Pilot’s Message Causes Bomb Scare

No good deed goes unpunished. On Feb. 24, an air traffic controller made an innocent request for the pilot of the flight his mother was on to wish her a happy birthday. But when the words “mom on board” came through the scratchy intercom, passengers misheard it as “bomb on board”. Naturally panic arose and there was a general feeling of fear on the plane, but their anxiety was eventually calmed when the flight took off and landed without a single glitch. Still, two passengers were very upset over the incident and took their complains to flight officials after the plane landed. Now the FAA has to go through an entire investigation and “analyze the flight audio” to come to the very obvious conclusion that the passengers misheard. The FAA gave a statement explaining how if pilots and controllers have conversations going beyond brief greetings, the exchange is considered unnecessary talk. The phonetic fiasco surely put a damper on what COULD have been a happy birthday.