Diversity recruiting for pilots isn’t a bad thing. There aren’t enough pilots, so you want to go recruit people that wouldn’t ordinarily become pilots.
There are really two separate questions that follow,
- Are lower standards being applied to the pilots you’ve recruited?
- If so, do those lower standards matter?
I’m in favor of recruiting aggressively for talent, looking for it where others aren’t. And I’m in favor of supporting that talent, helping them to acclimate to a culture where they might not otherwise feel comfortable. Here’s what major airline pilots usually look like, see if you notice anything here:
The @Delta_Pilots took an unprecedented step in passing a vote of “no confidence” in Delta for scheduling issues that have impacted customers & pilots. Time for a new industry-leading pilot contract & a better @Delta https://t.co/FNtY6iWG9l#DeltaPilots #DeltaPilotContractNow pic.twitter.com/Bi9jKLKCkK
— Delta Air Lines Pilots (@Delta_Pilots) June 30, 2022
A #pilot career is a leap of faith. You bet on a privilege that can be taken away, health that can escape you, and an industry that is unforgiving.
We fight so hard for pilot contracts because that’s the only advocacy we have for a life fully invested!@swapapilots ❤️#family pic.twitter.com/8vvKnSuqWQ
— Mike Panebianco (@FlyinMikey) May 11, 2023
Here’s a thought exercise, how much does it matter if slightly less qualified pilots are hired? More than 99.9% of the time, probably not a lot!
- When it matters, it really matters, but most passengers will never experience that.
- In fact, advances in technology mean that air travel with an inexperienced pilot is far safer than it was when I took my first flight, with the most able and experienced pilot.
Here’s what aviation deaths per million passengers worldwide looks like since 1970.
The issues we’re seeing with Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft are scary and, I’d argue, far worse for U.S. passengers than what caused the Lion Air and Ethiopian 737 MAX 8 crashes five years ago. Bolts on a door plug coming lose, causing the fuselage to open and the cabin to decompress, is a failure that can happen anywhere. The 737 MAX 8 ‘MCAS’ issue causing a crash would likely never have happened in the United States.
The story of the 737 MAX’s development is well known at this point. For reasons of cost and speed to market Boeing redesigned the 737 – which dates to 1967 – rather than starting from scratch on a new more fuel efficient narrowbody aircraft.
- Boeing relocated the plane’s engines higher up and forward.
- This caused a tendency for the aircraft to pitch up (the nose of the aircraft would nudge up) which created risk of stall.
- So Boeing developed software to help pilots trim the stabilizer nose down when the plane’s angle of attack is high, flaps are up, and the plane is turning steeply. This was necessary so that the aircraft would handle in the same manner as previous 737s, and maintain the type rating so that the aircraft would be approved as just another 737 rather than starting ground up.
The flight law was triggered based on data from a single angle of attack sensor. When that sensor generated a faulty reading, the software kicked in and forced the plane’s nose down ultimately with disastrous consequences. As an option airlines could order an angle of attack disagree monitor so pilots would know if one sensor was off.
When the MCAS system activated it would cause a nose down pitch repetitively unless the pilot trimmed it out and ultimately overrode the flight law.
Now the 737 MAX has to compare data from both angle of attack sensors, and if there’s a difference of over 5.5 degrees between the sensors MCAS will be inhibited throughout the flight. MCAS will only activate once per incident, eliminating the repetitive nose down pitch. And pilots now maintain elevator authority.
The pilot no longer has to use the non-normal checklist for runaway stab in order to override MCAS because it becomes inhibited automatically. But a well-trained pilot would already know how to address this when it happened. For instance, the stab trim cutout switch.
The 737 MAX crashes happened because of an automation failure. Modern aircraft are designed precisely so that anyone can fly them – including the pilots that Lion Air was onboarding. They are designed so that it doesn’t matter who is in the cockpit. Aviation isn’t just safer in the United States and Europe, it’s safer in emerging economies and even those that aren’t doing much emerging.
- A well-trained pilot, pretty much anyone flying in the United States or Europe, would likely have successfully handled the situations that caused the two MAX 8 crashes.
- But our expectation of modern engineering is that they shouldn’t need to. And most of the time they don’t which is why aviation has become incredibly safe everywhere, even where we don’t have pilots as well-trained as we do here.
When we’re debating pilot training, and even pilot rest rules (which are incredibly important), we’re debating issues that address very small ranges of risk.
The reason the 737 MAX crashes were scary is that we expect these machines not to be sensitive to human error, and they were. So we’ve insisted on solving for that. But as these machines advance, that means that the range in skill of a pilot matters less and less often than it used to.
That’s the reality that anyone becoming a pilot needs to consider: it’s a very high paying career today, but there will come a time when computers as copilots perform safety functions better than human co-pilots. Regulatory agencies won’t allow it when that happens for some period of time, but eventually the demand for pilots halves.
I don’t even need to speculate on a future beyond computers-as-copilots to expect that pilot careers won’t be as good a path for many in the future than they’ve been for those in the left seat of a widebody aircraft today.
I want two well-trained pilots in the cockpit when I fly today. I’m willing to pay a premium for that. But the margin of safety we’re buying with that premium is probably a lot less than we think it is, and in the future humans overriding machines could well be what compromises safety.
90% of the white, straight male pilots compilaining about diversity in the cockpit weren’t hired on a basis of merit—they were hired because they found someone to pass their resume to the chief pilot.
Lowering standards and affirmative action in the name of “diversity” is never a good thing regardless of the industry. All applications should be based solely on merit with ZERO consideration for race, gender, nationality, etc. Competence is what matters most, not diversity.
One of my buddies is a retired 777 captain. He regularly flew with the Ethiopian Airlines MAX 8 pilot that went down. “He was dead as soon as the wheels left the ground” was his quote regarding the MCAS crash..
Fast forward a couple of years – his daughter is getting her pilots license now. But they are having a frank discussion of how long an “airline pilot” is going to be needed. And is it a viable career path? It’s only a matter of time before there’s one pilot in the cockpit. And then none. The writing is on the wall.
You’re more likely to need a pilot to NOT kick you off the plane due to a surly FA than you’re likely to need one for an actual safety issue, at least if you’re not on a Boeing plane.
Recruiting for diversity doesn’t mean reducing standards. It just means recognizing that talent exists in environments that don’t make it apparent.
There are piles of people with the talent to do anything that don’t have parents who could afford to house them at Embry Riddle long enough for them to be pilots.
Thanks Gary, for sure we readers appreciate your analysis. As for the fundamental question “Diversity In The Cockpit: Does Who’s At The Helm Matter For Safety?”, there’s no way around it: Hell yes, you must have two highly skilled and qualified Pilots, and by definition that is completely unrelated to race (and gender). Let’s consider sports, as they are as-of-yet uncontaminated by racial quotas. Most of the men on Pro Basketball and Football Teams are black, as they are the most highly skilled in the sport. Most of the men in Golf and on Pro Hockey Teams are white, as they are the most highly skilled in the sport. Notice the word most, which is precisely the point: Given the proper absence of quotas, there is always a mix, and it’s always based on skill and ability. Let’s keep it that way for Pilots, a Black Female is fine with me if she can fly the pants off any White Male !!!
“Recruiting for diversity doesn’t mean reducing standards.” It often does. Why are college entry standards reduced for some? Ask the Asian population how they feel about it. Another case in point our Vice President. She was picked because of her skin color and genitals. She’s an unqualified, unmitigated disaster. Even the voters in the primary had enough sense to recognize this and reject her resoundingly.
All pilots must be USAF pilot veterans .
As I recall Gary (someone please feel free to fault me), the Ethiopian pilots followed Boeing’s recommendations to deal with “runaway trim/stab”; however, they were unsuccessful.
If I am correct, your dig at the dead Ethiopian pilots was unwarranted!
I am not an aviation expert (just a love of flying) and would be very happy to be corrected.
I’m old enough to remember when diversity in safety critical occupations was considered a “mic-drop” rejoinder against calls for affirmative action. “You obviously wouldn’t want an affirmative action brain surgeon or affirmative action pilot, right?” That was once completely obvious to everybody. Not any more. Somehow people are willing to sacrifice risk to life and limb at the alter of “diversity” . . . or more likely willing to sacrifice OTHER peoples’ lives and limbs.
@Samir Akhavan –
NTSB: “FDR data show minimal crew use of manual electric trim.”
Crew did disconnect automatic trim, but couldn’t move the trim wheel, and re-engaged the trim motor. The pilots were generally considered “confused.”
Gary; thanks for clarifying. I stand corrected.
@Samir Akhavan – to be clear, this is on Boeing. They didn’t know to expect this. But I don’t think it’s correct to say they handled the system properly and were simply overridden. I certainly did not see a ‘dig’ at Ethiopian pilots, they were qualified to operate the aircraft that they were given.
@Gary Leff
“The pilots were generally considered “confused.”
I don’t doubt that they were confused, but I think it’s hard to fault pilots for being confused when the aircraft has an undisclosed software package not described in the manual or covered in training that keeps pitching the nose down without being commanded to do so – unlike other 737s that Boeing said should be flown identically. Their confusion is on Boeing.
To me the concern isn’t diversity, it’s having only one person on the flight deck who becomes incapacitated for medical reasons or suddenly faces an intense aviation situation with an inoperable computer. Granted it may be possible to “fly” aircraft entirely remotely, but it will be a very bad situation if the whole national flight system, or even the GPS constellation, has crashed (massive glitch, virus, EMP or who knows what). Arthur Clarke once wrote a story about how a planet lost a war because it kept investing in technology that was over sophisticated and under tested. They become more desperate (and try increasingly riskier equipment) as each new thing fails in the field. Here an example of over-automation was given; having less crew (no matter who they are) could make such outcomes more common.
This is a great article, but some of the points are a bit indirect. To put them more bluntly:
– You can become a pilot with just a HS degree. Any average person has the intellectual capacity to become a pilot. This is not like college admissions.
– It doesn’t matter if pilots are being recruited from a diverse pool. The key is the training and it’ll filter out people who shouldn’t be a pilot for whatever reason.
– Some pilots are better than others because of inherent aptitude for the job, experience, etc. This is not something that’s affected by diversity.
– Improving technology is responsible for the ever improving safety trend in flying. Not pilots. Thank the engineers instead.
– Complain about diversity hiring affecting safety somewhere else. This is not a concern in this profession.
One of the major issue I have with DEI as it is applied in corporate America is that companies basically use it as guise to hire foreign workers at lower cost. Typical corporate speak is that H1B visas are vital to fulfill their DEI goals. All just a load of BS really. Isn’t it?
@Gary
“The reason the 737 MAX crashes were scary is that we expect these machines not to be sensitive to human error, and they were.”
No. They were scary because of everything we’ve learned about Boeing since those crashes.
They had nothing to do with ‘human error’. It’s not an error not to know how to respond to a software system you haven’t even been told is in the aircraft – you fail to mention that pilots were not told of the existence of MCAS – and it’s not an error not to know how to react to a previously unheard of issue on an aircraft you have been told you don’t need to be fully trained on (by the manufacturer).
The crashes and every single fatality were down to Boeing’s negligence and nothing else.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1987/07/15/faa-review-of-delta-incidents-expected/051e9bef-36fd-49b5-80f1-c8df575ee4bf/
In 1987 the FAA launched a special review of Delta Airlines because they had so many accidents and incidents, besides those that were listed here a crew flew into a Thunderstorm Micro burst and crashed in 1985… in 1988 a crew took off with improperly set Flaps/slats and crashed and there were other incidents of landing at the wrong airport.
The FAA conclusion? Delta had hired too many white ex fighter pilots. No they didn’t word it that way, the official line was, and I paraphrase….”too many pilots hired with no experience working in a multi crewmember environment” caused Delta to lead the industry in accidents and incidents.
This lead to Delta greatly improving their CRM (cockpit resource management ) and now it’s as good as there is in the industry.
The point being is it’s all about the training you receive. Whether a white ex fighter pilots or someone of color that succeeded in making the grade (hats off to someone who has the tenacity to push through racial barriers!) It’s all about training and your attitude.
I base this perspective on a career starting in the right seat of a DC 3 and exciting from the left seat of an A330….in between about a dozen other airliners over 46 years. I’ve flown with a lot of diverse pilots, diversity increase the level of safety assuming the training is good. The people that have a problem with diversity hiring tend to be the weaker of the profession, the ones that don’t tend to be more secure in their profession and for good reason. They are good at what they do.
@TexasTJ…why should a black female have to prove she can fly better than a white guy to get the job???? There is good and not so good white male pilots, which ones should she be compared to?
drrichard, you bring up a lot of good concerns. I think it depends on the complexity, and should definitely be something we should think about when deploying self-learning AI systems. But most autonomous systems are actually pretty simple. People used to be concerned about not having an elevator operator. I’m in the autonomous-drive industry and know folks who’re working on auto-fly systems. They are about an order of magnitude simpler than auto-drive. Fail safe is a separate standalone computer and script and power supply that is unconnected to the cloud and would self-navigate the craft to the nearest viable location. Even that can fail, of course, but two pilots could become incapacitated as well. You can only design for so much.
@Samir Akhavan: the pilots followed the Boeing checklist, finally shutting off the electrical trim tab system, but they did not ease back on the engines which made the airplane continue to accelerate. That made manual control harder to do, so they decided to go against the Boeing checklist and turn on the electrical trim tab system, allowing the MCAS system to pitch the nose down even further. That rapidly led to the crash. The altitude graph in the New York Times showed the airplane continuing to rise until about the time they went against the checklist.
Everyone always assumes the standards are lower when the word diversity is said, not true. You just stop hiring the same white guys at every opportunity you get., that’s diversity.
White people here white people, no matter the job. Even the DEI officers are mostly white, white women. The problem is people think the most qualified person is always white.
Gary is certainly once again at it with awful statements with no knowledge or facts. For a guy who flies a lot.. you sure HATE pilots.
You are 100% wrong about advances in technology making pilots useless. Most advances are being rushed to the market…and it’s the pilot who is going to save you.
There is one one thing keeping aviation safe…and it’s the two people sitting up front.
Gary..why do you keep posting this crap?
I would really like to know what Carrier some of you all are in the Cockpit for. You are really scaring me with some of your comments.
“…and it’s the pilot who is going to save you.” Pilot error is still the #1 cause of aviation accidents.
Search for: “6 Minutes of Terror: What Passengers and Crew Experienced Aboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302”
Jake -1. When is the last time in the US anyone has died due to pilot error. I believe 15 years and counting. You know what data doesn’t show ? How many accidents are avoided by pilot skill. The media and absolutely clueless media like Gary spin poor information through the minds of many. The fact is the last thing anyone should is automating aircraft. SCARY shit
The late great comedian Greg Giraldo had a great take on this subject: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzxoL-s_6aY&ab_channel=Comix
The likes under Elon x profile is so gross it’s crazy! Dude sounds like a true member of the south african apartheid government.
SMR, I don’t disagree that commercial flying is ridiculously safe, thanks to improving tech. Pilot error is statistically the leading cause of aviation accidents. There’s accidents almost every month, listed on NTSB.
@jake-1…you are right, flying is ridiculously safe…. for a lot of reasons. Mostly lessons learned from past mistakes and yes tech has made it so much easier to fly an airliner…and has caused problems too. Over reliance on tech has created some serious issues that will rear itself more and more in the future. Tech is an amazing tool, it can be a dangerous crutch too.
Flying an airliner is not a black and white issue that computer programing can solve all the variables that pop up. As was said, you don’t hear about the thousands and thousands of situations that arise that an experienced pilot avoided by using that experience to avoid catastrophe. Reading a thunderstorm based on the elements and past experience, sensing a problem before it arises, knowing how to handle an in flight medical emergency during a unique weather situation with a potential pending mechanical issue., etc, etc..the list is long. Most accidents are a perfect storm of highly unusual issues colliding at once to create a perfect storm, they are rarely a simple “pilot error” or “mechanical issue” or “weather”….accidents are rare because of lessons learned by people and they are often avoided by people that can interpret gray areas.
..or simply put, do you think a computer could do what Sully did? My guess is it would have tried to turn back towards LGA and perhaps found out too late it couldn’t quite make it.
How can it be that a WOMAN calmly landed Alaska Airlines flight 1282, the broken 737 MAX 9?
MAGA is in complete disarray now that their misogynistic beliefs have been blown to bits.
@Gary should be kicked off this site…but freedom of press says we let the media spread disfunction and I guess I am fine with that. Just don’t read into anything this guy writes. He is 100% pure speculation , an opinion with ZERO industry workforce experience and no facts.
The elevator dint have weather to deal with…or other elevators. I can assure you all …weather depicting technology, especially painting build ups is not even close to well developed to where Mr and or Mrs autopilot can give you a safe, comfortable ride.
@JohnW – You are correct, apologies all around. The general point that I was making is correct: The best and most talented pilots (regardless of race, gender, or any other category) should be flying the aircraft. Full Stop.
LOL. Arguing lower standards don’t matter. What a time to be living in!
@Jake, the standards for hiring pilots has always been fluid. The major airlines were hiring pilots with less than 500 hrs back in the 60’s. United hired low time pilots during WW2 and they became known as the Tracy Aces (Named after were they were trained and the fact that they upgraded to Captain quickly) …not well appreciated by the returning very experienced vets that served as their co pilots!….the issue of hiring from a pool of candidates that better represent society is what’s is what’s at issue here. It use to be way more competitive to get an airline job than it is now. Now due to a relative shortage of pilots there are a lot of seats to fill. A standard is set to become a pilot (rigorous training) and anyone who makes it through all the steps to land in the cockpit is qualified. A person who comes from a background that isn’t the normal (some call it white privilege) pipeline could arguably be slightly better qualified as they had to overcome barriers that others didn’t….I know I know, plenty of white guys that didn’t have it easy. This isn’t a black and white issue (no pun intended). But a pilot pool of diverse backgrounds enhances the collective competence of a pilot group. As my post about Delta and too many white fighter pilots indicates, the piloting profession is better served by a wide variety of backgrounds and perspectives working together. The best pilots are often the most open minded.
@Gary:
You said: “A well-trained pilot, pretty much anyone flying in the United States or Europe, would likely have successfully handled the situations that caused the two MAX 8 crashes.”
Please watch Smithsonian channel “Air Disasters- Season 16 Episode 4, ‘Grounded: Boeing Max 8’”. According to the show, the pilots in Indonesia had no idea what the MCAS system was and could not find a fix for the trouble shooting manual. While they were looking, they crashed into the ocean. The fix was simple, turn off the malfunctioning MCAS system and fly manually.
Why didn’t they know? Because Boeing had marketed the Max 8 as a plane that required no additional training for 737 pilots. So they had not been trained on the existence of the MCAS system or what to do if it malfunctioned.
Statistically, with no training, someone somewhere will do the wrong thing, even if they were flying in the US or Europe. Or–to pay homage to the equity discussions here–white, black, brown, or in this case Indonesian.
@Jake
Actually it was the white male captain.
As always white men save the day.
Alert says:
January 10, 2024 at 1:38 pm
All pilots must be USAF pilot veteran
Just think how much better a pilot you would have been if you had your Naval Aviator wings.
I fail to see any connection in this article between “diversity” and your primary question about hiring less qualified pilots. Given the unprecedented shortage in the last few years, the vast majority of hires that are less qualified or under-qualified are likely not diverse. While you only need a HS diploma, flying still has a significant barrier to entry. Airline diversity initiatives at the majors are more about hiring equally qualified pilots from various backgrounds, versus the old model of the “old boys club”. This would be a better article if you modified your inflammatory title to reflect the actual point of the article.
White men are over represented in the sewage business and many Dirty Jobs worthy of the TV Show. No one seems to complain about the glass cellar.
A comment was made that the training program will weed out those who don’t/can’t meet the standards. Absolutely false. Pressure from above will move the standards. If you have not observed this phenomenon you have not been paying attention. Another observation…are upper level airline management positions being filled with the same drive towards diversity?
If you’re equating level of competency with skin color, shame on you. As in every aspect of life, the most qualified individual should be hired for the job. Because, as we have seen, hiring based on “other factors” leads to performance issues, whether it’s in politics or commercial industry.
I strongly oppose hiring based on skin color. To be clear…if there are two planes with two different pilots, I will be flying on the one with the more competent pilot regardless of his color, racial background, etc.
The safety is first, and diversity should never be considered. You have five candidates and you make pick on diversity then accidents are on you. Period.
“It doesn’t matter who’s in the cockpit…”???? You might want to run that by the passengers, the inflight crew, and anyone under the path of the airplane…..
Take a look at the accident report for the Amazon Prime / Atlas Boeing 767 that crashed approaching Houston 2-3 years ago.
Viking:
I read the accident report on my phone over breakfast and said to my captain: “Wanna bet me the bill that this guy was a minority?” Needless to say, he didn’t take me up on it. We went Dutch.
Sorry; but nothing to do with him being a minority – and everything to do with him being incompetent.
Not a race issue; never has been!
There are competent minority pilots, and incompetent non-minority pilots.
End of conversation.