DEI AND AVIATION

Be Afraid

I just got back from FreedomFest in Palm Springs, and while the flight home was severely delayed, the only people who had concerns were those with connecting flights. But there’s something most people don’t realize—the “friendly skies” aren’t so safe anymore. And it’s not just the airplanes, whose maintenance seems to be letting us down.

The Dangers of DEI

Were you aware that the five major airlines in the US have been pushing DEI? But it isn’t just required training with associated HR rules that force employees to stop using such words as: cockpit, men, women, blacklist, or any other term that references color or sex. The big issue is reducing the standards to ensure that airlines can hire enough “minorities,” a term that basically includes almost anyone but white males. I have no problem with outreach to include groups that may have never considered aviation as a career or who feel like they aren’t supposed to consider it. But they have to meet the highest standards, as all pilots do now. Anything less risks our lives.

My husband spoke quite a bit about his training and testing in his career as a commercial pilot. Back in the day, only military pilots really had the chance to get an airline job. With fewer military pilot jobs, airlines had to dig deeper, but they generally wanted someone who had proved themselves committed to this challenging career by obtaining many of the flight certifications on their own. Various colleges, such as Embry-Riddle, which is the premiere academy, along with almost 1000 others, enable aspiring pilots to get the pre-training they need. Flying at this level is a bit like a lot of other talents. Anyone can fly at a basic level with the right training, but the kind of 3D awareness, diligence, attention to detail and other skills is a talent. It isn’t for everyone. In addition, it’s a tough life. You are gone a lot, have varying work schedules and cannot easily make commitments to family and friends, especially early on in your career, where you can’t get the bids you want.

Training and Testing

Training IS intense, and should be. Not only your passengers’ lives are at risk; yours is. My husband spent four weeks in training for an upgrade to the 747-200, known by pilots as the “74.” This included studying (and memorizing) multiple engineering and flight operations manuals, but also hours in flight simulators. He then had to do a check ride, which is a “must-pass” before you fly real planes. And he already had his type-rating in the 727 and 737.

But to get more “diversity,” instead of helping people who’ve already shown interest by getting general aviation pilot training and aptitude for aviation, airlines are pushing the generous pay and actively seeking out people to go for it. Along with that, they are lowering the standards. One failed check ride used to mean you had to go back to training; now, “minorities” get multiple chances. Often, it didn’t take much to lose a license and/or your job. In fact, even as these DEI hires show little ability in training, they are pushed to move forward to actual passenger flight to make the numbers look good. Trainers often note that these DEI hires can take four times as long to finish training, and then, too much slack is cut. This makes them costly and dangerous.

One trainer spoke about a specific trainee. “She repeatedly failed rudimentary pilot training tests. By crashing a computer simulation flight, she proved her inability to operate an airplane’s three most basic control mechanisms.”

Despite President Trump’s edict to end DEI, airlines continue to ignore it.

Pilots’ Response

I’ve flown a lot and seen quality female and minority pilots expertly handle their craft. They were held to the same high standards as the white males, which is what we want. One female pilot noted, “I don’t want myself or my family to be in the back of an airplane (with someone who can’t pass the training.”

Line-check airmen are retiring earlier these days because they don’t want anything to do with the poor-quality hires. Pilots more often find themselves having to intervene to avoid accidents or incidents, which is not how it is supposed to work. In my husband’s entire career, he only seized back control two times, and one was in India, where the first officer admitted that he wasn’t taught to fly.

Now, planes are mostly operated by two pilots: the captain and the first officer. They typically trade off responsibilities to reduce the pressure and ensure both continue to fly with the necessary expertise. Too often now, captains report having to essentially “solo” the plane with DEI hires, which means that on a long flight, you have someone who may be more tired and burned out trying to do the most difficult flying task—landing the plane. Even if the candidate does a bit of the work, the attention required to ensure that they don’t screw up taxes the PIC (pilot-in-command.)

These mental and physical challenges to airline personnel are being ignored by our airlines. Pilots who have challenged DEI face retribution, so you don’t hear much about it, though a few have spoken out. It hasn’t gone well for them. Most say flying remains safe, but… Unless something changes, it won’t stay that way. You don’t want a substandard pilot becoming a captain.

In case I haven’t scared you enough, DEI impacts air traffic controllers too.

DEI Hurts Minorities

As I mentioned, long before these programs, motivated minorities were applying and succeeding. No one worried to see a Black man, a woman or anything else step into the cockpit of their plane. We knew how hard it was for anyone to get there.

But now, by lowering standards, not only are we more afraid to fly (or should be), but we are also more likely to judge someone who isn’t a White male as unqualified. This is what DEI does. It strips the credibility of a worker away, as it’s too easy to assume they aren’t as good as they need to be. And that’s unfair to the good ones. Everywhere that you see DEI (or previously, affirmative action) applied, it casts doubt on the quality of the job candidate.

In a story I related once before, a Black woman applied to a college. She had great grades and felt she was a good candidate. Her acceptance letter told her she had been admitted as a minority candidate. She rejected the school, saying that “I’m as good as any White person.” And she was right.

Matt Walsh on DEI and Aviation