Southwest Pilot Nearly Cancels Flight Over AirDrop Cyberflashing

02 SEPTEMBER 2022 - Did you hear about the flight that was nearly cancelled over AirDrop? Cult of Mac has word of a Southwest pilot who warned passengers (in true dad fashion) that he would turn this plane around and nobody would go to Cabo San Lucas if whoever was sending nudes to everyone with AirDrop open didn’t knock it off.

It’s not quite as drastic as I make it sound. The plane was not in the air yet. According to the Cult:

The Southwest flight was still on the ground when passengers began to complain of receiving unwanted nudes on their iPhones via AirDrop. It got bad enough that the pilot had to step in.

A TikTok of the pilot admonishing the miscreant had him saying:

If this continues while we’re on the ground I’m gonna have to pull back to the gate, everybody’s gonna have to get off and we’re gonna have to get security involved, and your vacation is going to be ruined… So folks, whatever that AirDrop thing is, quit sending naked pictures and let’s get you to Cabo.

See? He actually did threaten to turn the plane around.

There are all kinds of reasons to not leave AirDrop open, which does not make it okay for the idiot who was being idiot to be an idiot. “It’s called cyberflashing,” according to Cult of Mac, “and can result in criminal prosecution in the United States and abroad.” That said, you can protect yourself. Go to Settings on your device, then General, then AirDrop. Once there, you’ve got three choices: Receiving Off, Contacts Only, or Everyone. Just know what you might encounter if you choose that last one.

Now let’s get you to Cabo.