Easy enough to fix that. Instead of eliminating DEI, just eliminate any alleged “quota” and use the system as intended. Ensure that everyone gets a fair shake opportunity at a job/promotion etc, and not locked up in nepotism or the “good old boys” system. Surely no reasonable person could, or should, be opposed to elimination of bias and prejudice in hiring and promotion. Gender, race, and nepotism should have no place in hiring and promotion if we truly want to put the best people in the right positions.
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Yes, it’s an exercise in risk management. Putting VFR helicopter traffic in close proximity to civilian airliner traffic is risky. If the Army determines these training flights are required it should assume the risk, not pass it around to others not involved.
Perhaps I am missing something here. I thought Trump said DEI was an issue that resulted in the air traffic controller shortage, thus the system wasn’t up to providing separation standards for Bravo Airspace. Thus, that caused the midair. He wasn’t pointing a finger at DEI in the helicopter. I could be wrong. Right or wrong, we all know there is a continuing critical shortage of air traffic controllers. As to DCA tower staffing at the time of the midair, the NTSB will sort that out for us.
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Putting the DEI discussion to one side, here in Salt Lake City, UT we have a large military helicopter fleet but they’re located at U42 about 10 miles south of the main KSLC airport and well below class Bravo approaches/departures. There is a large fleet of Utah Air National Guard refueling aircraft at KSLC and they mix in well with the larger commercial traffic. Keeping the helicopters at a GA airport and out of the fast-moving commercial traffic seems logical. I’ve read that much of the DC helicopter traffic primary purpose was for providing VIP shuttle service. If that’s the case shut it down and use Uber.
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Any time any politician throws around “DEI” as a cause or contributing factor to one thing or another, they’re using it for political purposes and nothing else. In any case, DEI certainly wouldn’t be a cause for the controller shortage - that’s more a funding matter than anything else.
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I believe the DEI comment was directed at the FAA in regard to ATC hiring being restricted by the preference for DEI candidates instead of qualified applicants. When qualified candidates are excluded due to the preference for those who meet DEI checklists, the washout rate rises and desperately needed ATC slots go unfilled. Trump did do a poor job of conveying that.
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Well, I’m glad you’re on Paul, you’ve not lost your signature way of cutting through the noise and reminding folks that being open-minded doesn’t mean losing your sense of direction.
As so often with Trump critics, people need to look beyond the media filter. Fact is, the FAA and the US military have in recent years made a very public showing of recruiting and promoting certain groups of people that otherwise would have not cut it. No greater examples of this are the drag shows used in military recruiting and the FAA’s public announcement that it was seeking job applicants with mental issues, including as ATCs. Their chickens have now come home to roost.
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Her backseat aviator ejected properly and survived. Kara ejected after the plane crossed below parallel […]
According to Wiki, the Guy In Back triggered the ejection sequence which automatically fires the rear seat first - I don’t suppose you’d want the rear seat to fire while the pilot’s seat might still be in your flight path.
I wonder who has the primary responsibility for ejecting. Does the GIB have much to do during the landing? It would seem that he could be primed to fire the seats, lightening the pilot’s workload.
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Great to hear you again, Paul.
The comments here for me generally reflect my point that because of the worsening tribal nature of people and politics today, the example of using the bell curve to better explain how humans differently demonstrate skill and effort isn’t understood.
Those in tribal mode lack in critical thinking because it is much more fulfilling emotionally to cite the one law-breaking immigrant, the one pilot, the one controller, the one accident, etc. for support of their rightousness that obscures the bell curve and wrongly applies the exceptions as the rule.
Hope you’re well and enjoying ‘retirement’!
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Good article Paul, being opened mind is a plus for understanding the facts. Regarding female pilots, there good ones and bad ones same for male pilots. Regarding lower standards for female pilots going through pilot training, I know the real story because I was a flight instructor for those female going through Navy flight training. My squadron was one designated to train female pilots. I can attest there were different standards for female pilot and male pilots.
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" The lawsuit by 1,000 people passed over for controller jobs after training for those jobs to enable DEI quotas is likewise a fact. So, too, is the Supreme Court finding that DEI quotas are illegal. DEI IS reverse discrimination to achieve artificial goals … an extreme form of affirmative action."
95% correct. My only issue is with the term “reverse discrimination”. There is no “reverse discrimination”. There’s is only “discrimination”.
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Another unintended consequence of DEI is Loss of trust. I worked in a LARGE bank, with a coworker whose MBA was from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern U. He was Black. And fully qualified. He could feel the vibe when he entered a room or met with someone “Is this guy qualified or is he an Affirm Action hire?”
Using any hiring basis other than best person for the job results in suspicion of the whole sector or employer, and loss of business.
And one other small irrelevant tidbit: my flight instructor, Mary Jayne Smith, was too short to be a stewardess, her dream job. So she said, screw that, I’ll just become a pilot. She needed 2 pillows on the seat to fly, one to boost her high enough in the seat to see, and one behind her back so she could reach the pedals. She was a top notch teacher. And big hair, Dolly Parton style, de rigeur for the 1970s.
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Operating at night with a 200 foot ceiling seems crazy. Hopefully congress critters will no longer have this taxi service. FAA rules state that towers below 200 feet do not even need lights. With turbulence, etc, etc etc, possible, 200 ft. max ceiling at night is where any reasonable pilot should not be.
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I can live with that statement, Tristar. What I meant was that – unlike the days when blacks were blatantly discriminated against – DEI is now discriminating against white folks OR the larger part of the population (the freckle faced types) vying for the openings. Either way – as you say – it’s discrimination. That was my point.
I know people who went into ATC jobs and retired younger than airline pilots. I don’t know anything more about it than that but given the amount of money they make and the retirement benefits they get after, I can’t imagine why there’s an ATC shortage? In that regard, I agree with the President … DEI plays a part in it … until now. I have no problem with a small amount of ‘upward mobility’ positions being held back to attempt to provide opportunities for a few exceptional people. But when the bulk or all positions have to meet a DEI litmus test vs letting merit decide the cut … NO WAY! It’s discrimination and that’s why the Supreme Court ruled against it.
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The industry has always had biased hiring and training practices. The flavor changes throughout the decades. I haven’t seen much of a meritocracy. The idea that DEI has no consequences or that a human can operate without bias is of course, bias itself. Bias is unavoidable.
This helicopter crew voluntarily accepted responsibility of aircraft separation twice. When DCA ATC told them to avoid the jet by going behind it (17 seconds before impact), they failed to do that as well.
In my recurrent training I did hours of sexual harassment training. My employer sent an email this weekend about pictures for Women’s History Month and Black History month sponsored events.
If I want to learn about helicopter routes and procedures near my airport, I must do that myself.
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Wow. Maybe let the investigation take place first before placing blame.
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A fair point to ponder, Bruce F. The CW2 woulda been in the left seat with a view of the airliner’s lights but obviously didn’t see it because they both must have been looking at and focusing on the departing airliner and not the CRJ.
So good to hear from Paul. Whatever the merits or horrors of DEI, it has no place in this story at this time. Using a tragedy to promote one’s agenda on reversing diversity, equity and inclusion efforts is despicable. Why is it that there are never any questions about whether a white male’s errors are due to his having been advanced by virtue of his gender and race over other more qualified people who happened to be women or people of color?
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DEI is just identity politics--group think. As for the FAA , president Obama changed the hiring rules. The FAA was under pressure to diversify the overwhelmingly "white" workforce and began screening applicants using a biographical test. Only after passing this test were they tested on competency. The FAA is being sued under a class action law suit. Link to suit: https://simpleflying.com/faa-air-traffic-controller-applicants-lawsuit/.
I would like to hear from actual ATC controllers what changes they actually need. Equality not Equity....
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