{"id":2111295,"date":"2023-11-29T16:43:02","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T21:43:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-government-diversity-initiatives-are-leading-us-to-a-major-airline-disaster\/"},"modified":"2023-11-29T16:48:28","modified_gmt":"2023-11-29T21:48:28","slug":"how-government-diversity-initiatives-are-leading-us-to-a-major-airline-disaster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-government-diversity-initiatives-are-leading-us-to-a-major-airline-disaster\/","title":{"rendered":"Government &#8216;diversity&#8217; initiatives causing major airline disaster"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhow-government-diversity-initiatives-are-leading-us-to-a-major-airline-disaster%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2111295&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Imagine a Government Job \u2062with Absurd Hiring Practices<\/h2>\n<p>Here\u2019s a thought experiment. Imagine one of your buddies comes up to you with a\u2062 big smile on his face and tells you he just \u2063got a brand-new job. He\u2019s vague on the specifics, but he says it\u2019s a \u200dfederal government gig \u2062that pays six\u200b figures. It didn\u2019t\u200c require any kind of bachelor or\u200c associate degree, or a physical fitness test. But your friend does tell you that, as part of the application process, he had to complete a couple of computer exams.<\/p>\n<p>Then, as the conversation goes on, your friend recounts a \u2063few of the questions\u200d from one \u2063of those exams. He tells you the questions went\u2063 something like this: \u201cWould more classmates remember you as humble or dominant? What age did\u2062 you first start making money? How many high school sports did you participate \u2062in?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At this point, \u2063you\u2019re thinking to \u200dyourself, this is a little odd. What kind of job\u2064 would ask questions like this? This all sounds kind of \u2062dumb and \u200bunserious. So your friend reassures you that he had\u2063 to complete a second test as well. This second test asked slightly more challenging questions, like, \u201cWhat\u2019s the\u200d difference between the numbers 8\u200c and 6?\u201d If you answered \u201c2,\u201d then congratulations, you could\u200b also pass this test.<\/p>\n<h3>Guess the Job<\/h3>\n<p>Now,\u2062 at \u2062this point, if you \u200dhad to guess what job your friend \u2063just\u2063 landed, \u200dwhat guess would you make? Based on\u2063 all of the information provided, and knowing this is a government job,\u2062 what would you think? Well, you\u2019d probably make\u200c some obvious assumptions right away. You\u2019d think, at a minimum, \u200dthat whatever job your friend is gunning for\u2062 in the \u2062federal government, it can\u2019t be that \u2062important. And, \u200dindeed, there are\u2064 a lot of very unimportant jobs in the federal government. Jobs that were made for incompetent and \u200cunimpressive people. Maybe your friend got a gig in the Department of Education, for example, or the IRS. That would make sense.<\/p>\n<p>But then imagine that\u2062 your friend informs you that he is not working in some frivolous government agency that\u200d contributes nothing of value to humanity. Imagine he tells you that,\u200b in act, he applied to be an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/breaking-federal-investigators-reveal-likely-reason-for-helicopter-crash-that-killed-kobe-bryant\/\" title=\"BREAKING: Federal Investigators Reveal Likely Reason For Helicopter Crash That Killed Kobe Bryant\">air traffic controller<\/a>. And after just a few months of training, very soon, he\u2019s probably going to be directing planes with hundreds of\u2063 people onboard. This may be a hypothetical thought experiment, but it is very much grounded in reality. I didn\u2019t make up \u200bany\u200b of the test questions I mentioned earlier.\u200d They\u2019re all based on real air\u200d traffic control exams \u2064or practice exams.<\/p>\n<p>Now ten years ago, this little hypothetical scenario would\u2019ve\u200b been\u200d unthinkable. \u200cBut everything changed very quickly in 2013, when the Obama administration \u2063embarked on\u200b a plan to diversify the ranks of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/faa-to-invest-millions-at-airports-after-a-series-of-potentially-fatal-close-calls\/\" title=\"FAA to invest millions in airports after near-fatal incidents.\">air traffic \u200dcontrollers<\/a>. Obama\u2019s\u2063 FAA chief announced that he intended to\u2063 \u201ctransform\u201d\u200d the agency, which includes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/search-and-rescue-teams-at-site-of-indonesian-plane-crash\/\" title=\"Search and rescue teams at site of Indonesian plane crash\">air traffic control<\/a>, into a, \u201cmore diverse\u201d workplace. As part of that \u200dplan, air traffic controllers no longer needed to \u200ctake a more demanding cognitive assessment \u2062before\u2064 being hired.\u200d Instead, all they needed was a high \u2062school\u200c diploma and the ability to speak English. All of the tests\u2062 were dumbed\u200d down to the point of being absurd.<\/p>\n<h4>WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show<\/h4>\n<p>The \u2062result, over the past decade, has been\u2064 exactly what you\u2019d expect. \u200dThe number\u2062 of air traffic controllers who are not white men has significantly increased, according to the FAA. Coincidentally, so have the \u2062number of near-collisions involving commercial airlines. According\u200b to a database maintained by NASA, which \u200drelies on data self-reported by\u200c pilots, \u2063the number of \u201cnear misses\u201d has \u200bmore than doubled over the past ten years.<\/p>\n<p>In just the past year, there have been more than\u200b 300 near misses involving \u2063commercial airlines, averaging more than five per week. Just to emphasize that point again: <i>they diversified the FAA, and near-misses immediately doubled.<\/i> \u200d Correlation \u200cdoes not prove causation, but it can point towards it. And in this \u200dcase there \u200cis a giant, glowing sign pointing \u2063in that direction.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, only a handful\u2063 of these incidents receive any major \u2063media attention. So it\u2019s easy to underestimate the scale\u200c of the problem,\u2062 no matter what \u2062media outlets or social media\u2064 platforms you frequent. That\u2019s why, in\u2062 a moment \u200bI\u2019m going to go through some of \u2063the \u2064near-misses that have\u2062 gotten very\u2062 little coverage.<\/p>\n<p>But I\u2019ll start with an\u2064 incident that\u2064 did get some attention from\u200c the national news media, because it helps\u2063 put the broader problem into some context. This incident happened in July, when air traffic controllers put two aircraft \u200c\u2014 an Allegiant air passenger plane and a Gulfstream \u200djet \u2014 on a \u200dcollision course, shortly after \u200dthe Allegiant plane took off from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.\u2062 Watch:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>The \u200breport goes on \u200dto mention that the pilot\u2019s last-minute evasive maneuver was so extreme \u2062that it\u2064 sent one flight attendant to the\u2063 hospital.<\/p>\n<p>If there\u2019s anything reassuring in this\u200c clip \u2014 something that might make you \u200dfeel a \u200dlittle\u2062 better if you, like me, plan on boarding a plane in the near \u2062future \u2014 it\u2019s\u200b that automated software called \u200c\u201cTCAS\u201d saved\u2062 the \u2062day. This is a system that relies on transponders\u2063 that are installed on all domestic aircraft. As you heard, it\u2019s capable of sounding an\u200c alarm\u200b in the cockpit, \u2063and directing planes \u2064away from\u2063 one another if\u200d there\u2019s a risk\u200d of an imminent collision. It\u2019s a failsafe for when air traffic controllers mess up and command planes \u200dto fly\u2062 into one\u2063 another.<\/p>\n<p>But TCAS isn\u2019t\u2062 perfect. It certainly doesn\u2019t prevent all mid-air collisions. In 2002, for example, a passenger jet and a DHL cargo plane collided over Germany, because one pilot followed TCAS while\u200d another \u2063listened\u200b to the Swiss air traffic \u2064controller \u2014 who, incidentally, was\u2063 later murdered by a surviving family member of several passengers. In fact, just this year, TCAS \u2064failed to prevent a mid-air collision at an international airport in this country\u2064 \u2014 Houston Hobby. Fortunately, and miraculously,\u200d no one died as a result of that collision, but it was very \u200dclose\u2063 to being disastrous.<\/p>\n<h2>Mid-Air\u200d Collisions: A Growing\u2062 Concern<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It&#8217;s a terrifying thought &#8211; \u200dtwo planes hurtling towards each other in mid-air, with potentially catastrophic consequences. And \u2062yet, recent incidents have shown that these near-misses are happening more frequently than we&#8217;d like to admit.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Take, for\u200b example, the incident at Portland International Airport, where an Alaska Airlines jet narrowly\u200b avoided colliding with a Skywest\u2063 airliner. The air traffic controllers failed \u200dto notice the impending \u200ddisaster until \u200dthe planes\u200b were dangerously close. Similar incidents have occurred at San Diego International Airport and JFK airport in \u2063New York City, highlighting the alarming frequency of these near-misses.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">What&#8217;s even more concerning is that the failsafe systems in place, such as \u200bthe Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS), are not foolproof. They are not designed to handle situations where \u2063planes \u200dare close to the ground and \u200cmoving rapidly in close proximity to\u200b each other. In these\u200c cases, things can happen too quickly for\u200b the system to respond.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Videos of these near misses can be \u200bfound on YouTube, showcasing just\u200c how close \u2062we&#8217;ve come to disaster. But why\u2062 are these \u200dincidents \u2063happening more frequently?<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>The Staffing Crunch and Diversity Efforts<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">One factor contributing to the rise in near-misses is the \u2064staffing crunch \u2062in air traffic control. When Ronald Reagan fired\u200c over 10,000 air traffic controllers in 1981, \u200cnew controllers had \u2063to be hired. Now, \u200cmany of \u200cthose controllers have reached retirement age, creating a shortage of experienced \u200dpersonnel.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Unfortunately, instead\u200d of incentivizing competent individuals \u2064to become air \u200dtraffic\u200c controllers through better training, higher salaries, and improved working conditions, the government chose to \u200clower standards in the name of \u2063diversity and equity. This decision has had serious \u2064consequences \u2064for air \u200dsafety.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Biden administration continues to support these diversity \u2062efforts, proudly stating on the FAA&#8217;s website that the workforce should \u2063reflect the nation it\u2064 serves. However, when\u2064 it comes to preventing catastrophic accidents, diversity should\u200d not be the primary focus. The \u2064racial makeup \u2063of the workforce\u2063 is irrelevant to \u200bpassengers who just want to arrive safely at\u200c their destination.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The FAA&#8217;s recent &#8220;Be ATC&#8221; campaign, aimed at diversifying the ranks\u200c of air traffic controllers, raises concerns about prioritizing qualities other than competence in hiring decisions. While it&#8217;s important\u2064 to\u200c promote diversity, it \u2062should not come \u200dat the\u200b expense of air safety.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Every week, \u200bwe are reminded of the limitations of\u200c the\u2062 current crop of air \u2063traffic controllers. \u2063Near-misses continue to occur, and it&#8217;s unclear whether the efforts to diversify the workforce will address this critical issue.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/onelink.to\/dwapp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY\u2063 NEWS APP<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n<h2>WIRE\u200d APP<\/h2>\n<h4><a href=\"#\">Stay Connected with the \u200cWIRE App<\/a><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It&#8217;s important to note that while airlines are striving to increase diversity in their \u200dranks, there are still significant challenges to overcome. United Airlines made a commitment to diversify its pilots a few \u2063years ago, \u2064and other airlines have followed suit. However, the\u2062 issue of diversity extends beyond the cockpit. \u2062We need diverse air traffic controllers guiding \u200ddiverse\u2063 airline pilots to ensure \u200cthe safety of thousands\u200d of \u200clives. \u200dUnfortunately,\u2063 many lives are \u200dlost\u200b before meaningful change occurs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Aviation experts often say \u200bthat major improvements \u200bare only made after significant tragedies. This \u2062thought may not ease your flying anxiety, but it holds true throughout\u200d aviation history. Wind shear detectors were not implemented until commercial\u2064 airliners started\u2062 crashing in bad \u2064weather near runways. TCAS (Traffic Collision Avoidance\u2064 System) \u2064became mandatory after numerous mid-air collisions. Pilots were\u200d not required to \u200cde-ice their planes \u200cuntil an Air Florida aircraft crashed into the Potomac River after sitting on the snowy tarmac for too long.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">What this means is that, based on historical patterns, \u200cwe may finally\u2064 see some solutions to the current air traffic control crisis across the country. From Portland to San Diego,\u2064 New Orleans to New York, and every major metropolitan area\u2063 in between, the situation is reaching a critical \u200bpoint. While this may pose challenges to the Biden administration&#8217;s equity agenda, it also \u200cbrings us closer than\u200c ever to \u2063a\u2064 potential disaster of unprecedented magnitude. Unfortunately, it often takes a significant loss of life before action is taken\u200b to address the \u200dproblem.<\/span><\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2> What steps should be taken to address the issue of decreasing air safety and prioritize the qualifications of air traffic controllers<\/h2>\n<p><span>  Conclusion<\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The \u2064government\u2019s \u200ddecision to lower hiring standards for air traffic controllers in the name of diversity and equity\u200c has\u2062 had serious consequences for air\u2063 safety. The increasing number of near-misses involving commercial airlines is a direct result of the absurd hiring practices implemented\u2063 by the Obama administration in 2013. Instead of prioritizing competence, the\u2064 focus has shifted towards promoting diversity within the workforce. While diversity is important, it should never come \u2063at the expense\u200b of air safety. The alarming frequency \u2063of near-misses highlights \u2064the limitations of the current crop of air traffic controllers. It is\u2062 imperative that we address this issue and prioritize the qualifications and training of air traffic\u200b controllers to ensure the safety of passengers.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Imagine a friend excitedly shares their new job, a federal government gig paying six figures. They&#8217;re vague about the details, but no bachelor&#8217;s or associate&#8217;s degree was required<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":305,"featured_media":2111296,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2111295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2111295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/305"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2111295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2111295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2111296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2111295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2111295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2111295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}