Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

A guy named Andrew Brigida, who scored 100% on the air-traffic controller exam, was turned down for the job because he was white
Wordpress ^ | February 1, 2025 | Dan from Squirrel Hill

Posted on 02/01/2025 5:03:16 AM PST by grundle

Liberals keep insisting that Obama never lowered the standards for air-traffic controllers.

But the proof keeps coming out more and more and more.

I don’t expect the liberals to admit that they were wrong.

But I do like to keep documenting this, and showing it to as many people as possible.

The Telegraph just reported:

https://archive.ph/5iuqQ

An aspiring air traffic controller who claimed he was denied a job because of diversity targets said the aviation agency’s obsession with inclusion made an accident likely to happen.

Andrew Brigida, 35, scored 100 per cent in his training exam but alleged that he was denied a position in an air traffic control tower because the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recruitment process favoured diverse candidates. He is part of a class action lawsuit filed against the federal agency.

Speaking after the Washington air disaster, in which 67 people were killed, Mr Brigida claimed that years of diversity hiring meant it was only a matter of time before an accident happened.

“You want to hire the best and the brightest for this kind of job because it is a very stressful job and it can take a toll on you, age you prematurely,” he told The Telegraph. “You want to make sure that the people that are doing it are the best.”

Mr Brigida graduated from Arizona State University’s collegiate training initiative in 2013 – a partnership programme with the FAA that was previously used to train and select the most qualified applicants.

After scoring top marks in his air traffic control selection and training examination, he was placed on a preferred candidate list until the FAA changed the rules.

Under the Obama administration, the regulator replaced a skills-based test with a biographical questionnaire to attract more diverse applicants.

When Mr Brigida tried again to become an air traffic controller under the new tests, he said he failed the biographical questionnaire because he “didn’t fit the preferred ethnic profile”.

The Washington Post just reported:

https://archive.ph/Vk5fy

For air traffic controllers, the Obama administration in 2013 instituted a new hiring system that introduced a biographical questionnaire to attract minorities, underrepresented in the controller corps. The program was criticized, such as in a Fox News report in 2015, as making it harder for more skilled applicants to get hired as controllers.

The New York Post just reported:

https://archive.ph/To915

The Federal Aviation Administration was hit with a class action lawsuit last year alleging it had denied 1,000 would-be air traffic controllers jobs because of diversity hiring targets — as it was revealed staffing levels were “not normal” at the time of this week’s deadly midair collision.

Complaints about the FAA’s hiring policies resurfaced after the American Airlines passenger plane and a Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, killing 67 people in the country’s deadliest aviation disaster in almost a quarter century.

Details of the litigation reemerged, too, as Andrew Brigida — the lead plaintiff in the suit — suggested the federal aviation agency’s obsession with diversity hiring and inclusion had only ensured an accident was likely to happen.

The crux of the lawsuit is that the FAA, under the Obama administration, dropped a skill-based system for hiring controllers and instead replaced it with a “biographical assessment” in an alleged bid to boost the number of minority job applicants.

Brigida, who is white, alleges he was discriminated against solely based on his race when his application was rejected, court papers state.

The vying air traffic controller, who graduated from Arizona State University’s collegiate training initiative in 2013, was turned down for a job even though he had scored 100% on his training exam, the lawsuit alleges.

In 2014, the Wall St. Journal reported:

https://archive.ph/nlpF5

For years, aspiring air-traffic controllers in the U.S. have enrolled in schools selected by the Federal Aviation Administration to offer special courses that could smooth the way for a job at the agency.

But at the end of December, the FAA abruptly ended that special status for the 36 participating colleges and universities…

… some critics suspect it is intended partly to increase the share of minorities and women among controllers, who are now 83% male and white…

Some school officials say their controller enrollment already has fallen off because of the FAA change.

The FAA’s new stance “just doesn’t make sense,” said Douglas Williams, aviation-program director at the Community College of Baltimore County in Catonsville, Md… “They’re not getting the best-qualified applicants this way,” he said.

Students who have studied for the controller degrees fear they wasted time and money. Navy veteran Oscar Vega recently completed the two-year air-traffic program at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, Calif. He said he passed the FAA controller aptitude test last year, so he was shocked when, in February, he failed the biographical assessment.

“They say you can take it again,” said the 28-year-old. “But it’s not a test you can study for. And we don’t know why we failed because we don’t get any feedback.”

The schools estimate that more than 3,000 graduates have been removed from the FAA’s hiring pool because of the new policy.

In 2014, the Chicago Tribune reported:

https://archive.ph/1LeDQ

More than half of the latest batch of air-traffic controller job offers nationwide went to people with no aviation experience…

The hiring breakdown marks a major shift in FAA recruitment strategy, which is now geared toward… attracting more minorities and women to the nation’s largely white and male controller work force

For almost the last 25 years, until the off-the-street hiring process was implemented in February, the FAA recruited controllers heavily from among military veterans possessing aviation experience and from the 36 FAA-approved college aviation programs across the U.S.

This keeps getting more and more coverage.

I don’t expect the liberals to let this coverage change their mind.

But I will continue to keep documenting it, and showing it to as many people as possible.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: faa
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-33 next last

1 posted on 02/01/2025 5:03:16 AM PST by grundle
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: grundle

I’m livid that they are not releasing her name.


2 posted on 02/01/2025 5:25:42 AM PST by Sacajaweau
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: grundle

God is removing His ‘hedge of protection’ around America. Such things are just the beginning...


3 posted on 02/01/2025 5:27:52 AM PST by InkStone (ONLY returning to Faith in God, thru Jesus Yeshua, will save America)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: grundle

There are reportedly thousands of Caucasians who were rejected because of the FAA nitwits’ racist decisions. Pox upon them.


4 posted on 02/01/2025 5:29:32 AM PST by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: grundle

Facepalm…. How many highly qualified people were never hired (public and private sector) because of reverse racism? Lower standards don’t help anyone. Higher standards drive people to do better.


5 posted on 02/01/2025 5:32:51 AM PST by Made In The USA (Ellen Ate Dynamite Good Bye Ellen)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Sacajaweau

Another thread this morning discusses the Blackhawk’s ability to be controlled autonomously from 300 miles away, with commands that are independent of the onboard crew. The military could have been “testing” the autonomy function when something went wrong, perhaps the Blackhawk glommed onto the commercial jetliner and the pilots on board were (apparently by design) unable to disengage or countermand the function. Or someone who was unauthorized obtained control of the autonomous function.


6 posted on 02/01/2025 5:37:46 AM PST by 4Runner (Watch. Wallet. Gun. Right foot! Left foot! Sweet Liberty Valens! Thank God for Guns! --Denny Crane)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: grundle

No surprise - this has been the norm for at least 40 YEARS.


7 posted on 02/01/2025 5:48:17 AM PST by larrytown (A Cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do. Then they graduate...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: grundle

Countdown to the Next Aviation Disaster — 1/2 hour Blaze documentary with Stu from a few months ago about this. — https://youtu.be/GiclZKcCr8g

This Brigida guy is in it and retakes the additional social justice test that he took ten years ago that made him get removed from consideration. He answers like the first time and fails again. The last question asks how many months you’ve been unemployed leading up to this exam. His answer is 0 so he gets 0 points on the question and the correct answer to get points, is 1-2 months.

They also cover how behind the times the tech is for ATC/FAA. Still using floppy discs. Can’t get parts for existing equipment and not allowed to get parts made due to patents. Manufacturers that no longer exist. All the while, congress fails to pass a law/funding to upgrade.

They also cover the recent near misses at every airport they go to while traveling for the documentary.


8 posted on 02/01/2025 5:52:06 AM PST by Pollard (Zone 6b)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: larrytown

Far too long.


9 posted on 02/01/2025 6:01:14 AM PST by No name given ( Anonymous is who you’ll know me as)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: grundle

The result of the left printing race cards.


10 posted on 02/01/2025 6:09:43 AM PST by Vaduz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: gundog; SaveFerris; sit-rep

I didn’t get hired as an ATC in the early 80s because I showed up to take the test on a Saturday and the doors to the building were all locked. After knocking several times, I checked my notice and it turned out that the test was administered the previous Saturday. Oops.

I could have even passed if I had Elaine Benes to take the test for me surreptitiously.


11 posted on 02/01/2025 6:12:29 AM PST by Larry Lucido (Donate! Don't just post clickbait!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Sacajaweau

Sacajaweau wrote: “I’m livid that they are not releasing her name.”

The next of kin have refused permission to release.


12 posted on 02/01/2025 6:13:35 AM PST by DugwayDuke (Most pick the expert who says the things they agree with.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: grundle

I remember seeing federal job announcements for a position that required 24 semester hours of college mathematics including calculus that was restricted to those with mental disabilities.


13 posted on 02/01/2025 6:15:29 AM PST by DugwayDuke (Most pick the expert who says the things they agree with.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: grundle

This has nothing to do with race, and it’s probably not true — but in the movie “Snowden”, job candidates for (I believe) the NSA face a tough exam about setting up, protecting, backing up, and taking down a computer network. If you can’t finish in 8 hours, you’re out. Snowden finishes in 38 minutes.

So now he has time on his hands since everyone else is still working on the 8 hr exam. Snowden asks the exam proctor “What should I do now?” — and the proctor says “Whatever you want.”

And that is pointedly a double statement — the day is his to spend as he wishes, and also the jobs that will be made available to him will be limitless and he can choose whatever he wants.

Because once upon a time, merit was rewarded.


14 posted on 02/01/2025 6:15:36 AM PST by ClearCase_guy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DugwayDuke
Since when does the military need permission from next of kin to release a name?

I'm speculating that this is political...not personal...and that maybe she bumped someone.

Lotsa people know who she is. It'll get out. I mean like duh....there are 3 bodies waiting to be identified.

15 posted on 02/01/2025 6:21:45 AM PST by Sacajaweau
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: grundle

This has been going on in our government forever. I left the Navy in 70’ and started classes at UT Nashville so I applied for a job in the Federal building delivering mail. I aced the test, had a 5 point veteran’s preference and they gave the job to a Hispanic from California who could barely speak English. I can’t figure out their reasoning.


16 posted on 02/01/2025 6:22:57 AM PST by dljordan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: grundle

Bttt


17 posted on 02/01/2025 6:25:12 AM PST by ChildOfThe60s (If you can remember the 60s, you weren't really there)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dljordan
Bears repeating:

This has been going on in our government, forever.

I left the Navy in 70’ and started classes at UT Nashville; so I applied for a job in the Federal building delivering mail.

I aced the test, had a 5 point veteran’s preference, and they gave the job to a Hispanic from California who could barely speak English.


18 posted on 02/01/2025 6:26:23 AM PST by linMcHlp
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Made In The USA

” Higher standards drive people to do better.”

While true, what do those higher standards do to people who are either unable or unwilling to achieve greater things?


19 posted on 02/01/2025 6:41:28 AM PST by No Party Affiliation
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: grundle

The FAA was doing DEI in 1991. I took the test and scored a 97.5%. Not hired. Blacks and Hispanics with much lower test scores were hired.


20 posted on 02/01/2025 6:46:17 AM PST by CodeToad ( )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-33 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson