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.

[prairiebreeze]

What a maroon.

[EggsAckley]

Careful, there are a bunch of Freepers who are defending him, calling anyone who objects to him all kinds of names. Personally, the guy scares the stuffing out of me.

[CSM]

He'd be good for a free flight to anywhere I wanted to go. The airline probably had to hand out a bunch of vouchers! (yes, I scimmed the article and I bet that info is in it!)

[Arkie2]

I object to this. His job is to get me safely to my destination, not proselytize.

[jim35]

Boy, I thought mentioning God, especially in a Christian context, was illegal in public. They should put this man in prison, or at least in a mental institution. He obviously needs some re-education, preferably at the hands of the government. Doesn't he know how damaging such mentions can be to an unprepared public?

[ventana]

Oooops! Sheesh, he was a little revved up on the evangelizing thing! Poor guy, he's probably wincing about now, or should be! V's wife

[Thermalseeker]

Personally, the guy scares the stuffing out of me.

Seems to me like the pilot, given that he has everyone on the flight's life in his hands, should be concentrating on flying the airplane, not preaching to the passingers.

[jim35]

"...Personally, the guy scares the stuffing out of me..."

I think you'd be crazy not to be a Christian too. Boo! Oops, didn't mean to scare you.

[EggsAckley]

I can hear your sarcasm. The bottom line is that what he did was totally inappropriate. THAT part of it you CAN'T defend.

[FormerLib]

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

I'm glad he brought this up! I'm frequently made very uncomfortable by the things pilots say during a flight. Consider what one said on my last flight, "We are at our cruising altitude of 27,000 feet and our current ground speed is just under 600 mph." Who the heck wants to be reminded of the fact that we are 5 miles up and trucking along at almost 10 miles per minute? After hearing that, you're darn right I would've raised my hand! That's just not the time to be denying one's faith!

[prairiebreeze]

I searched for this article and came up no matches. Didn't realize it's been posted elsewhere??

Prairie

[FormerLib]

Sounds to me as if the demands of flying the aircraft left him unable to fully concentrate on what he was saying. End result, he went for a joke and failed badly. Oh well, no stand-up comic career for him.

[Stopislamnow]

church, social gatherings, airport corridors...good places to evangelize. At 30,000 feet, moving at 500 mph, not a good place to evangelize.

Unless he was trying to bait some leftists into rushing the cockpit...

[sarasota]

He must have had a big dose of fire and brimstone while on his mission. Overwhelming enthusiasm is one of the first signs.

[jim35]

"...THAT part of it you CAN'T defend..."

Oh really? Watch me. This pilot, like any other American, has a God (sorry, did I scare you?) given right to make casual conversation, even to mention that he hopes you're a Christian, even while he's at work. How restricted is your speech at work? Are you allowed to mention God? I know I am, and sometimes I will even pray with my "customers." I have even offered to do so, unsolicited! Scared yet? To my knowledge, noone has been injured yet by my outrageous behavior. Americans today are just looking for something to be offended by, and that's all this is.

[Consort]

...Votive Candles are in first class only.

[EggsAckley]

Posted HERE yesterday. The usual suspect are showing up for an encore. LOL!

[FormerLib]

Personally, the guy scares the stuffing out of me.

Pffft! We'd better not tell you about the boogeyman then! Hey, ever hear of Osama bin Laden? Now he's scary! If he's still alive, that is.

[Cobra64]

Good thing you never flew in the Concorde. 60,000 feet cruising at 1,500 mph.

[EggsAckley]

WRONG, jimbo. If you come up to me in a hallway, building, street corner and start blathering religion to me, I can walk away. It's my RIGHT to NOT have to listen to you if I don't want to.

A pilot at 30,000 feet starts it up, and where can we go? Out the window? You ARE scary.