In “Last Chance to See”, Douglas Adams wrote of flying into Zaire on a missionary flight even though they weren’t part of then mission, because that was the only plane they could get seats on. The preflight chat didn’t just include information about where to find the emergency exits; the pilot added a short prayer. Adams writes:
I realized something yesterday. My boss was flying cross-country on American on Friday on a flight I booked for him. I have told him worse things could have happened than being stuck in Chicago for a few hours!
Good Morning America had one of the passengers on the flight on their show yesterday. She said that, after a lot of the passengers had given the flight attendants flak about the pilot’s statement, he came on the PA system and apologized to the flight attendants, but not the passenger. She also said she told the pilot off as she was getting off the plane. Good for her!
My response would have been similar to what it was a couple of months ago, when I was on a Greyhound bus stuck in front of a man who was talking louldy on his cell phone about his recent or current mission trip. During his conversation, he bragged about converting a Catholic to Christianity and driving the demon of homosexuality out of a man. Since I’d gotten far too little sleep and was leaving a gathering of friends at the crack of dawn to make a Lessons and Carols service at my church 250 miles away, I got a little snarky. I slipped him a note quoting the Gospel which said, “Do not be like the hypocrites who pray out loud on the street corner, for their reward is on earth” and signed it “The silent Christian in the seat in front of you.” It had limited effect; he tried to convert me to Christianity. 
He did quiet down a bit, but not enough for me to sleep. I would have written a note citing that verse, handed it to a flight attendant, and asked him or her to give it to the pilot. I don’t think it would have worked, though.
I have had religious experiences which have left my soul singing with joy and wonder at God’s existence. In that, I do empathize with the pilot. However, I’ve noticed that bludgeoning people over the head with a blunt object, even a verbal one, is not the most effective way to pass on the message, and I would have been very worried, too. I might also have pointed out that this Christian is crazy, and rather glad of it!
CJ
I agree , the man should recieve professional help and counselling and then be fired. 1984 style.
Yeah, it was a sign all right. A sign that God no longer wants him to be a pilot for American Airlines.
I’m struck by the thought that fundamentalist Christians (or those who believe in the rapture of the “Left Behind” series) in all good conscience should recuse themselves from occupations that involve piloting passenger aeroplanes.
Of course it would be crazy to be left behind at 35,000 feet without a qualified pilot in the cockpit.
Given that he apologized to the flight attendants because they were bothered by people who were disturbed by his comments rather than to the people he disturbed with his comments, I suspect he doesn’t. I further suspect that if he is disciplined in any manner he will sue the airline for “violating his rights” and every right-wing wack-job religious broadcaster and FAUX NEWS talking head will hold him up as yet one more martyr to godless “political correctness.”
Another reason not to fly AA (one of the other is their disgusting muffins).
Reminds me of the qualms a friend of mine had flying into Pakistan, when the pilot said “We will be landing in Karachi at 12 o’clock local time… Inshallah”. My friend commented that he really hoped it would be Insh-pilot, as he was the one with all the training.
Let’s keep the facts straight – he did not say that non-Christians were crazy, as in stupid or insane. He said that Christians were crazy, as in “you wild and crazy guys, I love ya.” True, some passengers interpreted it as the former, but they must have misheard. You can see this from some of the later reports.
Why? These folks are thrilled at the idea of the Second Coming of Jesus, since that means the world will get destroyed, and all non-believers will be cast into a fiery pit full of wailing and teeth-gnashing and punishment, while they pull up the lawn chairs and laugh at the misguided victims from their heavenly vantage point (or something like that).
They’ve already shown they don’t care about the sufferings of non-believers, knowhutImean?
Yeah, given what fundies think will happen to non-Christians in the years following the rapture, most would probably consider it merciful to have us die in a plane crash due to your flight crew being raptured away midflight.
As long as the airline ensures that the co-pilot is a heathen, there will be somebody there to safely bring the plane home in the event of rapture.
Well, since we are all going to hell, why would they care if we went south in fifteen seconds ina screaming spiral of Death or fifteen years during a bachannal at Krispy Kreme, they are going to be doing what ever Fundie do in heaven, which frankly, doesn’t sound like a whole lot of fun to me.
Ah. I don’t, hence the snarky tone of mine. No offense.
Nope, wrong. There was an editor for The Avocate on board, and he interviewed the pilot afterward. According to the editor, the pilot said about the Christians “I want everyone else on board to look around at how crazy these people are.”
I’m inspired…
Today I will push out a pop up window to 10,000 users in my corporation. The actions of the AA pilot have been a sign from God to me to extoll how tantric sex has led me to new insights into the mind of God. I’ll encourage my coworkers to explore tantric sex - using their lunch hour wisely. I’ll also push out a link to a website with pictures, just in case I can’t get fired fast enough.
Imagine if you logged into Amazon and your “welcome” screen was a encouragment to open yourself to the teachings of Scientology - done not because Amazon itself had decided to change their message - but because some programmer had decided it was his mission.
I was GOING to post my surprise at all the people who pitted the pilot and then referred to themselves as [fellow] Christians.
And I was going to thank them for the encouragement I’m feeling from finding there are [fellow] Christians in the Pit.
And how warm ‘n’ fuzzy it was to realize that there are believers who are skeptical enough to be dopers (and even knew how to use the F-word where appropriate).
But then I read Shirley’s remark that heatherns may end up at a “bachannal at Krispy Kreme”…
Hmmm … I may change teams …
Behold the power of a Donut!
Heretics! Schismatics! The One True Heathen Way is Dunkin’ Donuts. Although I understand the Pagans hold with Starbucks.