Nightmare Fuel: Listen to this audio from Air Traffic Control telling Spirit Airlines to ‘get off the iPad’ as they flew too close to Air Force One

Hand up. I would never fly Spirit Airlines.

Air travel already sucks. Every trip is a gauntlet of delays, cramped seats, screaming babies, and the soul-sucking realization that you’ve paid hundreds of dollars just to be treated like cattle. Then there’s Spirit Airlines, which doesn’t just participate in the misery, it perfects it.

Spirit Airlines is the final boss of dehumanization. Just when you think the bar couldn’t get lower, they go ahead and nearly clip Air Force One while apparently fiddling with an iPad.

That’s American peasantry at it’s finest.

It’s not often you’d find a man of my stature stooping to the lowest of levels by flying around in a yellow tin can when luxury or comfort is nonexistent. How anyone could settle for folding chairs, a rowdy and downright inappropriate group of flyers, and an inept cab crew is beyond me.

I was shocked they flew Philly passengers directly through a Category 4 Hurricane and still somehow managed to land safely in San Juan but I’m not shocked at all by their crew playing on an iPad and almost crashing into Air Force 1. That’s basically expected at this point.

Spirit Airlines flew Philly passengers through a Category 4 Hurricane and landed in San Juan safely

This wasn’t a threat to the President of the United States. It was more a threat to everyone on board because it sounds like they were about to get blasted into dust mid flight. How can you be so stupid to be on an iPad and not listening to Air Traffic Control? No shit everyone has lost trust in our airlines, right? This is crazy.

Way to be on high alert, Spirit Airlines

According to reports, Spirit Airlines Flight 1300 out of Fort Lauderdale was traveling toward Boston when air traffic control noticed they were creeping a little too close to the most important plane in the world.

We’re talking Air Force One, carrying President Trump.

The ATC had to tell Spirit 1300 five times to turn 20 degrees to the right. By the fifth, the guy basically lost it and barked out, “Pay attention! Get off the iPad.”

Audio from Air Traffic Control telling Spirit Airlines to ‘get off the iPad’ as they flew too close to Air Force 1

AIR FORCE ONE and Spirit Airlines flt NK1300 got too close over Long Island, New York for Air Traffic Control and get’s yelled at including getting told “GET OFF THE IPAD”! 😂

Tip via @xJonNYC
Audio via @liveatc & Tracking via @ADSBex pic.twitter.com/sLJ0rip8sG

— Thenewarea51 (@thenewarea51) September 17, 2025

Let that sink in. These are trained commercial pilots, not Uber drivers who missed their turn because they were deep in Spotify playlists. This is 2025, where even my car lights up and screams at me like a nuclear launch siren if I get too close to the car in front of me. Meanwhile, a Spirit cockpit was allegedly playing Clash of Clans while drifting near the President’s plane.

And forget your politics for a second. This isn’t about who’s sitting in the blue and white 747, it’s about the fact that Air Force One is basically the most “do not mess with this” object in the sky.

A passenger jet closing the distance? That’s how World War III starts. Forget Red October, you’d have radioactive cockroaches inheriting the earth because Spirit Airlines couldn’t be bothered to turn the damn wheel when asked.

The only silver lining is the hero on the mic in that control tower. Cool head, sharp eyes, and enough authority to cut through Spirit’s incompetence before the unthinkable happened. That controller didn’t just prevent a near-miss — he might’ve saved the entire planet.

Meanwhile, Spirit continues to live up to its reputation as the airline for people who hate themselves, hate others, and apparently hate listening to instructions when they’re within spitting distance of Air Force One.

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