Proselytizing Pilot

[woztwa]

Usually before we expound on something, we make an internal quick analysis about how the message will be received by others. It appears there was no analysis of the impact of his message, so in an impulsive move at self gratification, he speaks out. I would bet that he is really struggling with what he did. If he is nor struggling, there is a real problem.

Very disturbing....that God told him to do this. I'm sorry, folks, this is in no way
rational, dependable reasoning...under any situation that involves your JOB.
Take it to your neighborhoods that allow you to ring our doorbells, or your tents...
Faith is personal..........period. I would not want to fly with this man.
As an f/a I would worry about this one, and that is not on my job description.
I DEPEND on my Captain!!!!

from "very devote Catholic"
P.Sword

 

[Garfield1966]

Assuming the article is accurate, is not appear that h has any regrets about what he did. I have know a few religious nut jobs and it has been my experience that they seem to be under some delusion that it is their job, destiny, duty or what ever you want to call it to save heathens like me from my self. They seem to be willing to do what ever it takes to get the job done. Being agnostic I enjoy screwing with them, but I sure as hell do not want him driving my bus anywhere. Perhaps a Psych. Evaluation may be in order on our flight crews to make sure they do not hear voices and that they need to engage their brain before their mouth starts to move.

As far as this nut job is concerned, I still say a month with out pay and 100 hours of community service with Hindu’s Muslims, Budists (sp?) or some other such group with beliefs different from his might do him good. Then again, he might just manage to piss them off as well and start an international incident.



OH, and Bear ... stop agreeing with me damn it. You are really starting to worry me.

 

[Captain Ed]

Pres. Bush says God talks to him all the time.

 

[WingNaPrayer]

Pres. Bush says God talks to him all the time.

I don't doubt it.

 

[WingNaPrayer]

WNP, as usual, great detective work.("Pilot speaks")

It's a web crawler, no detective work involved. Anytime the moniker AA or AMR or the finished phrase "American Airlines" comes up on the net, I get an email.

On the downside, everytime CNN takes after AA, my inbox damn near explodes!!

But its all in good fun!

 

[WingNaPrayer]

I have to both agree and disagree with Garfield on some of this. While it is not in the company's whereforall to "sentence" a pilot, or any other employee for that matter, to community service, there is an upside to psych-evals for pilots and firsts who actually command those flying torpedos. If this pilot is hearing voices, be they the voice of god or whomever, so be it - as a member of the flying public, and I believe one of many who share a majority opinion on this one, I don't think I want to be in any seat on board when that voice in his head says "Just for shitz&giggles, let's land on the golden gate bridge!"

Certain jobs require certain skills, one of which is complete control of one's faculties, including an acceptable level of sanity.

While the religious right may fully support what happened here, we must remain ever conscious of the fact that the majority of the country does not subscribe to the cult of christianity, and a surprising number don't subscribe to any religious dogma at all.

In the alternative, let pilots orate whatever they want into that PA system, but they must get it out of their system BEFORE the door closes, and passengers still have the opportunity to deplane if what the pilot has to say doesn't set well with them.

This has sent a surprising, or perhaps not so surprising, amount of shockwaves across the country. The banter on this subject is extremely high and to the point where I actually gave up reading a lot of it for fear my head would pop. 99% of the people who care to voice an opinion on this matter are clearly supportive of what the pilot had to say - it's his mind let him speak it, but on the other hand just as many are against the method he chose to do it, i.e. locked inside a plane with no escape.

Oh, and my gawd can beat up your gawd any day of the week!

 

[JS]

While the religious right may fully support what happened here, we must remain ever conscious of the fact that the majority of the country does not subscribe to the cult of christianity, and a surprising number don't subscribe to any religious dogma at all.

I don't fully support what happened. There is a time and place for Christians to witness to others, and the P/A system of a commercial airliner is not one of them.

What I am protesting is the skewering of the pilot -- fire him, force him to learn about Islam, good grief!

The pilot himself said he wouldn't do it again "if you want to make a big deal out of it", which people obviously have.

Besides, witnessing to passengers against their will on an airplane is not just a poor venue in terms of AA policies, it's flat out not very effective.

I have a friend who goes overseas to spread the Word of God, and she knows when to be quiet and when to speak -- namely, be quiet when the Malaysian authorities are nearby in order to avoid a prison sentence.

 

[L1011Ret]

As someone qualified to make an opinion on this, if a pilot is hearing voices, he should not be flying. I would think AA should have great concern that a lot of pax were fearful and anxious about what was going on up front. I once rode as a pax on an AA DC-10 from Chicago to Detroit. The Captain was on the PA from gear up to gear down with long winded stories about how his wife was going to make him do the dishes when he got home and a whole plethora of other issues between him and his wife. It was sometimes funny. But I wondered who was minding the store, talking to ATC, etc. Last I heard, pilots were not hired to be comedians or practice converting the unfaithful. Rightly so, AA as a business should be concerned about Captains driving paying passengers away. They have a legitimate business concern. If the Captain passes muster mental health wise, then a good dressing down (rug dance) in the Chief Pilot's office should suffice.

 

[Garfield1966]

The community service comment was more tongue in cheek than anything else. While I think it would, with any luck open his eye a bit and to perhaps realize what it feels like I am fully aware that AA has neither the power nor the will to sentence him.

JS, he has no idea that what he did was wrong. He does not understand why a fuss is being made over this. I was speaking with a friend of mine who is Jewish and a child of a survivor. He said he would have walked off the plane if he were on it. He would have walked off because he was insulted and secondly because he would have been wary of the pilots sanity.

If I am interested in learning about the cult of Christianity, I will go to a church or talk to a priest. Not sure why your friend, and all the other nut jobs out there for that matter, feel compelled to “shareâ€￾ their beliefs with me and essentially try to convince me that if I do not “believeâ€￾ in what ever BS they are spewing that I will burn in everlasting hell. I’ll take my chances. The way I see it is I will have lots of friends down there anyway so as long as someone remembers to bring ice water, we are all good. I still remember the one Sunday at 11am that 2 twits came to my door to harass me. You should have seen the look on their face when I opened the door in my birthday suit. I have not laughed that hard in a long time, but I digress.

Between him and the 4 nuns we denied boarding too some folks need to pull their heads out of their butts and think before they open their yap. The only thing that AA has access to that will mean anything is salary. I still say that a month or 2 of no pay for Mr. fly boy would do him some good and perhaps the next idiot who wants to sell AmWay over the PA will think twice. I doubt he is a danger in terms of safety but he sure as hell is a danger to public relations. “will all the Christians raise your hands ….â€￾ Give me a break.

 

[TWAnr]

The Anti Defamation League's letter to Gerard Arpey:

February 9, 2004


Mr. Gerard J. Arpey
President & Chief Executive Officer
AMR Corporation
P.O. Box 619616
Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, TX 75261

Dear Mr. Arpey:

We were shocked when we read news accounts of an American Airlines pilot allegedly asking Christian passengers to identify themselves by raising their hands and suggesting they discuss their religious beliefs with non-Christian passengers aboard Flight 34, February 8, from Los Angeles to JFK/New York City. The pilot also allegedly advised passengers of his availability at the end of the flight to further discuss Christianity with them.

We are confident that American Airlines does not condone such conduct. These allegations, if true, are deeply troubling. Religious faith and belief are private and personal matters. The pilot in question purportedly used his authority to invade this sphere of privacy.

While we understand that American Airlines is conducting an investigation into the incident, we urge you not only to do so thoroughly and expeditiously, but also to speak out publicly and take appropriate remedial measures.

We have received many inquiries from concerned individuals about this. As we have in the past in our relationship with American Airlines, once receiving your response ADL will make it available on our Web site and disseminate it through our network of regional offices. We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Abraham H. Foxman
National Director

 

[L1011Ret]

If this Captain cannot see that he did anything wrong and letters like the above and input from pax on how they were effected fails to convince him that he was in the wrong, then perhaps he should be confronted about his denial and inability to see how his behavior effects others. If he still cannot accept responsibility, he should be grounded.

 

[JS]

If I am interested in learning about the cult of Christianity, I will go to a church or talk to a priest. Not sure why your friend, and all the other nut jobs out there for that matter, feel compelled to “shareâ€￾ their beliefs with me and essentially try to convince me that if I do not “believeâ€￾ in what ever BS they are spewing that I will burn in everlasting hell. I’ll take my chances. The way I see it is I will have lots of friends down there anyway so as long as someone remembers to bring ice water, we are all good. I still remember the one Sunday at 11am that 2 twits came to my door to harass me. You should have seen the look on their face when I opened the door in my birthday suit. I have not laughed that hard in a long time, but I digress.

While going to a church is one way to learn about Christianity, if Christians just sat in a church and waited for "customers", not too many people would hear about the Good News.

Earlier I asked the audience why is it that it seems only Christians try to "convert" others. That is, if you want to be a Muslim, Buddist or Jew and weren't already one due to family upbringing, you have to take the initiative and go to their temple. It seems like just about everyone was raised that way, as if you are simply born into it.

100% of Christians, on the other hand, are converts. It is not possible to be born into Christianity. Everyone is born a sinner, yet everyone can be born again. You don't have to go to church every week, and you don't have to be perfect, in order to save your soul. All you have to do is ask for forgiveness for your sins and accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour. It's that simple.

He was beaten, crucified, died on the cross and then burned in hell just for you. Take AAdvantage of it while you can!

 

[WingNaPrayer]

Oh please! Spare me the metaphysics!

 

[mga707]

While the religious right may fully support what happened here, we must remain ever conscious of the fact that the majority of the country does not subscribe to the cult of christianity, and a surprising number don't subscribe to any religious dogma at all.

You are asserting that a majority of the population of the United States--over 50%--does not identify themselves as Christians? I find that extremely hard to believe. Have any data to back it up?
While I'll grant you that a majority of the population may not attend a church on a regular basis, or be a part of an organized religion, I'd be willing to bet that the majority of the US population would certainly call themselves "Christian" if asked to name their religion!

 

[goingboeing]

The USA was founded on the principles of the Holy Bible which is a Jewish Book.
Here are some examples:
How many branches of government do we have? 3 [WHY NOT 2 OR 4?]
How many people sat on a trial by jury? 12 [WHY NOT 11 or 13?]

As a Christian I do believe there is a proper time and place for sharing your faith.The PA of an airliner is not usually one of them and people have to want to hear before they will listen.

I would not appreciate a Muslim or Buddahist doing the same thing over a PA announcement.

The example of ones daily life speaks much louder than ones words.

Don't forget Mel Gibson's "The Passion" opening soon at a theater near you and his interview with Diane Sawyer on Prime Time Live Monday night.