Carson’s a huge aviation nerd, which doesn’t come as a huge surprise since he spends half of his life flying back and forth between here and NYC.
He was working nearby LAX yesterday and during some downtime, he decided to download LiveATC Air Radio. For just $2.99, the iPhone app lets you listen to air traffic controllers’ live conversations in tons of airports around the world.
It just so happens that President Obama flew into town yesterday and Carson caught the moment when Air Force One was approaching the airport.
“I’m sitting at a bar about a mile away from LAX waiting for the commotion go by,” he described. “And I swear to God, I swear to you all on my life, there’s silence and then out of like a movie, I hear this voice come over that says, ‘Air Force One to LAX Ground, we’re 16 headed for 8 on approach.”
Carson couldn’t hold back his excitement.
“And I’m like, ‘Oh my god! I hear the plane! On my iPhone!’ I’m telling the bartender, the waitress. ‘Everybody! Come here!’”
He quickly ran outside and just like clockwork, Air Force One came in for a smooth landing.
But does all of this access put us at more of a security risk? Carson worries about what this information could do in the wrong hands.
“I didn’t want to hear the voice of the Air Force One pilot. As cool as it was to be sitting in a parking lot able to hear it, isn’t that weird? It shouldn’t be that easy.”
-Sarah Carroll, 97.1 AMP Radio/Los Angeles
