On Friday, passengers on an American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to New York experienced… On Friday, passengers on an American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to New York experienced a moment of terror during the in-flight announcements.

The pilot requested that the Christians on the flight raise their hands. He then said, “everyone who doesn’t have their hand raised is crazy,” according to a woman who was aboard the flight. He told the non-Christians to talk to the Christians about their faith, and said he would be available after the flight for discussion. He also said that reading a book or watching the movie would be a waste of time, and that discussing Christianity would be “worthwhile.”

The comments proved so unsettling that several passengers attempted to call loved ones from their cell phones, perhaps fearing that some religious fundamentalist had hijacked the plane and that disaster was imminent.

A spokesman for American Airlines said the incident was being investigated. The pilot should be severely disciplined, if not fired, for his inappropriate and ill-timed comments.

A ride on a commercial airline flight is a business transaction, not an opportunity for proselytizing. The pilot really shouldn’t say much more than the barest facts: estimated flight time and maybe the expected weather in the arrival city. Anything more personal is simply inappropriate.

Far more troubling, however, is that this little stunt occurred aboard an airplane, in an enclosed space with a captive audience. Didn’t the pilot have any notion that such odd and loaded language might invoke images of other flights in passengers’ minds? The terrible events of Sept. 11, 2001, are seared in the minds of every American and most citizens of the world. People are understandably nervous.

Add to that fear that many people are terrified of flying, regardless of the circumstances. For someone who is already breathing in a bag, being asked to consider the state of their eternal soul would clearly be too much to handle.

Consider if the pilot’s statements had been a little different: “Raise your hand if you are Muslim. Everyone who doesn’t have their hand raised is crazy.” He’d be imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay faster than you can say USA PATRIOT Act.

Whether an innocent attempt to share his religious beliefs with his passengers or an arrogant abuse of a microphone, this pilot clearly has issues of mental competency to be considered in evaluating his future with American Airlines.