The clip is seven months old. ABC News dates the exchange to 12 April 2026: voices meowing on an aviation radio frequency that US media linked to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport1. A second voice answered "You guys need to be professional pilots"1. After more meows and barks, the same voice added "This is why you still fly an RJ", meaning a regional jet13. The FAA said it would investigate once it had verified the third-party recording1. We found no published outcome by November 2026.

Which frequency was it?

That detail matters more than the punchline and it is not officially settled. ABC attributes the audio to ATC.com and describes it only as an air traffic control frequency at Reagan National1. Fear of Landing, an aviation safety site, says the LiveATC archive shows the recording was made on guard, 121.5 MHz, the international emergency frequency. It also doubts that the scolding voice was a controller10. Guard is heard across a wide area, so a clip on 121.5 would not by itself place the speakers at Reagan National810.

What do the rules say?

In the United States, 47 CFR 87.173 lists 121.500 MHz for "Emergency and distress"5. The FCC's 2017 enforcement advisory spells out what does not belong there, naming "superfluous communications", routine messages and radio tests. It points pilots to 122.750 MHz for air-to-air calls4. The FAA's statement took a different route: regulations "prohibit pilots from engaging in non-essential conversations when they're below 10,000 feet altitude"2. The closest match for airline crews is the sterile cockpit rule in 14 CFR 121.542, which covers taxi, takeoff, landing and other flight below 10,000 feet except cruise6.

On working frequencies, the Aeronautical Information Manual says brevity is important and tells pilots not to overload the controller with information that is "unneeded or superfluous"7. Internationally, standard phraseology is set out in ICAO Annex 10 Volume II Chapter 5, with PANS-ATM Doc 4444 Chapter 12 and the Doc 9432 radiotelephony manual alongside it9.

What can it cost?

On paper, quite a lot. The 2017 advisory quoted fines of up to $19,246 per violation and $144,344 for an ongoing violation, along with possible seizure of radio equipment and criminal sanctions4. The FCC has raised its ceilings for inflation since then. In practice, Fear of Landing says it found no case of a pilot being prosecuted by the FAA or the FCC for misusing guard10. A former New York controller told NBC that the banter is against the rules but "doesn't really impact much"2.

Why does it matter on a busy frequency?

Voice radio is a shared channel, so every needless transmission uses airtime someone else may need. The AIM says that putting the request, position and ATIS in the first call helps decrease frequency congestion7. The FCC's 2017 advisory was blunter, relaying an FAA report that non-emergency use was impairing its ability to monitor 121.5 for actual emergencies4. The frequency is guarded by military towers, most civil towers, radar facilities and some military and civil aircraft8, which is why the FCC warns that interference there has "the potential to obscure genuine distress transmissions"4. A pilots' union spokesperson who has heard meowing on guard before told ABC: "It's not entertainment, it's a serious frequency and it has a serious purpose"1. For anyone heading into airline training, aviation English and radio discipline are core parts of the training.