United Airlines has pushed back against a claim by Elon Musk that “Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion” (DEI) initiatives undermine aviation safety.
United Airlines: Pilot Hiring Standards Apply To All Candidates
In a tweet of alarm that has sparked outrage and discussion, Elon Musk suggested that the recent Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 incident might be linked to the carrier’s DEI goals:
People will die due to DEIhttps://t.co/RXCv6M4gGU
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 10, 2024
That prompted a flurry of media stories, including a Washington Examiner story entitled, “‘This is insane’: United CEO criticized for pushing racial and gender quotas.”
The Examiner quoted United CEO Scott Kirby over comments about United Aviate, United’s own aviation academy which is one of many sources from which it recruits pilots.
“We have committed that 50% of the classes will be women or people of color. Today, only 19% of our pilots are women or people of color.”
This is insane.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby proudly states they’re using DEI based racial and gender quotas to reduce the amount of white people in the air travel industry.pic.twitter.com/HsyT2Bwut9
— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) January 15, 2024
This story and others like it have unreleased a torrent of criticism against United, which has responded by reminding critics that there are safety standards that everyone must meet, regardless of background:
United is proud to maintain the highest standards in our pilot hiring, training, and safety practices. Every aviator who joins our ranks must meet them. No exceptions.
Frankly, though I have great respect for Musk’s accomplishments, I found his statements grossly irresponsible. If anything, the Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 issue reflects poorly on Boeing, for poor workmanship, or the C-Suite at Alaska, which pulled the MAX 9 off of ETOPS (overwater) service but left it in service despite warning lights in the flight deck. Blaming it on DEI strikes me as foolishness, which also undermines reasonable criticism of DEI and its idea of turning equality upside down to make up for past group discrimination.
Fundamentally, DEI in the context of pilot hiring is about apportioning a limited number of slots, not about lowering standards. Every pilot must pass the same rigorous set of medical and skills-based testing before being entrusted to fly an aircraft. We can debate whether DEI is necessary or should be employed…that is reasonable…but the idea that DEI undermines safety strikes me as absurd. Show me where a person of color or woman is held to a lower standard and then we can talk. Otherwise, such specious claims do little to advance us toward a day in which everyone can agree such programs are no longer needed.
> Read More: United Airlines Targets Women, People Of Color In New Pilot Recruitment Campaign
CONCLUSION
United Airlines is pushing back against charges that its pilot qualifications are lower for “DEI” candidates. While DEI programs are controversial, the idea that such candidates are held to different standards is simply not true. The idea that DEI is to blame for the Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 issue is absurd.
image: United Airlines
Nice clickbait, matt. Musk’ comments had nothing to do with united, and you know that. Boeing has been front and center of issues recently and they are a hard DEI driver. Does that mean correlation equals causation, no. But it is definitely something to consider given recent issues with all other items being equal.
I was forwarded a memo in which United specifically referred to Musk’s comments, so indeed there was a correlation at least in the eyes of United (and apparently the Washington Examiner too).
So because United got it wrong, it warranted continuing to spread “misinformation” that musk didn’t actually say? He said nothing about flying the plane, he specially referred to flying *in* a plane built by these the hires in question.
Musk pointed to Alaska DEI practices. Alaska didn’t build plane.
The very first comment was about Boeing and a DEI slide from Boeing. Only secondary did he post an article about Alaska. Geez.
@Matthew … I’d remind Brandon all ingredients are part of the same stew . All participants and aspects are included in the stew .
As with many comlanies, its probably more to do with focusing on maximizing shareholder value and top management bonuses than quality control and customer service than anything else.
But sure, lets blame it on the non-White people they hired instead.
Companies…dammit.
Nice job making this about something it’s not. When DEI budgets keeping getting increased, but everything else is getting cut, I don’t think that’s increasing shareholder value. Maybe bs ESG scores, but certainly not return on capital. This is why nobody takes you seriously outside of your bubble.
End of year KPI’s are being based on DEI hiring.
If you want to keep your job or get a bonus the skills and ability of the people you hire are secondary.
@JH … +1 .
I am not crazy about DEI in general, but there is no way to know that DEI played a role in Boeing’s failure anymore than corporate cost cutting or any other potential causes.
A friend of mine is an Engineer at Boeing and he is as Caucasian as Caucasian gets.
My friend tells me that many of his colleagues are “lily white” and not DEI in the slightest. Sure there are many Engineers, some Caucasian, some not, but he says that many of the issues that Boeing has and will experience have zero to do with DEI and all to do with cost cutting and a major change in corporate culture.
The change in corporate culture relates back to the McDonnell Douglas merger and again have nothing to do with DEI.
While I am not sold on DEI as a concept, it is not the root of all problems.
I’m not arguing it is. I mainly take “offense” to the initial post in referencing musk said something about united. He didn’t. I don’t know if DEI is a contributor, but it should be scrutinized just as anything else is. Yes, its a general problem with cost cutting, but one thing I have seen that doesn’t get cut are fluff from the DEI nonsense. Cut if you want, but do so in areas that don’t actually harm the product. The fact that boeing is incentivizing this is a problem. Directly contributory, who knows, but there is a reallocation of resources that wouldn’t be present otherwise.
@Brandon … Does Tesla claim that Teslas can withstand freezing weather in Chicago ? ha-ha .
I guess time will tell if DEI is an effective policy. However, we may not have to wait long enough. Incidents are happening that detail how “all-female” pilot crews made judgments in error. A case in point is one of our country’s most expensive military ISR platforms, the P8 Poseidon. A diverse crew ditched the plane off of KBAY MCAS, Hawaii. Of course, CNN, UPI, and USNI will not confirm the pilots were female, but this author knows better since he was stationed and on-site. I’m curious, however, about the two United incidents that involved people of color and of whatever flavor gender, or species that occurred recently. I know one thing. I see a black female pilot boarding my plane before the passengers. I will cancel my flight. Call me racist, but I care deeply for my life. It can be a potato flying, and if it can fly well and is more than competent in the skies, then I’ll be a passenger. Don’t care about the color, just my life.
I love how chaotic Elon Musk is
@Jan … Did he miss the information about the Tesla charging difficulties during the freezing weather in Chicago ?
Instead of trying to change the white patriarchal construct airline industry from within why not setup black-only airlines, owned and exclusively staffed by BIPOC (like those labels shown on businesses on Google Maps).
Er, you missed the whole point of integration versus segregation…or maybe you didn’t, who knows.
Omfg, just stop. Nobody said anything about “segregation”. Do you even know anything about DEI? It’s not about “integration”, it’s about quotas despite candidate quality. Thats not saying all x are “inferior”, or whatever other bs you claim. Although, your soft bigotry of low expectations is certainly noted.
Wasn’t the Alaska Airlines MAX9 pilot a woman?
Is there a correlation between academic record and safety? If so, are diversity hires’ academic record different?
Hiring someone because they tick boxes over qualifications is a sure way to hire unqualified people.
“DEI and its idea of turning equality upside down to make up for past group discrimination.”
One of the most ignorant statements you’ve made on this blog, and that’s saying a lot. DEI is about quotas and anti-white racism, plain and simple.
What’s your problem with that statement? In case it was not clear, “Turing equality upside down” is not a glowing endorsement and distinguishing the delta between “group” discrimination and “individual” discrimination is a key reason I am skeptical concerning DEI goals.
*YAWN* Your pathetically ridiculous statements aren’t fooling anyone. Striving for equity of opportunity has literally nothing to do with quotas, let alone “racism.” Your paranoia never fails to amuse.
Most companies convince themselves when they start down the DEI trail that their high standards will remain in place. However, when they are not making the CEO imposed DEI targets (quotas), the next step is to inevitably start reducing the standards until the targets can be met. To me, the diversity of people in the cockpit is of zero importance, the only thing that matters is their competence and skill.
Show me the proof of that concerning United/Alaska/Boeing and I will gladly condemn such lowering of standards. But I am not convinced it exists.
“Beginning in 2022, the aircraft manufacturer changed its incentive plan from giving executives bonuses based on passenger safety, employee safety, and quality to rewarding them if they hit climate and DEI targets, according to the filing.”
In summary, Boeing didn’t care who managers hired as long as they were from an “underrepresented” group and the only logical conclusion to be drawn is that standards were lowered.
I’m not sure how you make that leap of logic (and to be clear, I don’t generally support these DEI goals, but still question whether any sort of standard are lowered versus simply more discrimination shown in who is hired)
If you hire only the best and would meet your DEI target then the goals wouldn’t be needed. In turn this mean you have to give preferential treatment to someone who isn’t as qualified to meet your DEI targets. How much, we don’t know. But I offer the opposite analogy. Does Hooters hire the best waiters based on their skillset for waiting on people? Hmmmm, food for thought.
The problem I see is that DEI quotas don’t solve the root cause of the issue. Primarily it is socioeconomic, and while correlated, not strictly determined by skin color. Does the poor white kid growing up in a trailer park need to be told how privileged he is? These systems create reverse racism, because the root cause lies elsewhere.
@JH … “executive bonuses” … “if they hit climate and DEI targets” … ha ha ha ha .
Personally, I think DEI programs are great when they focus on areas where they’re helpful, making sure companies are targeting conferences, schools, areas, etc where they can increase their pool of diverse candidates. The problem, to me, is when companies start to use quotas.
For instance, it was the worst kept secret at American Airlines HQ for a while that all officers were given a quota from leadership to hire 50% “black”, not focus on diversity or all backgrounds, but specifically “black”. Even the officers would whisper awkwardly about it since it was pretty obvious they were on very light legal ground. That’s where the problem comes to me when you specifically exclude other disadvantaged groups and create artificial quotas.
Quotas are what bother me but companies should definitely look to diversify their recruiting pools from their traditional places (that have often trended to increase a historical race/sex intentionally or unintentionally) to increase candidate pools.
Because the priority is on diversity and not ability.
You can be hopeful that the diversity candidate is also the most qualified but if that were already happening then diversity wouldn’t be the priority.
@JH … +1 .
By increasing your pool from non traditional sources, you’re simply increasing the likelihood of ability from a diverse source, not accepting it as fact and there’s still an ability screen in place
This isn’t the NFL’s “Rooney Rule” where teams are forced to interview a minority candidate but not hire them.
Managers at Boeing are being forced to HIRE minority candidates or else there will be repercussions.
If the diversity candidates were always qualified then this would never have required a mandate.
@JH … +1 .
Matthew, you said: “Show me where a person of color or woman is held to a lower standard and then we can talk.” Here is one: https://time.com/5753435/amazon-atlas-air-cargo-crash/ and https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/pilot-flying-atlas-air-jet-that-crashed-near-houston-had-history-of-panicking-during-training/285-dbea3573-5034-4641-87e2-d502104e9dff . And there is the 767 hard landing at IAH:
https://www.bizpacreview.com/2024/01/07/united-airlines-questioned-about-dei-impact-on-hard-landing-in-houston-1425612/ that may have been a former flight attendant/diversity hire but it is difficult to know since UAL has kept the whole incident quiet. DEI hiring is a travesty on multiple levels not to mention the fact that diverse pilots that are excellent pilots catch all the aspersions that DEI generates.
<- Former Air Force UPT Instructor — I've seen it. Extra rides for some students, but not for others. There was a trend.
@Captain … +1 .
It´s apparently silly to hire pilots based on race and gender.
If you don’t think that DEI equals DIE — you are absolutely clueless. Wake Up!
If Math is racist, the plane you are on will crash.
If engineering design is racist, the bridge you are driving on will collapse.
Need surgery? Too bad. Your surgeon failed Anatomy 101 but got an A+ in Wokeness. Your family member dies.
Feel good, woke nonsense is no substitute for common sense, aptitude, logic and competence.
In the spirit of Bill Maher, I think regular readers know I am anything but woke (whatever that word actually means). But I still don’t understand the link between hiring minorities and lowering standards. It’s one thing (and arguably regrettable) to pinpoint new hires based on skin color or ethnicity. But it’s quite an additional leap to say those candidates are held to lower standards than whites or East Asians…
@Death of Common Sense … Yep . Another problem is created by monetary rewards for meeting “DEI targets” . The humans setting “the targets” will pay the executive more money if the “targets” meet minimum numbers . Any sensible person would rather have No Hires than any number of incompetent hires . Better to keep merely 5 Competent employees , than adding an additional 5 incompetent employees , for a new total of 10 , half of which would be incompetent .
@Matthew … The meaning of “woke” is political and practical fantasy , with no rational substance . That’s all . Numerous examples abound .
Alert — stop gaslighting.
The latest Disney/Star Wars films totally kills your argument about w0keness being a political and practical fantasy.
Musk and his ilk should be more forthcoming and say out loud they don’t accept any “person of color” as a pilot, cabin crew, aircraft industry personnel, or even as passengers in a plane. Next step is to harass any “person of color” in aviation industry to generate some clickbait material for that cesspool they call X.
Total obfuscation regarding DEI. The real truth is that Boeing stopped investing in quality control and quality improvment thanks to becoming a bean counting culture instead of an engineering-based one.
You either prioritize the quality of the pilots above all else, or you start trading off with prioritizing skin-color abs reproductive organs.
It’s a simple truth.
I would agree with Elon in some way. We all have to get along with those we work with, in close proximity. And if you don’t like or get along with your colleague, that could compromise safety. They should be able to have a choice with whom they work with.
I agree with you 100% Matthew. I think Elon is misguided. DEI initiatives at United don’t lower the bar for qualifying as a pilot. They still have to pass the same exams as anyone else.
From a selfish perspective, I don’t like DEI programs, as it caused me job promotions twice and also admission to an elite school. But DEI is not to blame for safety or lack thereof at United, Boeing, Alaska etc.
Everyone needs to read this comments because it’s very well stated:
dei_dude
January 17, 2024 at 11:19 pm
If you hire only the best and would meet your DEI target then the goals wouldn’t be needed. In turn this means you have to give preferential treatment to someone who isn’t as qualified to meet your DEI targets. How much, we don’t know. But I offer the opposite analogy. Does Hooters hire the best waiters based on their skillset for waiting on people? Hmmmm, food for thought.
The problem I see is that DEI quotas don’t solve the root cause of the issue. Primarily it is socioeconomic, and while correlated, not strictly determined by skin color. Does the poor white kid growing up in a trailer park need to be told how privileged he is? These systems create reverse racism, because the root cause lies elsewhere.
@JH … Hooters hires the best ‘waitresses’ , yes ! ( Spelled : waitresses .)
I haven’t been to Hooters in a very long time but it wasn’t for the…service.
😉
I’m a former Executive Premier of many years. I began using Unites extensively back when non-flying onboard were stewardesses and stewards. They had dual responsibilities, loyalty to the company and then to the customers. Then the corporate/union competition of who had the biggest stick. The battle for money vs hours did not help the company. Loyalty to the company paled which reduced the relationship to passengers. That was back in the days when the most qualified in talent, brains, and attitude got the job! This DEI has caused such a downward slope in quality amongst the non-flying crew. Minimum effort beginning with not taking a suit jacket from first-class passengers to cynical and let’s just get the leg over with. Corporations and armies don’t Excel if they have less than the best available.
This decay began with participation ribbons for all, not keeping score, and not competing for first place was honorable.