]

If that wasn't weird enough, he had 9 kids and a wife at home. He kept a Bluetooth earpiece in his ear at all times, even while flying, and he would have his wife on the phone literally 24 hours a day. He made her stay on the phone nonstop. We would sometimes spend hours and hours in a crew lounge at some FBO somewhere, and he would go hours without saying a word, then would simply ask, "Are you doing laundry?" He would use airplane wifi and keep her on Zoom or FaceTime audio just to have her on the phone.

That has got to be a diagnosable level of weird right there

 

[derg]

I flew with two flat-earthers at NetJets because NetJets CAs are, by and large, completely unhinged freaks. At least they were a decade ago, when I was there. As you can imagine, if a pilot believes the Earth is flat, they will literally believe every dumb conspiracy theory. I was fed all the high points. Aliens and pyramids, frogs are gay, one world government, 9/11 was fake. All the fun and festive high-point topics for idiots.

You won't change their mind; you won't fix them; you won't educate them. It's almost as if we could have predicted the MAGA movement...

Is that because of dementia or something?

 

[luke3]

The most diplomatic way to put it is that I've been disappointed in the quality of my coworkers since flying for a living. And I'm not talking about their flying abilities, i mean quality as a person. The amount of wingnuts, conspiracy theorists, and people with bizarre, often questionable habits, has been staggering. It's even more shocking when you consider they're mostly college educated people in a job with high barriers to entry. In academia and the engineering fields I've worked in, it's a night and day difference. Or at least they had the professionalism to keep it to themselves so nobody knew. It's wasn't a big deal at JSX since we were mostly all super young and eager, and in corporate I got pretty lucky with the small group of regulars I flew with. It was quite the wakeup call going to 121.

Now after upgrading it's gotten better. Most get the hint when I don't engage or swiftly change the subject. My struggle is with the very few that don't. My patience is slowly running out. Part of the reason it's gotten as bad as it is today is the notion that these people deserve the same respect and understanding as a regular difference of opinion. But it's not merely an opinion, it's sheer insanity. If you treat them with respect they feel empowered. I made that mistake with a young earth creationist and had to listen to that crap for 4 hours. Then the giants theory started coming out. So now if they don't take the soft hint I've started pushing back harder and straight out telling them their belief isn't reasonable and I won't be discussing it any further. I'd like to start openly laughing in their face but that might be a step too far in regards to CRM.

 

[phill1174]

I flew with a guy who was absolutely dying to tell me why he didn’t want to lay over in MSP.

I robbed him of the opportunity.

Flatearther, weird anti-city dude, I think I’d handle them the same way.

“That trip? I refuse to layover in MSP”

“K, but sometimes you may find yourself on the arrival and there’s this sneaky ‘Circle D’ on the arrival that’s an anomaly in the software”

“Well, I hope to never see that”

“Cool, The big point on the bus is ‘phase awareness’ and knowing what the jet is going to do because it literally tells you. There’s no guesswork. Moving on to what Circle-D means again…”

Gotta make that widebody money and tell everyone they fly (insert airplane). Meanwhile they’re scared to go out in just about every big city. Just bid the 717 and layover in all the Ville’s you love so much. It’s even easier to find an Applebees in most of those places.

 

[Richman]

That has got to be a diagnosable level of weird right there

I’ve seen that behavior quite bit in the general population, so I don’t think it’s isolated.

I’ll be standing behind someone in line somewhere, and they’ll speak like once a minute or two. Just nonsense like if you were standing next to their SO in the kitchen.

We’re probably self selecting for some very acute separation anxiety at some point in the future. Like a disconnected Borg.

 

[mightynimbus]

All of this could be easily explained,
if you just accept that all of this is a SIM

 

[Wardogg]

The amount of things people believe that are different from my views could fill Noah’s Ark. Somehow I manage. It’s called adulting and realizing not everyone thinks the same way you do.