‘Straight out of high school’: Aviation safety takes a dive amid racist policies

Passengers on board a United Airlines flight last week suffered a near-death experience as their plane nearly collided with another during landing. The plane was preparing to touch down at Bush International Airport in Houston when another aircraft taxied out in front of it on the runway, causing the United Airlines pilot to abort the landing dramatically and terrify the passengers.

Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tuesday suggested that aviation is growing less safe for passengers because airlines follow racist policies and hire pilots based on their pigmentation or genitalia and not necessarily on ability or skill.

Last year, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby announced he was charting that very course for the airline:

"Our flight deck should reflect the diverse group of people on board our planes every day. That’s why we plan for 50% of the 5,000 pilots we train in the next decade to be women or people of color."

Carlson quoted a veteran pilot at United Airlines who in December revealed that United Flight UA1722 had taken off from Maui and suddenly took a sharp nosedive from 2,200 feet to 300 feet over the Pacific Ocean. Passengers screamed as the plane dropped at a rate of 8,600 feet per minute before the pilots righted the craft and continued its path to San Francisco.

“Both pilots became disoriented,” said the United captain. 
 

“There's some real horror stories out there about United but management is hell-bent on just ignoring what is going on,” he continued. “The investigation is still ongoing but the captain of the Maui flight was brand new. There was a new hire first officer and my understanding is that we almost lost an airplane for no good reason.”

The pilot then said that a new hire on his own fleet was a “nightmare” — he took 50 hours to get through the initial operating experience, and 15 of his 25 landings in the simulator ended up in the dirt. Not one was centered on the runway and he had “no situational awareness”.

A Boeing 777 first officer who worked with the pilot told him that training is “totally inadequate for new hires” and that her husband, who helps train them at United’s in-house pilot academy, says the recruits have not been prepared.

“Many have no idea what they're getting into. They're hiring people straight out of high school now. Zero aviation knowledge or desire. It's just about the money and adhering to ESG.”

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) is a form of grading companies and countries — and soon people, experts warn — based on how well they conform to utopian ideology on environmental and social issues. For example, the more “environmentally friendly” or “racially inclusive” a company purports to be, the more virtuous it is and thus more worthy of investment. If a company’s ESG score is below certain thresholds, they are not to be invested in at all. 

ESG ideology dictates that a company’s profits must sometimes take a backseat to pigmentation quotas and saving the weather.

Carlson noted that Southwest Airlines has also lowered its standards. Last year, a new first officer on a Southwest flight touched down so hard that a crew member was gravely injured.

“So this is what it looks like in real terms when you decide that identity is more important than aptitude in something critical like aviation,” said Carlson. “At some point, many people are going to die because of this. You should know that.”