Pilot in Hot Water for Allegedly Using Plane as Flying Pulpit

Talon News / GOP USA ^ | Feb. 10, 2004 | Jeremy Reynalds

[prairiebreeze]

NEW YORK (Talon News) -- A pilot asked passengers on an American Airlines flight to raise their hands if they were Christians, telling them they were "crazy" if they weren't, some of the passengers said Monday.

Passenger Jen Dorsey told CNN, "We were just at the beginning of our flight. The pilot came on to greet everyone and give his comments for the morning, and he said he'd recently been on a mission trip, and he'd like all the Christians to please raise their hands."

Also speaking on CNN, passenger Karla Austin said the pilot commented, "'If you are a Christian, raise your hand.' He said, 'If you are not, you're crazy.'"

Dorsey agreed that the pilot had called non-Christians "crazy."

Another passenger recalled a similar experience in an interview with WCBS-TV in New York. Amanda Nelligan told the station the pilot said those who did not raise their hands were "crazy."

Austin said no passengers raised their hands.

The pilot asked passengers to look around at each other and use the flight wisely or "just sit back and watch the movie," Dorsey said.

The airline is investigating reports about Friday's Flight 34 from Los Angeles to New York, a company spokesman told CNN.

American Airlines said that if the incident were true it "would be against our policy."

In a statement, the airline said, "It falls along the lines of a personal level of sharing that may not be appropriate for one of our employees to do while on the job."

American Airlines spokesman Tim Wagner said the pilot, whose name has not been released, denies using the word "crazy." CNN reported he told the airline that he had recently returned from a mission trip and was encouraging people to use the 4-hour plus flight to speak with other passengers about their relationship with God.

"American Airlines apologizes if anyone was made to feel uncomfortable by the comments of this pilot," Wagner told CNN.

Wagner declined to say whether the pilot has been grounded while an investigation is under way. The man, a senior pilot with the airline, did not fly again over the weekend, Wagner said.

Wagner would not say if the pilot had been scheduled to fly this week.

The result of the airline's investigation will not be made public because it is an internal matter, Wagner told CNN, adding it will be "handled internally according to American Airlines procedure."

Passengers were "shocked," said Austin, adding that some reached for their mobile phones and others used the on-flight phones.

"Just given the history of what's happened on planes in this country, anything can happen at this point. So we weren't sure if something was going to happen at takeoff, if he was going to wait until JFK to do something... But there was definitely [an] implication there that we felt that something was going to happen," Austin said on CNN.

Passengers complained to the flight attendants, who relayed their concerns to the cockpit. They were reassured that they had nothing to worry about on the flight, Austin said.

Attendants also told passengers they had contacted airline officials about the matter, she said.

About 45 minutes into the flight, the pilot apologized -- but his apology focused on the crew, not the passengers, Dorsey said on CNN.

"He came on and said, 'I want to apologize for my comments earlier. I think I really threw the flight crew off a little bit, and they are getting a lot of flack for the things I said. So I want to apologize to my flight crew,'" she said.

Wagner said the pilot offered to speak after the flight with anyone who wanted to discuss his comments.

Austin said on CNN that on her way off the plane she told the pilot "he should be ashamed of himself."

"He just nodded and looked to the ground, and that was it," she said.

[fml]

Would you be defending him so much if he had asked for the Jews or Islamics to share their views or are you in his corner because he was Christian? I don't want a pilot, teacher, waitress or neighbor to trap me into a converstion meant to defend my religious believes or try to sway someone else in theirs. As someone said in another thread and mothers have been saying for years - religion and politics are not topics to discuss in polite company.

[jim35]

"...Not if it's unviewable from the street..."

Oooo, I guess you got me there. Hey, also not if it's unviewable from the sidewalk! Hah, see I can do it too!

[freeeee]

But, still, why do we have to cringe when God, or Jesus, is mentioned?

I'm not offended by the mention of God. Being told I'm crazy by the pilot of the plane is offensive.

But I wouldn't lodge an official complaint. I'd wait until the plane landed and tell him to KMA.

[codyjacksmom]

Since you only "consider" yourself to be a Christian, it's probably a good thing you wouldn't have raised your hand. I AM a Christian and I would have raised my hand. The bible tells us to never deny our faith. We are to also let people know of our faith. Yes, he's the pilot and he did fly the plane. All he did was to bring up a positive topic for discussion. He DID NOT preach or "jaw" with the passengers during flight.

[blau993]

Or are there any public venues in which you would be willing to tolerate religious speech?

Personally, I am OK with it pretty much anywhere so long as I don't have to pay for it, and so long as I am free to walk away if I don't care to participate or listen. I can't walk away from it on an airplane, so my only choice is to listen, whether I want to or not, or tell the talker to shut up. I am quite willing to tell the talker to shut up (I have done it to plenty of loudmouth cell phone users on Amtrak trains back in the days before Amtrak instituted its "quiet cars"), but I don't appreciate being put in a situation where I have to get nasty or confrontational just because somebody else chooses to be rude.

[Bella_Bru]

YOU don't believe we ALL should acknowledge GOD? I guess you also don't believe in Him, no?

This may come as a shock: Not everyone is religious or believes in God/Gods/whatever.

And for those of us who are religious, not all of us are Christians. And some of us belong to religions that do not include running around asking if people have found our God, want to hear about our God, or tell them they are crazy if they don't.

And at 30,000ft., when there is no way to get away, the last thing some of us want to be is a captive to someone else's theology.

[jim35]

"...Would you be defending him so much if he had asked for the Jews or Islamics to share their views ..."

Yes to the first, no to the second. Like I said in 2 other posts, since we are at war with islamics, I would not like it at all from muslims. But Jews, Buddhists, and ANY other religion, I'd have no problem with. I just wouldn't raise my hand. If it was a muslim, I'd just raise the middle 1/5 of one hand.

[whattajoke]

Then you know very little about Christianity.

While probably not as much as you, but I do know a lot. I grew up in a very loving, christian family, studied the bible, went to church, all that good stuff.

According to the Bible, you'd HAVE to be crazy not to be a Christian.

Fair enough. The NT also tells me to love my neighbor and refrain from calling them crazy. Btw, I'm sure the Koran says something similar about non muslims being crazy. Amway salesmen think non Amway members are crazy. Scientologists... same thing. But you won't understand.

I sure love hearing about what is Christian behavior from non-Christians.

My pleasure. I do it every time some self proclaimed christian acts like an arse. It keeps me rather busy.

[Bella_Bru]

No, I believe that you are projecting the behavior of others here

No, I do not believe I am. There is a rather vocal clique on FR that does think the only religion that should be in public discourse is Christianity.

[jim35]

"...As someone said in another thread and mothers have been saying for years - religion and politics are not topics to discuss in polite company..."

Are you saying that you're not in polite company? I think we'd be well advised to ignore that particular piece of wisdom. Or maybe we should just shut our mouths, and be good little sheeple?

[dangus]

Actual statement from a pilot:

"Well, get comfy folks... There are extremely strong corsscurrents on the ground at Albany, and there ain't no way in heck we're landing in this, but we've got plentty of fuel. So, we'll should be able to keep circling for hours before we even have to think about landing in Boston."

not two minutes later:

"We'll be landing in Albany in approximately five minutes."

Realizing how bad that sounds, about fifteen seconds later:

"Don't worry folks, I use to do this all the time in Nam."

Yeah, but I'm sure it wasn't an airliner in Nam. He made a three-bounce landing, got a standing ovation... and probably brought a few people back to prayer.

[GalaxieFiveHundred]

Pilot's wings

[codyjacksmom]

Yes I would be alright if he were a Muslim pilot suggesting (not commanding) a topic of discussion. If a socialist asked people to discuss "the joys of John Kerry" it doesn't mean that we would have to. I don't believe he was "using his power as the pilot of an airplane" to advance his religious beliefs. He suggested a topic and let the people decide if they wanted to participate. It's called freedom of choice. It is American, and no one was injured by it. Hopefully, people were saved by it!

[Bella_Bru]

Personally, I am OK with it pretty much anywhere so long as I don't have to pay for it, and so long as I am free to walk away if I don't care to participate or listen. I can't walk away from it on an airplane, so my only choice is to listen, whether I want to or not,

And that is it exactly. Being part of a captive audience sucks.

[jim35]

"...but I don't appreciate being put in a situation where I have to get nasty or confrontational just because somebody else chooses to be rude..."

This alone says a lot about you. Someone comments that you'd be crazy not to be a Christian, so you'd get "nasty or confrontational?" Sir, in my opinion, you'd be crazy not to be a Christian. I could advise you further, but I don't want to FORCE you to get nasty or confrontational.

[vetvetdoug]

I am not defending him but it is a significant statement as to what our society has become when what he said was found to be offensive and scary.

[California74]

I'm reading another article that says

---

Karla Austin, one of the passengers, told CNN: "He said if you're Christian, raise your hand. If you're not, you're crazy."

Tim Wagner, an American Airlines spokesman, said yesterday the pilot had not meant to imply that non-Christians were crazy but was referring to "the people who had stuck up their hands at the risk of embarrassing themselves".
------

Here's a link to that article
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1144607,00.html

[jim35]

"...My pleasure. I do it every time some self proclaimed christian acts like an arse. It keeps me rather busy..."

Maybe you need a hobby. But, if bashing Christians is what makes you happy, you should at least know what you're talking about. "Christian" behavior is defined in the Bible. It includes, among other things, being judgemental, which is for the good of the listener's soul. It keeps them from going to Hell. It's encouraged. You can say it's not nice, that it's impolite, but don't say it's not Christian. That's simply not accurate.

[george wythe]

Just like this pilot, I did a missionary trip to Central America. I went to Guatemala instead of Costa Rica.

When I came back to the States, I was in an altered state of mind, judging by American standards. I had been eating maize most of the time, helping the villagers to secure clean water and develop primitive plumbing, as well as praying and sharing the Gospel.

While in Guatemala, I was shocked at the dismal living conditions of the peasants, where the best medicine around was prayer. And just like in Mother Teresa’s hospitals in India, the Lord did answer many prayers and healed the sick. Obviously, my relationship with fellow Christians and God became much stronger than before the trip.

Fortunately, after returning to the States, I did have time to decompress before I went back to college; otherwise I would have been even more obnoxious than this pilot, trying to share the Gospel in a crude manner.

I remember that St Paul said that when he was among Jews, he acted like a Jew. When he was among Greeks, he acted like a Greek, in order to share the Gospel in the most efficient manner without getting into culturally offensive behavior.

Here in America, the pilot's behaviour will likely be considered rude by most people, especially his calling people who did not raise their hands “crazy.” On the other hand, I understand that he had just completed a mission, and his exuberant behavior was expected.

I just wish that the mission organizer would have sent the pilot to a qualified Christian brother who would have debriefed the pilot in a loving, Christian manner to get him ready for his pilot job.

[jim35]

"...There is a rather vocal clique on FR that does think the only religion that should be in public discourse is Christianity..."

If there is such a clique, I've never encountered them. The only group that comes close is the rather vocal clique that thinks public discourse on Christianity should never be prohibited. This is the group that is routinely called intolerant.