Pilot in Hot Water for Allegedly Using Plane as Flying Pulpit

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

[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.