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 ...
My new #1 Reason Why I Don’t Fly Anymore. (I have 5 Reasons Why...)
I haven’t flown commercial since TWA 800 was shot down in July 1996, on Long Island. If I can’t drive there, I don’t need to go there.
check my post #59
40 years ago my flight instructor was a lovely lady of great skill. I chose her to get all my tickets based on her abilities as a great instructor. It was a wise choice. She was 100% professional and good. Apparently Southwest Airlines valued her skills also. Until recently retired she was a very senior training captain.
She got her ride based on her qualities as a pilot and instructor.
I wasn’t aware that you are not informed about common sense and decency. Note to self.
The fact they push for external wrappings on a pilot makes me even more adamant not to fly.
They are preoccupied on unimportant things.
We need more Affirmative Action pilots, brain surgeons, and heart surgeons. Forget about pesky things like tests, competence, or skill, just hire them by color and sex. Hell, why even check to see if they can actually do the job they are applying for, if they say they’re a pilot, surgeon, etc., just hire them.
You win the thread. 😂
““So you get on a plane, and you peek into the cockpit, and you see Stacey Abrams at the controls.”
First..you would never board the aircraft..because the nose gear would have already collapsed.”
LMAO
“You all do know that we have a very experienced commercial pilot who happens to be female here in FR a lot..”
Is she also a one-legged, gay Pygmy?
You’ll have to ask her when she comes in...
She’s been on FR since 2005...
The term: “A gag a minute.” comes to mind...
(Not referring to humor...)
This article is enough to make any intelligent person vomit...
I do not care who flies the plane be it a she, a he, black, white, or other. My only concern is that my pilot got there because of skills only.
Every time I look in the mirror.
“Anyone seen Sky Dancer???”
She is still flying for Frontier.
Who do you want flying your aircraft:
Jim USN and Luke USAF, or Shaniqua BLM and Muhammad CAIR ?
In two to five years, a white male following the same path will be a 1st officer on a regional feeder airline.
“adjust the elevator trim tab to full up”
Elevator trim can only compensate for X amount of weight.
NYT: "The cost of training and the toll of discrimination can be discouraging, too."
No, it was the "toll of discrimination". It say so in the article.
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