Get Race Quotas Out Of The Cockpit Before We Literally Crash And BurnStarting in 2020, airlines did two insanely stupid things: They forced a generation of their most experienced pilots into early retirement, then committed to new race-based hiring rules.BY: PEACHY KEENAN
JULY 19, 2023
A wagon train sounds more appealing to me right now than setting foot on a plane with a pilot more trained in detecting microaggressions at work than changes in airspeed and altitude.
I hate flying. My poor husband still has a sore arm from where I grabbed him every time the plane hit turbulence on our last flight. I didn’t always hate it — I used to fly across the country to and from college constantly without thinking about it. I’d fly to Europe without stressing about anything other than how bored I’d be for 12 hours. The Chuck Yeager voice of the calm pilot telling me to put my seatbelt on was reassuring. I was in good hands — the best.
But after one super bumpy flight through a storm cloud during a landing in Paris, I developed a fear of turbulence. This led to me falling into a plane crash rabbit hole. I learned about every gruesome plane crash from the last 50 years. I began to try to find out what caused most crashes, in a vain attempt to prevent having to go out like that.
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The miracle on the Hudson flight confirmed that in the unlikely event of a flight mishap, having a skilled pilot is literally your only hope.
This is why the degrading of pilot training and hiring in America fills me with existential dread. Since the pandemic-induced early buyouts of older and extremely experienced commercial pilots, I’ve been extra jumpy. Days before a flight, I start checking the turbulence maps to preview my fate. Looking at weather reports. Trying to figure out how old my actual plane will be and what its safety record is. I don’t fly certain airlines or during certain times of year (summer is thunderstorm season). You could not pay me to take an equator-crossing flight or one near Singapore, both routes known for bad turbulence.
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The one thing that enables me to get on a plane is the certainty that my pilot is a highly trained professional, maybe a former Navy or Air Force pilot, with many years of experience flying through rough weather on lesser planes. Maybe he’s flown sorties off an aircraft carrier, dodged midair shrapnel. My nonstop from LAX to Kona is a piece of cake to this guy. Nothing’s gonna faze him. He will get the kids and me to our overpriced vacation destination!
Only, those guys are going the way of the dodo. Most new pilots have no military training. Some have never flown a plane before they walk into the United Airlines flight academy.
Equity AirStarting in 2020, airlines panicked and did two insanely stupid things. They forced a generation of their most experienced pilots into early retirement, blaming the pandemic. Then, when they realized they’d triggered a catastrophic pilot shortage, they massively increased hiring. Unfortunately, it was 2020 so the new George Floyd rules were in effect. Airline after airline caved to the “diversity, equity, and inclusion” commissars and committed to new race-based hiring rules.
“Over the next decade, United will train 5,000 pilots who will be guaranteed a job with United, after they complete the requirements of the Aviate program — and our plan is for half of them to be women and people of color,” said United CEO Scott Kirby. “We’re excited that JPMorgan Chase has agreed to support our work to diversify our pilot ranks and create new opportunities for thousands of women and people of color who want to pursue a career in aviation.”
You may not be surprised to learn that it was newly trained United pilots who accidentally put a plane into a dive toward the ocean this year, coming a few hundred feet from turning the passengers into fish food. “The United Airlines pilots who were in the cockpit when their plane nosedived after taking off in Hawaii have been retrained, officials said — as aviation experts speculate they may have forgotten to program the aircraft’s autopilot,” The New York Post reported.
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Source:
https://thefederalist.com/2023/07/19/get-race-quotas-out-of-the-cockpit/
