Pilot encourages religous discussion during flight

Dedman · Post by **Dedman** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 10:01 am

Do you all think this is appropriate work place behavior or not? To be honest, I am not sure how I feel about this. On one hand, I donâ??t have a problem with him discussing this with fellow employees. Encouraging a discourse among his customers however is a different matter.

LOS ANGELES
Pilot Is Questioned After Asking Passengers to Talk About Religion

American Airlines questions his judgment in the incident on an L.A.-New York flight.
From a Times Staff Writer
An American Airlines pilot was being questioned Saturday for asking passengers on his Los Angeles-based flight to raise their hands if they were Christians, an airline spokesman said.

Rodger K. Findiesen of Annapolis, Md., then invited others to talk with those passengers about their religious beliefs during the 4 1/2-hour cross-country flight on Friday, spokesman Tim Wagner said.
Findiesen had recently visited a Christian mission in Costa Rica, Wagner said.

"I guess he was moved by the experience and wanted to share his emotions," the company spokesman said.

Wagner said airline officials had interviewed Findiesen about the incident aboard Flight 34 and had "already begun an investigation into it."

"It is a question of whether his judgment was appropriate while on duty," Wagner said, unsure of what company rules the pilot might have broken.

The guidelines "all boil down to just showing respect for our customers and employees," he said, "and making sure everyone feels comfortable on our flights."

Findiesen wouldn't comment on the incident Saturday, referring calls to airline officials.

The pilot told airline officials he made the comment as his Boeing 767-200 passenger plane was taking off from Los Angeles International Airport about 8 a.m., Wagner said. When other crew members received inquiries from some passengers, Findiesen told them he would be available to respond after the flight landed Friday afternoon at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York.

At least one passenger complained to a television station in New York City.

"At the moment, I do not know of any official complaints from passengers on board," Wagner said.

Flabby Chick · Post by **Flabby Chick** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 10:24 am

What with my fear of flying and the threats from Al-whoever....i would personally need my bottom wiped if a pilot asked the christians to be identified.

Top Wop · Post by **Top Wop** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 10:52 am

I'd get off the plane right away.

And encouraging discussion about anything by the pilot is none of his buisness and not his duity.

Will Robinson · Post by **Will Robinson** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 10:55 am

lol@Flabby...me too I'd be up out of my seat in a heartbeat storming the cockpit looking for boxcutter toting-arab looking-bad guys so I could perform a little pre-emptive ass kicking.

That was a dumb idea on the pilots part...really dumb.

Kyouryuu · Post by **Kyouryuu** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 12:23 pm

Probably not the best of ideas.

But on a boring transcountry flight, might be entertaining.

Tetrad · Post by **Tetrad** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 12:39 pm

Last transatlantic flight I took, there was a flight attendant doing magic tricks. That was entertaining. This is just weird.

Tyranny · Post by **Tyranny** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 12:55 pm

hum....this warrants my new...

teehee...

Deadmeat · Post by **Deadmeat** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 4:29 pm

I heard on radio that one passenger reported he asked all Christians to raise their hands and then she quoted him as saying, "If you're not Christian, you're crazy". If he, in fact, said that then he really stepped over the line.

Nightshade · Post by **Nightshade** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 5:15 pm

Heh. Pilots are either drunks or smoking the crack nowadays.

pipsqueak10 · Post by **pipsqueak10** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 8:32 pm

I don't know, I'm 30,000 feet in the air and the pilot starts asking me to talk about religion, I'm praying!

TheCops · Post by **TheCops** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 8:50 pm

he might as well of asked what political party they belonged to. what an idiot.

Kyouryuu · Post by **Kyouryuu** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 10:00 pm

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by pipsqueak10:
I don't know, I'm 30,000 feet in the air and the pilot starts asking me to talk about religion, I'm praying!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

This is an interesting point. Perhaps the pilot sees the approaching mountain ridge no one else does?

roid · Post by **roid** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 2:53 am

i treat pilots like taxi drivers. if they wanna talk then sure why not, you're under no obligation to talk, or put up your hand.

maybe ppl were freaked out coz they feel that they have to do everything the pilot says. simon says put up your hands if you're a christian...

free speach. the pilot's fine. the passengers who thought that they were being FORCED to identify their relgion are stupid, it's not the pilot's fault that everyone treats him as god until they land.

Dedman · Post by **Dedman** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 10:43 am

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by roid:
 i treat pilots like taxi drivers. if they wanna talk then sure why not, you're under no obligation to talk, or put up your hand.

maybe ppl were freaked out coz they feel that they have to do everything the pilot says. simon says put up your hands if you're a christian...

free speach. the pilot's fine. the passengers who thought that they were being FORCED to identify their relgion are stupid, it's not the pilot's fault that everyone treats him as god until they land.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I think you are missing the point roid. No one has said this is a 1st ammendment issue. As I see it it's more like a costomer relations issue. No matter what a persons religious or moral beliefs are they are out of touch if they don't realize that a lot of people are uncomfortable talking about religion. This being the case, why would he do this with the passengers (who are the customers of his company). Even the air line said he didn't violate any company regs. He just used poor judgment.

bash · Post by **bash** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 11:25 am

Any excuse to over-react. The NYT had a retraction yesterday for a column about this story. Apparently a NYT columnist changed events in a very dishonest way to equate what the pilot asked about Christianity to a war cry of Islamic terrorists, using a common religious greeting among Muslims as his example. Oh, the joy of liberals and the faulty analogies they use to explain to others what they don't understand themselves.

Here's the *apology*...

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Editor's Note: Feb. 11, 2004, Wednesday

The On the Road column in Business Day yesterday discussed the recent incident in which an airline pilot made a public address announcement evangelizing for Christianity. The column's opening sentence, discussing the probable unease among some passengers, imagined a situation in which an announcement from the cockpit was a shouted "Allahu akbar!" The column said that while the phrase translates "God is great," it is also "known as a terrorist battle cry."

The actual plane incident did not involve Islam. And the depiction of a central creed of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims as an emblem of terrorism was unwarranted. It should not have appeared. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Dedman · Post by **Dedman** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 11:40 am

Yep. Sounds like they blew it.

roid · Post by **roid** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 9:20 pm

i guess the trick is to live a less nervous life.

bash · Post by **bash** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 10:23 pm

Or accept that your *personal space* doesn't extend as far as your ears can hear or eyes can see.

Delkian · Post by **Delkian** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 4:14 am

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by bash:
Oh, the joy of liberals and the faulty analogies they use to explain to others what they don't understand themselves.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Pardon me but I fail to see which part of that has something to do with liberals. No, I haven't read the original column.

I'm just getting a tad tired of this crap with associating everything possible negative with liberals or conservatives, depending on which one happens to like more.

bash · Post by **bash** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 8:16 am

The New York Times is a liberal newspaper.