TRUMP ON BOARD

Panicked Message Warns Pilot to Change Course as Jet Approaches Air Force One: ‘Pay Attention!’

Air Traffic Control sent repeated messages warning the pilot to change course as it flew just seven miles from the presidential plane.

A Spirit Airlines pilot was warned his plane was getting dangerously close to Air Force One. Air Traffic Control sent repeated messages warning the plane to change course as it flew just seven miles from the presidential plane. Flight 1300 was instructed by air traffic control to alter its course during its flight from Fort Lauderdale to Boston after encroaching on the president’s airspace, according to a local news station. In a recording obtained by WCVB, an air traffic controller can be heard saying, “Spirit 1300, turn 20 degrees right now. Pay attention. Spirit 1300, traffic’s off your left wing by six, eight miles 747. I’m sure you can see who it is.” Both planes landed safely, and the Daily Beast has contacted Spirit for comment. Donald Trump was on the plane as he flew to the U.K. for a historic second state visit. Air traffic control systems have been under scrutiny in the wake of the Potomac mid-air collision between a Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines flight in January, which killed 67 people. That scrutiny, however, has coincided with numerous incidents, particularly at Newark Airport, New Jersey, which have included mid-air losses of communications and even radar. In a statement to the Daily Beast, a Spirit Airlines spokesperson said the Flight 1300 “followed procedures and air traffic control instructions while en route to Boston and landed uneventfully... Safety is always our top priority.”