Thread by @restoreorderusa

In 2023, there were 503 air traffic control lapses categorized as “significant” – up 65% (!) from last year.

Something has clearly gone wrong. But what?

Allow me to explain.

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https://twitter.com/rawsalerts/status/1884812906333622495

Previously, the FAA’s CTI program worked with 36 colleges to educate future air traffic controllers. These colleges offered 2 & 4 year degrees requiring courses in air traffic control and aviation administration. It also employed a rigorous skills test.

dailysignal.com/2018/06/27/the…

Both the CTI program and skills test (AT-SA) appear to still exist, but as we'll see, other selection criteria have been introduced in order to promote diversity.

In 2013, Obama appointed Michael Huerta to the position of FAA Administrator.

Huerta criticized the existing standards on the grounds that they didn’t promote diversity.

Huerta announced plans to “transform [the FAA] into a more diverse and inclusive workplace that reflects, understands, and relates to the diverse customers.”

In other words, the FAA was hiring too many white guys!

You’ll never guess what his proposed solution was…

Under Huerta, the FAA stopped prioritizing CTI graduates and introduced a behavioral questionnaire (BQ).

When this happened, a pool of 3000 qualified candidates – most CTI grads who passed the skills test – was purged.

The BQ is ambiguous for a reason. Its purpose is to select for “diverse” applicants.

Questions include:

“The number of high school sports I participated in was…”

“How would you describe your ideal job?”

“What has been the major cause of your failures?”

To make things worse, the BQ actually gives more points to applicants who answer that they have not been employed in the previous three years than it does to those who respond that they have been a pilot or a veteran with air traffic control experience.

Complete insanity.

In 2015, Peter Kirsanow, then a member of the US Commission on Civil Rights, wrote a letter to the FAA.

He accused the FAA of diluting its “objective standards of evaluating competence” because it “didn’t like the racial and gender composition” of its ATC applicant pool.

Later in 2015, a lawsuit was filed on behalf of more than 3000 qualified applicants rejected by the FAA.

An attorney for the plaintiffs said, “We have a statement from a leading FAA official…that they made this decision in order to increase diversity."

theunion.com/news/community…

The BQ was purportedly discontinued in 2018, thanks to Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-IL), who in 2016 introduced legislation to eliminate the questionnaire.

However, a 2019 class-action lawsuit representing 2500 aspiring air traffic controllers claims it still exists.

If it didn’t still exist in some capacity, why did Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas) include a provision in the 2023 $4 billion FAA authorization bill to remove the “biographical assessment?”

Regardless of the BQ, as we'll see, the FAA still prioritizes diversity over merit.

The FAA is *clearly* focused on recruiting from “underrepresented groups" instead of finding the right person for the job.

According to its DEI page, the FAA’s 2022-2026 goals include an emphasis on “the importance of recruiting and maintaining a diverse workforce."

(Note: This has likely been undone thanks to Trump, but it will take considerable time and effort to undo the damage.)

The private sector has followed suit. A number of major airlines discriminate against white and in some cases asian people in the name of "diversity."

This prompted @StephenM's @America1stLegal to file civil rights complaints against the airlines.

https://x.com/America1stLegal/status/1731018635441787045

@StephenM @America1stLegal The NYT attributes the decline in ATC performance to understaffing.

But when you consider the multiple class action lawsuits representing thousands of denied applicants, it's obvious that understaffing is partially (and perhaps entirely) downstream from the diversity agenda.

@StephenM @America1stLegal Yet understaffing is only one part of the problem. Competence is another.

Any application process prioritizing diversity over merit will inevitably recruit underqualified applicants from “underrepresented groups.”

When you don't select for skill, consequences ensue.

@StephenM @America1stLegal The NYT reports that air traffic controllers have been sleeping, drinking, and getting high on the job. Some have even been violent at the workplace.

Many ATCs are simply unqualified. It isn't just that they're understaffed!

@StephenM @America1stLegal In summary, the FAA’s diversity woes are part of the greater competence crisis.

Imagine this dysfunction in every critical field of American society.

It's a horrific prospect, but that's what awaits us if the diversity agenda isn't defeated.

palladiummag.com/2023/06/01/com…