Diversity Comes to the Cockpit

April 9, 2021 By John Green

United Airlines has decided that it’s time for a little makeover.  The airline is not going to do that by changing its paint scheme, its in-flight service, or its billing structure.  No, it’s got a much more ambitious objective in mind.  United will polish its woke credentials by giving its clientele what it wants most -- diversity in the cockpit.  United has announced that 50% of its new pilots entering training will be females or people of color.

To fully appreciate the flaw in United’s decision, it’s important to understand the reasoning of the diversity industry.  When I was an engineering manager, I had occasion to hire a number of new engineers.  To ensure diversity, our HR department would be intimately involved in the hiring decisions.  Their reasoning was that any person that met the job requirements could do the job.  They had no recognition that a person with greater capabilities may do the job better.  The qualifications were to be treated as strictly binary -- the person could either do the job or not.

Since I was prohibited from looking for the best candidate, I was required to make selections from the remaining pool of qualified candidates, based on various diversity hiring criteria.  It was presumed that a person with greater qualifications/capabilities wouldn’t provide added value over those who were merely qualified.  Therefore, as the hiring manager I was not permitted to seek competitive advantage by hiring the “best.”  As long as a candidate could do the job, and met diversity criteria, that was good enough.

I have no doubt that any qualified pilot can fly from point A to point B and land an airplane.  However, the danger in diversity thinking becomes apparent when the job differs from the routine.  In 1983, Captain Bob Pearson had the unfortunate experience of being the command pilot of a Boeing 767 that experienced total engine failure.  He did something that the Boeing engineers said was impossible -- he glided the plane, without power, to a landing with no injuries.  The plane became known in the aviation community as the Gimli Glider.  It turns out Captain Pearson’s qualifications exceeded those required of airline pilots.  He was also a highly experienced glider pilot.  In this case, was having the “best” somewhat better?.............To Read More....