Posted on 04/26/2022 2:37:21 PM PDT by yesthatjallen
It’s been a half-century since airlines started hiring women and people of color to fly passenger planes, allowing a handful of pioneering pilots into the flight deck.
In the decades since, commercial aviation has grown exponentially, democratizing travel and rewiring how Americans live, work and play. But one part of the industry has remained mostly the same. Piloting is stubbornly monolithic: About 95 percent of airline pilots in the U.S. today are male. Nearly as many are white.
Zakiya Percy is one of a small and growing number of people trying to change that. Ms. Percy, 29, used to dream about flying, watching planes pass overhead when she was growing up in San Francisco.
“I told myself as a kid, you’re already a captain on a 777 flying international,” she said. “You just have to get there.”
Now, Ms. Percy, who is Black and a first-generation college graduate, expects to have her airline pilot’s license within a year, bringing her a step closer to that goal.
For many like Ms. Percy, piloting has long been or seemed out of reach. Few women and people of color aspire to fly planes because they rarely see themselves in today’s flight decks. The cost of training and the toll of discrimination can be discouraging, too. Now there’s urgency for the industry to act. Pilots are in short supply, and if airlines want to make the most of the thriving recovery from the pandemic, they will have to learn to foster lasting change.
SNIP
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Fly the Diversity Skies.
Would be a great job for illegal aliens of color. Move ‘em in.
Geesh literally EVERYTHING is racist apparently.
Why do you think they call it a “cockpit?”
First thing I check when I board the plane is that my pilots are gender-fluid and non-white. Only way to be sure I’ll have a just flight.
Another reason I will no longer fly: The Airlines have tossed meritocracy in favor of diversity. No thanks.
This was so high up on my list of things that are important
to me. There are only about 38,742 things higher on that list.
Air travel is racist!
The All-Male, All-White Cockpit
Because anything else is cultural appropriation!
1) Turn around and cash in your ticket.
2) Hope that the airplane is sufficiently balanced to avoid a nose dive.
3) Go to your seat and order a double bourbon
4) Go to your seat and smugly pat yourself on the back, thanking whatever pagan deity you worship for the great gift of diversity.
I think I’ll be driving. My car is still a meritocracy
“There are plenty of ‘tards out there leading really kick-ass lives. My first wife was ‘tarded. She’s a pilot now.”
Its just wonderful college graduate Ms Percy is about to receive her pilots license and is nearly ready to hold the lives of hundreds of passengers in her hands.
Its a good thing too, as a woman of color she certainly deserves to have our lives and the lives of our loved ones in her hands. With our wretched history its the least we white folks could do.
You know what?
All ANY person has to do is stay out of trouble, graduate high school, get a college education, pass a flight physical, join the Aviation Branch of your favorite Military Service, graduate Flight School, stay away FRom mid-airs, walk away FRom landings (first ensuring the plane can be used again!), do your time Honorably, and almost ANY airline will hire you!
Sound like a plan?
Except for the airline gig, that is what I did! I really LOVED being a Naval Aviator!
The Biggest Mistake of My Life was not listening to my college FRaternity Brother in 1968 when he urged me to apply with Delta!
Anyone seen Sky Dancer???
So you get on a plane, and you peek into the cockpit, and you see Stacey Abrams at the controls. Do you:
—
...adjust the elevator trim tab to full up
It could be totally computerized but passengers are not yet ready to not have a human behind the controls.
When they apply the diversity thing to the NBA, then equality exists.
Well, DUH - why do you think so many planes used to be painted WHITE?!
(\sarc ;>)
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