American Airlines Pilot Upset His Photo Was Used in Story About Unhinged Pilot

An American Airlines pilot is upset his photo was used in a story about a pilot who went off the rails during an announcement to passengers revealing he had been molested as a child.

The audio is alarming ... passengers listened as the pilot explained how his life spiraled out of control and how he became a sex addict with encounters with both men and women. It sounds like he's pushing religion in the audio, but it's not clear. It's a deeply disturbing video ... a pilot seemingly unhinged, on a plane full of passengers.

Several blogs posted the audio with a photo of a pilot ... a black bar covering a portion of his face. The American Airlines pilot in the photo is Rodrigo Ribeiro. It's clear to anyone who knows Rodrigo ... it's a photo of him. Problem is ... he was NOT the pilot who made the announcement.

American Airlines owns the photo which it had posted several years before, celebrating Pride month.

Rodrigo was understandably upset ... being a pilot is a reputationally-based job ... in other words, reputation is everything, and if Rodrigo's fellow pilots and bosses think he was the one who made the announcement, it could derail his career.

Rodrigo says he worked with American to help him get the photo removed from the blogs, but it lingered there for days. People he knew were getting in touch with him, asking if he was OK and if there was anything they could do to help him.

The photo was finally removed Saturday from at least one of the blogs, and Rodrigo wants people to know -- it wasn't him on that audio.

American Airlines tells TMZ the pilot who made the announcement was in uniform but not flying the plane that day. The airline says he got on a mic and began speaking. The airline says the story was posted on a number of blogs and it has tried to get it taken down.