There have been numerous incidents at American airports lately, with the most recent occurring at Logan International Airport. According to authorities, two United flights “made contact” on the runway. Officials at the airport say that as a flight was departing for Newark International Airport, it hit another United flight as it was being pushed back from the gate.
The number of dangerous incidents occurring within aviation is rising. “There are some problems. The incidents, quite frankly, are on the rise. We went from about eight a year and now this year up to about 20 per year or so. The problem is on the rise, and it is a combination of various factors,” pilot Kyle Bailey told Fox News. The Daily Caller reported:
Since the beginning of the year, the FAA has been plagued by near misses at airports across the country. In January, a collision was narrowly avoided after a plane crossed into the path of a plane making a landing at JFK International airport. In February, a cargo plane nearly landed on top of a passenger plane as it landed in Austin. Later that same month, another collision was narrowly averted in California when a plane was cleared to take off as another one was landing.
Coincidentally, United Airlines is one of the airlines which has lowered its standards for pilots in the name of diversity. According to CNBC, “United said it plans to train 5,000 pilots in its flight academy by 2030 and aims for half of those students to be women or people of color.” Fox News’s Tucker Carlson commented on this diversity-based hiring practice, “This is what happens when you decide that identity is more important than aptitude in something critical like aviation. At some point, many people are going to die because of this.” Turning Point USA further reported:
What is concerning, is when two pilots meet the same requirements on paper, but an airline chooses to hire based on a pre-determined diversity quota rather than skill and ability to quickly respond to in-flight emergencies. Does the race or gender of a pilot really matter more than their ability to get hundreds of people to their destinations safely?
..The role pilots and air traffic controllers play could mean the difference between life and death for hundreds of people. That being said, whoever flies the plane should be the most qualified, not who looks best and most racially diverse on an advertisement to boost the airline’s ESG score.
The FAA released a “call to action” statement last month, addressing the concerning number of incidents occurring with airlines:
We are experiencing the safest period in aviation history, but we cannot take this for granted. Recent events remind us that we must not become complacent. Now is the time to stare into the data and ask hard questions.
We must ensure that our structure is fit for purpose for the U.S. aerospace system of both today and the future. That’s why I’m forming a safety review team to examine the U.S. aerospace system’s structure, culture, processes, systems, and integration of safety efforts.
The initial focus will be to hold a Safety Summit in March to examine what additional actions the aviation community needs to take to maintain our safety record. A group of commercial and general aviation leaders, labor partners, and others will examine which mitigations are working and why others appear to be not as effective as they once were.
Second, I’m asking the Commercial Aviation Safety Team to take a fresh look at Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing data. We need to mine the data to see whether there are other incidents that resemble ones we have seen in recent weeks. And we need to see if there are indicators of emerging trends so we can focus on resources to address now.
Finally, the review team will focus on the Air Traffic Organization (ATO). The review team will assess ATO’s internal processes, systems, and operational integration. I will ask the team to explore actions needed to reinforce a collaborative, data-driven safety culture. The review will also look for opportunities to strengthen the connection between ATO and the FAA Aviation Safety organization for monitoring and addressing of safety risks. I know that all of you share my goal to do what is necessary to keep our organization strong, effective and well prepared to take on the safety challenges of the future. We know that our aviation system is changing dramatically. Now is the time to act.
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