There are many reasons why a flight might be delayed or cancelled, and sadly we’ve probably all experienced at least one or more of them. Weather conditions, Karens having a meltdown. Missing crew. Karens having a meltdown. Accidental injuries. Or even Karens having a meltdown. Here’s one that you wouldn’t expect to ever happen, though: a pilot threatened to cancel his flight after someone sent him their nudes via Airdrop.
One TikToker captured the wild moment when the captain of his flight to Cabo made a polite, if firm, request that whoever was sending him “naked pictures” needed to stop. “I’m gonna have to pull back to the gate,” the pilot warned. “Everybody’s gonna have to get off. We’re gonna have to get security involved. And vacation is going to be ruined. So, whatever that Airdrop thing is, quite sending naked pictures of yourself and let’s get yourselves to Cabo.”
As you would expect, TikTok users now have a LOT of questions. Many wondered why the pilot even accepted the Airdrop in the first place, or failing that had his Airdrop open the public, given his occupation. Perhaps the most pertinent, however, is: “Why is the captain checking his phone rn though?” The way he was doing his best impression of an irritated dad on a road trip really did it for some people, though: “It’s like the airplane version of I will turn this car around.”
This pilot can take some solace in knowing that his experience is just a part of a much larger global issue with Airdrop leading to unwanted surprises. This past June, China initiated some new rules that required stricter monitoring of file-sharing services like Airdrop or Bluetooth. Specifically, service providers — such as Apple — will have to actively prevent the sharing of “harmful or illegal information,” not to mention keeping records and reporting any incidents.
The level of oversight this requires might be a tad contentious, but at least innocent pilots would no longer be at risk of receiving some unsolicited sexts as they’re casually scrolling through their phones while flying a plane, because apparently that’s something that they do.