A Spirit Airlines Inc. passenger jet got a little too close for comfort with a Boeing Co. 747 jumbo ferrying US President Donald Trump to London on Tuesday as the aircraft traveled through New York's famously congested skies.
Air Force One and Spirit Flight 1300, an Airbus SE A321 jet bound from Fort Lauderdale to Boston, were heading over Long Island when an air traffic controller noticed their altitudes were similar and flight paths converging. He tried to alert the Spirit pilots to change their course.
While the aircraft remained miles apart and were never in danger of exceeding safety thresholds, the encounter attracted attention on social media both for the famous presidential aircraft - and the increasingly testy radio reprimands by the New York-based controller.
Trump arrived in London late Tuesday for a state visit that includes a meeting with King Charles at Windsor Castle and expected plans by US companies to spend tens of billions of dollars on technology infrastructure in the UK.
The encounter with the Spirit jet was first posted first by the @JonNYC account on the Bluesky media app. The audio was shared by @thenewarea51 on X.
Bloomberg News wasn't able to verify the audio with the original air traffic control recording.
"Pay attention, Spirit 1300, turn 20 degrees right," the controller repeated after the airline crew didn't respond to his initial message. "Spirit 1300, turn 20 degrees RIGHT NOW."
Raising his voice again, the controller commanded: "Spirit Wings 1300 turn 20 degrees RIGHT. IMMEDIATELY."
Finally the Spirit pilots acknowledged the routing change.
"Spirit 1300, traffic's off your left wing by 6 miles, or 8 miles. 747. I'm sure you can see who it is," the controller said, referring to the dusty blue Air Force One aircraft. "I'll keep an eye out for him, he's white and blue."
And the New York controller had one final admonishment to the Spirit crew: "Pay attention! Get off the iPad!"
