The FAA’s DEI Traffic Controllers Were an Accident Waiting to Happen

 The FAA’s DEI Traffic Controllers Were an Accident Waiting to Happen And plenty of these ticking time bombs are still there.

As of now, we don’t know for sure all the names of those responsible for the tragic air disaster in D. C. but there is no question that DEI corroded the quality of air traffic controllers.

Historically, the path into air traffic control included military veterans, graduates of the “Air Traffic-Collegiate Training Initiative” (AT-CTI) program, and the general public. All candidates were required to take and pass the AT-SAT cognitive test to start serious training.

In 2000, a task force recommended a workplace cultural audit, diversity “hiring targets” for each year, and “allowing Race and National Origin and gender-conscious hiring,” to address under-representation of minorities, women, and people with disabilities. The cognitive test was seen as a barrier for black candidates, leading to a recommendation for a biographical test to “maximize diversity,” removing many candidates before any cognitive evaluation.

Around this time, the FAA paused hiring of CTI graduates while implementing the biographical assessment, without informing the schools or students involved. Several students passed the AT-SAT but were unaware it would not count for job placement.

In 2014, the FAA introduced a new biographical questionnaire intended to disqualify around 90% of applicants. The questionnaire was not monitored and allowed applicants to answer from home. It included questions about high school sports participation, recent unemployment, and personal traits.

Members of the National Black Coalition of Federal Aviation Employees (NBCFAE) worked on strategies to elevate their resumes. An NBCFAE meeting encouraged members to include their membership status on their resumes, indicating an emphasis on hiring African-Americans, women, and other minorities.

Consequently, merit-based testing was undermined by adding biographical materials, which disqualified many traditional candidates.

Qualified candidates faced prolonged legal battles for being rejected on diversity grounds. Andrew Brigida, who scored 100 percent in his training, claimed he was denied a job in air traffic control due to a preference for diverse candidates. He is involved in a class action lawsuit against the FAA.

After a recent air disaster that killed 67 people, Brigida remarked that years of diversity hiring practices made such an accident inevitable, and there are still many potential risks present in the system.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/the-faas-dei-traffic-controllers-were-an-accident-waiting-to-happen/