Plane passengers recently scheduled to depart Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport for Turkey had their travel plans waylaid by jackasses toying around with Apple’s AirDrop feature. Multiple outlets report that at least 166 passengers received a photo request on their iPhones shortly before takeoff, only to get multiple creepy images sent their way — including plane crash pictures. One was of a Turkish Airline jet that crashed in Amsterdam in 2009, killing nine people, and another of a 2013 Asiana Airlines crash in San Francisco that killed three others.
After many on board alerted flight staff to what sounds like a deleted scene from Final Destination, the airplane pilots understandably decided to return to the terminal and evacuate everyone for safety’s sake. As everyone was re-screened and luggage searched, an Airports Authority spokesman made it clear to reporters that this was “not a cyberattack,” and that the images’ source clearly originated from “inside the plane.” According to the Israeli publication, Kan News, nine people were questioned in regards to the situation.
Congratulations, jet pack interloper. You’ve finally been supplanted by even stupider, worse agents of plane chaos.
Hate to be a jerk here, but... —
Alright, now, let me put this out here first: I don’t wish receiving graphic plane crash photos in your DMs moments before taking off on anybody. That sounds horrifying and traumatic, and I’m not a monster. That said, please set your electronics to Airplane Mode the moment flight attendants tell you so. Please.
How many times have you been sitting on a plane as it taxis towards departure, only to hear a text message chime from someone a few rows ahead of you? Look, I don’t know exactly why we need to switch our phones to that setting, but I trust the professionals on this one. I’m not about to die a fiery death just because you thought it important to shoot off that last “Ugh I hate flying LOL” text to your Tinder match.
