Danger in the Skies: Obama Dumbed-down Air-traffic Controllers With “Diversity” Rules
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When does diversity become “dieversity”? Perhaps when those whose worst high-school subject was science and who are unemployed are favored over licensed pilots for all-important air-traffic controller positions. This is precisely what’s happening, too, under Obama-era FAA “diversity” rules — created because the air-traffic-control corps was “too white.”

As the Blaze reports:

For decades, the selection process for the Federal Aviation Administration’s air traffic controllers was rigorous. After all, one minor mistake could cost hundreds of people their lives.

But a new report from Fox News host Tucker Carlson revealed the Obama administration modified the FAA’s candidate selection process to value workplace diversity over competency, experience and skills.

What are the details?

According to Carlson, due to changes implemented during the Obama administration, air traffic controller candidates are now required to complete a “biographical questionnaire” before even being considered for a job with the FAA.

If they don’t pass, they aren’t considered for a position — no matter how much experience they have or how qualified they are.

Fox News obtained a copy of the questionnaire and how it is scored. According to Carlson, candidates whose worst subject in high school was science [and who played a lot of sports] and candidates who are unemployed receive the most points possible on the test. In contrast, licensed pilots and those with extensive air traffic control knowledge aren’t highly scored.

An FAA spokesman contacted was unable to explain to Fox News why diversity was prioritized over competence, and no agency official will come on Carlson’s show to address the outrage.

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So what’s going on? Michael Pearson, an ex-air-traffic controller and “an attorney representing a man suing the FAA over its diversity test, told Carlson the test is intentionally designed to ‘weed out’ experienced candidates, especially those with an aviation background,” the Blaze further related.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw1JbvgtBzE

Of course, this is all part of the “Left’s” race obsession, where the wholly unproven proposition “Diversity is a strength” is dogma. This philosophy infected everything under Obama, with his administration even dictating that school punishment be administered not commensurate with the transgressions committed, but based on racial quota. It’s a policy that contributed to the Parkland, Florida, mass shooting, as killer-to-be Nikolas Cruz was left on the street partially because of it.

On a Monday segment, Carlson reported further on the FAA story, saying:

In other words, the FAA actively searched for unqualified air traffic controllers. That is insane, and they knew it was insane when they did it, but they did it anyway.

Today we obtained new information; it is an internal email written by an executive at the firm that devised the FAA’s biographical questionnaire. In that email, the executive admits that the test he devised has nothing to do with finding the best air traffic controllers. If you want good air traffic controllers, find people with experience — that was his advice. The FAA ignored this and used the biographical screen anyway. They didn’t care about finding the best air traffic controllers. Compared to diversity, your safety meant nothing to them. 

We reached out to Greg Martin, who is the FAA’s top spokesman. We wanted to know why the FAA would ever use totally irrelevant criteria such as what people look like in order to hire for a job as vital as air traffic control. We couldn’t get an answer. We also asked the acting FAA administrator Daniel Elwell to come on this show and explain exactly what was going on and why he was too cowardly to appear. So was the previous administrator, Michael Huerta; he was the one who originally signed off on the policy. He’s also a coward. But we are going to keep pushing until we get an answer .

None of this should surprise anyone. Obama promised “fundamental” change, a term meaning “forming a necessary base or core; of central importance.” A man saying his wife needs fundamental change isn’t stating that she merely requires a new wardrobe or hairstyle; he’s asserting that her very essence, the person she is, needs alteration. So Obama clearly signaled his intention to rend America root and branch — people just had to understand basic definitions to get the message.

But subordinating competence to ideology is par for the Left’s course. When the Soviets invaded Finland with a horde of 500,000 men during the Winter War of 1939-40, they were thoroughly outfought for the longest time by the tiny Finnish army (video below). This wasn’t just because the Finns are magnificent soldiers, as a foreign special-forces man who worked with them once told me. It was also because the Soviet army was led not by the best officers, but by those who toed the Marxist line.

So it was also with the Soviets’ Lysenkoism, which, contrary to established science, preached the heritability of acquired traits (e.g., plucking the leaves of a plant would cause its descendants to also be leafless). Competent Mendelian biologists were not only shunned in favor of the quack Lysenkoists, but could be imprisoned and even executed.

Of course, no one will be killed because of Obama’s diversity-über-alles FAA rules — that is, unless a plane goes down because of them.

Image: narvikk via iStock / Getty Images Plus