do you pray before you fly?

korben88

korben88

Line Up and Wait
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Troy
I say a short silent prayer during run up procedures.

I noticed the other day that my CFI appeared to be doing the same.
I didn't ask hin about it, but I'm fairly certain that he was.

Just curious if this is a common thing in the flying world.
 
Well, if you trust an invisible sky wizard to pilot your butt safely, if I was your cfi I would be having a coming to Jesus moment as well.
 
Treat every day like it is your last.
 
After every run up and before take off I say a prayer. You bet.
 
korben88 said:
I say a short silent prayer during run up procedures.

I noticed the other day that my CFI appeared to be doing the same.
I didn't ask hin about it, but I'm fairly certain that he was.

Just curious if this is a common thing in the flying world.
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I've been continuously surprised at just how religious the pilot community is. (Agnostic myself) However, I've never heard anyone break out a quick prayer as part of the run-up.

I'm not sure I'd enjoy being a passenger on a flight where that was happening. Seems that if the chips went down, it'd be a "Jesus take the wheel" situation. :D I'd feel safer with a pilot who believed his was the last word in a successful outcome in the flight. An appeal to a higher power during that engine-out glide might seem uncomfortably defeatist.
 
schmookeeg said:
I've been continuously surprised at just how religious the pilot community is. (Agnostic myself)...an appeal to a higher power during that engine-out glide might seem uncomfortably defeatist.
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Deeply religious pilots who pray regularly still sometimes crash and die.

Atheistic, agnostic or just non-religious pilots who never pray sometimes fly an entire career without major incident.

To someone not immersed in a religion, it seems obvious that intercessory prayer does not "work", insofar that it cannot be demonstrated to affect outcomes in a statistically significant fashion. But I suppose it may have positive effects on mental outlook.

I guess I'd say, "What's the harm?". Only downside I could imagine is the hazardous attitude of "resignation" - I'd rather have a pilot flying as deeply into the crash as possible than putting it in God's hands.

But to each his own.
 
Don't pray before I fly just like I don't pray before I go to drive my car. Pretty sure God doesn't care that I'm taking part in an extravagant hobby.
 
FastEddieB said:
Deeply religious pilots who pray regularly still sometimes crash and die.

Atheistic, agnostic or just non-religious pilots who never pray sometimes fly an entire career without major incident.

To someone not immersed in a religion, it seems obvious that intercessory prayer does not "work", insofar that it cannot be demonstrated to affect outcomes in a statistically significant fashion. But I suppose it may have positive effects on mental outlook.

I guess I'd say, "What's the harm?". Only downside I could imagine is the hazardous attitude of "resignation" - I'd rather have a pilot flying as deeply into the crash as possible than putting it in God's hands.

But to each his own.
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I'd love to see the data that supports your bias thoughts.....:yikes:
 
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FastEddieB said:
Deeply religious pilots who pray regularly still sometimes crash and die.

Atheistic, agnostic or just non-religious pilots who never pray sometimes fly an entire career without major incident.

To someone not immersed in a religion, it seems obvious that intercessory prayer does not "work", insofar that it cannot be demonstrated to affect outcomes in an observable fashion. But I suppose it may have positive effects on mental outlook.

I guess I'd say, "What's the harm?". Only downside I could imagine is the hazardous attitude of "resignation" - I'd rather have a pilot flying as deeply into the crash as possible than putting it in God's hands.

But to each his own.
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So your saying if we pray before flight that we will throw our hands in the air when a problem comes up and say take the controls O Lord. I find this really funny.

When my engine came apart at 1000' I never said O Lord take the controls. I guess I did it wrong. :eek:

I find this comment down right funny. Say a prayer and you will throw your hands in the air and give up at the first sign of a problem. How funny. :rofl:
 
Heck yes!
I also do communion a brief alter call during preflight.

My passengers appear to do a lot of praying too.
 
I don't pray before anything because, well, I don't pray.

I do however have a St. Christopher medal in my plane that was a gift from mom when I bought my first plane. And since it was for an airplane, having the local priest bless it wasn't good enough for her. She hand carried it to the Archbishop of the St. Louis diocese and had him bless it.

I keep it in the plane not because I'm religious but out of respect for, and as an homage to, mom... Love ya mom, RIP.
 
1600vw said:
So your saying if we pray before flight that we will throw our hands in the air when a problem comes up and say take the controls O Lord. I find this really funny.
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Sorry.

I really had to reach to find a downside. I thought I had made that clear.

In most cases I assume prayerful pilots will continue to act to the bitter end.

Again, my fault for not communicating clearly.
 
Velocity173 said:
Don't pray before I fly just like I don't pray before I go to drive my car. Pretty sure God doesn't care that I'm taking part in an extravagant hobby.
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I need to talk with you for you know what God cares about. I need some of this insight.

Tony
 
I pray before I go to bed. Not because I believe going to bed will kill me. Its what I do.

God Bless.

Tony
 
Checkout_my_Six said:
I love to see the data that supports your bias thoughts.....:yikes:
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Not sure what you mean.

If someone asserts that intercessory prayer has real world benefits, the burden of proof is upon he who makes the assertion.

One who assumes the null position that prayer does not affect outcomes has no burden to seek data to confirm that null position.

Pray away if you think it's effective.
 
1600vw said:
I pray before I go to bed. Not because I believe going to bed will kill me. Its what I do.

God Bless.

Tony
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I join Karen in prayer before every shared meal. It's a ritual and it's nice.

I don't think there's a being "hearing" those prayers, but that's neither here nor there.
 
1600vw said:
I need to talk with you for you know what God cares about. I need some of this insight.

Tony
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Didn't say I knew what God cares about but I believe my path is already in God's hands so why alter his plan by praying?
 
I have seen to much that can not be explained to know that someone is indeed watching.

There is more then what we see with our eye's.
 
FastEddieB said:
Not sure what you mean.

If someone asserts that intercessory prayer has real world benefits, the burden of proof is upon he who makes the assertion.

One who assumes the null position that prayer does not affect outcomes has no burden to seek data to confirm that null position.

Pray away if you think it's effective.
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no problemo.....I'll pray for you. :yes::D
 
I do. I do my best to not let the passengers see.
 
There is a population known to throw up their hands in pilot training and trust it to 'god.' When the instructor saves them that was through cough god's <spelling> will.
 
Cpt_Kirk said:
I do. I do my best to not let the passengers see.
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religion-is-like-a-penis.jpg
 
I don't always, sometimes do. My whole life is in God's hands and I exist only by his grace. The outcome of any particular flight doesn't change that.

For me believing that this whole thing is a cosmic accident and that the plane I am flying is simply a bunch of parts assembled by a human created by a chance combination of events is just as hard for me to believe as believing in a designer.

Either way I support the concept of free will so YMMV.
 
I never pray, I have no tongue for it. But my passengers always pray a lot. Never could figure that out.
 
Most people are like a penis. They believe they are the biggest and best when in fact they are just..dick's.

Tony
 
One of the A&Ps at the shop I like to use was a pastor for a while. He says he prays over each aircraft that he works on. Additionally, just above the baggage compartment you can kinda make out where someone in the 65+ years of this contraption had painted "Jesus is Lord".

Folks - I'M COVERED!

I'll be doing a little acro this afternoon in the middle of tropical depression Bill ;)
 
The Shephard's Prayer sometimes - Lord don't let me screw this up. Amen.
 
Please don't do it DURING run up. Your attention should be on your aircraft and the warnings it might be trying to give you. Before or after, while stopped, knock yourself out.

Prayer, in principle, could be a distraction. Make sure it isn't. Never while moving.
 
No real need for a specific prayer, we are all linked to God through a common intelligence that links all sentient life in the multiverse, hence the 'omniscient and omnipresent' characteristics of God. If I say one out loud it's Sheppard's prayer....
 
I don't, but if I were a CFI, I most definitely would.
 
I've flown with two guys who said a quick prayer before departure. Whatever floats your boat I guess.
 
If you don't pray, fine, but don't disparage those who do.

If you do pray, fine, but don't disparage those who don't.
 
I was flying over SW PA about 10 years ago and lost an engine. It was in a friends plane. Fuel exhaustion. You better believe I prayed. Out loud
 
I like to keep my atheism to myself so I will pretend to pray quietly.
 
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