RACE WAR United Air to Shake Up White Male Pilot Dominance

[greysage]

United Airlines prepares to shake up white, male-dominated pilot population

United Airlines said on Tuesday it wants women and people of color to make up at least half of the 5,000 pilots it plans to train this decade at its new flight school, a push to diversify a career traditionally dominated by white men.

www.reuters.com

United Airlines prepares to shake up white, male-dominated pilot population
By Tracy Rucinski
3 MIN READ

CHICAGO (Reuters) - United Airlines said on Tuesday it wants women and people of color to make up at least half of the 5,000 pilots it plans to train this decade at its new flight school, a push to diversify a career traditionally dominated by white men.

The announcement comes as U.S. airlines resume pilot hiring halted last year during the pandemic and as they find themselves in the crosshairs of politically charged issues involving race.
“We want to make sure that we are tapping into a big deep talent pool and not limiting ourselves to just one section of the pond,” Chief Communications Officer Josh Earnest said on a Zoom call with journalists.
Chicago-based United joined Delta Air Lines and American Airlines on Monday in speaking out against voting restrictions following recent legislation in states like Georgia that activist groups say unfairly target Black and other racial minority voters.
United is the only major U.S. airline to own a flight school, the United Aviate Academy, which it bought last year just before vanishing demand because of the pandemic forced the industry to scale back its operations.

Now, as more Americans are vaccinated, airlines are ramping up again.
United plans to hire 10,000 pilots by 2030, half coming through its academy, and the rest from other airlines or the U.S. military.
Of United’s roughly 12,000 pilots, about 7% are women and 13% people of color, the company said.
There are fewer than 100 black women pilots flying for major airlines, United pilot Carole Hopson said on the call, adding this situation had to change.

Becoming a pilot can be a long and costly pursuit and the company is offering $1.2 million in academy scholarships.
The airline’s credit card partner, JPMorgan Chase, will fund another $1.2 million for women and people of color accepted to the academy, which expects to enroll 100 students this year.
United said it hopes the program gives it an advantage in recruiting and training pilots as the industry braces for a wave of retirements at the mandatory age of 65 and after thousands retired early during the pandemic.

Reporting by Tracy Rucinski; Editing by Karishma Singh

 

[Lurker]

If that's the way the world worked, blacks and women WANTING TO BE PILOTS, then they wouldn't have that issue.

How many barber shops in the ghetto's are going to force that at least half their chairs will be white guys applying JeriCurl? Hmm? Well? Yeah.

Note - don't fly UA unless you have a death wish.

 

[Doomer Doug]

So, it is ALL about flying competence. The crash rate should be a good meter for juding wokeness.

 

[zeker]

wonder if I can apply?

I identify as a black midget woman, mud wrestler, and ballet star

 

[Dennis Olson]

If de pilot’s name bez Deonte or Shaniqua, I wont be on that plane.

 

[MinnesotaSmith]

If de pilot’s name bez Deonte or Shaniqua, I wont be on that plane.

The first 50+ fatality crash at that airline with one of those in the left seat, watch for their bookings to plummet like a prom dress after midnight in a hotel room: speedily hits the floor and stays there for quite a while.

 

[20Gauge]

If that's the way the world worked, blacks and women WANTING TO BE PILOTS, then they wouldn't have that issue.

How many barber shops in the ghetto's are going to force that at least half their chairs will be white guys applying JeriCurl? Hmm? Well? Yeah.

Note - don't fly UA unless you have a death wish.

If that many really wanted to fly planes, they would be already doing it. Face it women in certain professions get a big hand up when doing the job. Flying planes is one of them.

 

[20Gauge]

The first 50+ fatality crash at that airline with one of those in the left seat, watch for their bookings to plummet like a prom dress after midnight in a hotel room: hits the floor and stays there for quite a while.

Can you imagine booking a flight and asking the sex of the pilot?

Yes sir it will be a woke pilot!

So can I book with another pilot?

No sir! That would be sexist!

I will like to cancel. It appears I am driving this year.

LOL

 

[Lurker]

And when Shaniqua has a bad day coming off a night of blow and 40's....

 

[Lurker]

wonder if I can apply?

I identify as a black midget woman, mud wrestler, and ballet star

No lesbian? Nope, you're not qual'd.

 

[Doomer Doug]

My combat veteran neice flew for horizon before being laid off last year. I will let her know. I would get on any plane she was flying.

 

[Henry Bowman]

I think this is a wonderful idea

Just look at the air industry in Africa.

The space program in Kenya alone is enough to make someone want to do this, they have been space travelers for many decades.

 

[Dennis Olson]

And when Shaniqua has a bad day coming off a night of blow and 40's....

Which reminds me: what they want to do is impossible. Drug and background testing is required to be a commercial pilot.

 

[20Gauge]

My combat veteran neice flew for horizon before being laid off last year. I will let her know. I would get on any plane she was flying.

It is not really the sex that gets me.

This is a plane.

I want the most competent SOB flying the thing. If that is a woman who really is a man or whatever, I don't care. They got the job because they are the best.....that was the past......

Today, we get people who have the title, but not the capability. I don't want that.

 

[Dennis Olson]

Henry, Dey bez kangs

 

[Sicario]

Affirmative action hires vs qualification hires? Hmmm....let me think about that.

 

[Henry Bowman]

Which reminds me: what they want to do is impossible. Drug and background testing is required to be a commercial pilot.

Dat be Rasis and sheet

 

[Lurker]

Which reminds me: what they want to do is impossible. Drug and background testing is required to be a commercial pilot.

Just the testing, not the passing.....

 

[20Gauge]

Which reminds me: what they want to do is impossible. Drug and background testing is required to be a commercial pilot.

I agree, but you also know they will ignore failures of certain groups as needed to keep the "proper" numbers in place for purposes of being woke.

 

[Doomer Doug]

My point was there really are women pilots who are fully competent to fly.
Hell, she flew a kiowa helicopter laser marking repuplican guard tanks and getting shot at back in 2003 in Iraq. Yeah, no problem. She is gay too so she would hit all the boxes.

 

[bw]

Drug and background testing is required to be a commercial pilot.

When chem testing turns out to give results that disfavor a privileged group, the testing will be abolished. Witness ACT/SAT.

 

[Housecarl]

Which reminds me: what they want to do is impossible. Drug and background testing is required to be a commercial pilot.

Let's not forget background checks and picture IDs....just saying.

 

[Dennis Olson]

I agree, but you also know they will ignore failures of certain groups as needed to keep the "proper" numbers in place for purposes of being woke.

Right up until they get sued out of existence.

 

[20Gauge]

Right up until they get sued out of existence.

Government protection and subsidies.......don't doubt me on that one.

 

[mzkitty]

I can't foresee flying anywhere anymore, so I won't be in any plane crash regardless of who's driving.

Even the thought of going through an airport these days is sickening to me.

 

[Buick Electra]

It is not really the sex that gets me.

This is a plane.

I want the most competent SOB flying the thing. If that is a woman who really is a man or whatever, I don't care. They got the job because they are the best.....that was the past......

Today, we get people who have the title, but not the capability. I don't want that.

I'm with you! That was my first thought.... Are they going to grade and pass them on their flight school performance based on knowledge or color???

I predict United stock market shares will drop.

 

[Dennis Olson]

I can't foresee flying anywhere anymore, so I won't be in any plane crash regardless of who's driving.

Even the thought of going through an airport these days is sickening to me.

ABSOLUTELY!! Nothing could make me fly (not even a death in my family.) And the thought of going through “airport security”? No freakin way. I haven’t flown in over 20 years. I’m done with commercial air travel.

 

[Dozdoats]

Fly Woke Airlines - we don't discriminate.

 

[Lurker]

Fly Woke Airlines - we don't discriminate.

Unless you're white...

 

[Dennis Olson]

I hear that TWA is coming back

Totally Woke Airlines

 

[naegling62]

Next up, half of all dog teams in the Iditarod Race must be made up of Chihuahuas, Pomeranians or House Cats.

 

[20Gauge]

Man we are old.

I do remember when Trans World Airlines was the best of the best...... how things change.

 

[GammaRat]

This is an actual marketing slogan that I saw in Denver.

"Fly United! We're ranked #1 in most available seating"

Way to put a spin on "nobody wants to fly with us."

 

[et2]

As the old pilots age out ( flying by the seat of the pants type) I will fly less.

It’s not fun anymore. People are jerks. TSA too.

 

[Dennis Olson]

This is an actual marketing slogan that I saw in Denver.

"Fly United! We're ranked #1 in most available seating"

Way to put a spin on "nobody wants to fly with us."

Taken another way, that could be spin on: “If you’re taller than 5’4” and weigh more than 100 lbs, you can’t fit in our seats.”

 

[PghPanther]

I used to fly 3 times a week in a former occupation..........right up until Sept 11th............after that I have never flown since.

Nor do I plan or need to...........I'm glad I had enough of it.

Airlines have become the greyhound of the sky..........a mess.

 

[Hfcomms]

We do not need affirmative action on the flight deck. I don't care about race, color or sex but only the most qualified people should be behind the yoke and rudders based on performance and capability only.

 

[Troke]

United rolls out ambitious new plan to train at least 2,500 women and people of color as pilots by 2030

Across the American airline industry, less than 6% of all pilots and flight engineers are women. Only about 10% of them are Black, Asian, Hispanic or Latino Americans.

www.cbsnews.com

United rolls out ambitious new plan to train at least 2,500 women and people of color as pilots by 2030

United Airlines is announcing a new plan to train 5,000 pilots by 2030, CBS News' Errol Barnett reports. The airline, which is the only major one in the U.S. to own a flight school, says at least half of those trainees will be women or people of color.

Across the American airline industry, less than 6% of all pilots and flight engineers are women. Only about 10% of them are Black, Asian, Hispanic or Latino Americans.

Just 7% of United Airlines' pilots are women, which it says is one of the highest percentages in the industry. People of color make up only 13% of their pilots.

According to United CEO Scott Kirby, "they simply don't have the access or the opportunity."

Kirby told CBS News about the new effort to bring balance to the flight deck.

"We're excited at United to be announcing the United Aviate Academy to address the structural issues with the makeup of our pilots," he said.

The academy will have a focus on enrolling underrepresented groups, and will allow potential trainees to apply for both partial and full scholarships.

That means for people like Texas resident Tahchiona Smith, who discovered her love of aviation two decades ago, the dream of becoming a pilot is all the more real.

"My grandmother would take my sisters and I to the airport to watch the airplanes take off and land," the 24-year-old said.

She recalled smelling the jet fuel by the runway during those trips.

"I still love that smell today," she laughed.

Smith is on a quest to become a commercial airline pilot — normally an expensive ambition.

Flight training costs an average of $100,000. Over the years, Smith earned scholarships through nonprofit organizations.

She clearly remembers the first time an instructor handed her the controls.

"Once I started turning left and right, I was like, 'This is what I'm gonna do.'" Smith said.

The young adult is following the flight path of people like Mary Ann Schaffer, a 32-year veteran in the industry, and also United Airlines' chief pilot.

"I believe it's related to just the thrill of taking off and controlling the airplane and landing," Schaffer said. "It really is just a feeling of empowerment."

But both Smith and Schaffer say they would like to see more female representation in the cockpit.

Kirby agrees.

"If you want to be a pilot, you either need to be in the military and get pilot training, or you've got to have the resources," the United CEO said. "What we're really doing is opening ourselves up to a huge pool of untapped talent… and give them opportunities to create those kind of wonderful careers."

Smith, a program applicant, recently toured the flight deck of a 737-800 plane with Captain Schaffer.

"I'm so enthusiastic when I see young people coming into the business and sharing some of the love of flying that I've had all along the way," Schaffer said.

That enthusiasm goes both ways for Smith.

"When I see other female pilots like Captain Schaffer, it makes me excited because it allows me to know and see that, you know, one day I can become a professional pilot," she said.

Smith also wants to make sure younger women see her as an example of what's possible.

"Stay dedicated," she said. "No matter how many no's you get, there's always that one yes

White boys need not bother applying. At best they will be about 25% of the class if that.

Damn! looks like somebody beat me to it. Somebody take appropriate action.

 

[bw]

Dup

 

[ChickenLittle]

On the United.com website they had a news release that included this paragraph -
United will leverage its long-standing relationships with a variety of organizations, including the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals, Sisters of the Skies, the Latino Pilots Association and the Professional Asian Pilots Association to help identify and steer highly qualified, diverse candidates to the United Aviate Academy. As key partners, these organizations will select the applicants to receive the scholarships and grants funded by United and JPMorgan Chase.

If they include Asian pilots as minorities, I wonder how long it will be before they are dominating the Academy classes and they start discriminating against them like the big universities do.