Yes, Obama and Biden Had FAA Hire People with Intellectual, Psychiatric, Severe Physical Disabilities

As someone familiar with the aeronautics field, I understand two key points about airplane crashes. First, multiple factors usually contribute to disasters, especially with commercial airliners, where many things need to fail simultaneously for a crash to happen. Second, the exact cause of an accident is unknown in the first 24 hours. This is evident in the recent collision involving American Airlines Flight 5342 and a U. S. Army helicopter, which led to 67 fatalities. Some people are blaming Sean Duffy, the Transportation Secretary appointed just before the incident, which seems misplaced given that he was not in office long enough to influence the situation.

Although it's important to blame the right people, McLaughlin highlights that Trump worked to improve air-traffic controller hiring practices to prioritize quality. This raises the question of whether air-traffic controllers were being hired based on merit in the past. Unfortunately, this appears to be true, as President Obama’s administration had already implemented hiring practices that allowed individuals with various disabilities to receive special hiring protections.

This practice involved hiring candidates with "targeted disabilities" as per the FAA's diversity initiatives, acknowledging the importance of diversity in fulfilling its mission of safe air travel. Targeted disabilities include hearing, vision impairments, and severe mental disorders. Under Trump, the FAA initiated a program to prepare disabled individuals for air traffic control jobs, which included a special non-competitive hiring method for those with severe disabilities.

There have been issues with inadequate staffing of air-traffic controllers, and some candidates were removed from consideration based on a lack of diversity rather than qualifications. This revealed a serious flaw in safety, with only a small fraction of air traffic facilities meeting operational targets. As a result, air traffic has sometimes been stopped to prevent danger.

Trump is working to reverse these practices by focusing on merit-based hiring, enhancing the safety and efficiency of air traffic control. While the cause of the recent collision remains unknown and will take time to clarify, inadequate air-traffic control could be a serious factor to consider. Those blaming Duffy for the crash should instead focus on broader issues, such as the FAA's hiring policies regarding individuals with significant disabilities, which some feel compromise safety. 

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/01/fact-check-yes-obama-biden-faa-hire-people/