Opus 2021-152: United Challenges Natural Selection

United Airlines has committed themselves to diversity.  They plan on requiring at least half of the people in their pilot training program to be a protected and preferred group.  Any group as long as it isn’t white males.  If you have been following how these kind of programs are applied in higher education you know that it means a lowering of the standards to meet the goals.  It also means you must reject some highly qualified people because they don’t meet the right racist or sexist quota.

I am not going to worry about it until they change the graduation requirements to allow people to become pilots who have not taken their solo flights.  Think of it as the Olympics setting such a quota system for the ski jump competition.  Lets say that the finals will have 50 competitors.  Lets say that 25 of those slots are reserved for people of color and transgenders.  The transgender category is necessary because women already have their competition.  Lets say that you have a guy who is inserted in the finals with no experience in the sport.  You put him at the top of the slope and ring the bell.  He takes one look down the slope and has a moment to decide whether he wants to walk away and be laughed at or go for the memorial award.  The same is true of pilots.  Keep in mind that the pilot will be on the same airplane with you.  If he knows he can’t land this thing, do you think he is going to take off?  

Actually, from my experience with middle school kids and their illusions of grandeur, I think some of them might try it.  But the odds are against it.

So relax.  By the time these candidates make it through pilot school they will probably have AI to land the planes anyway.  If they can land rockets on Mars they should be able to land an airplane in Los Angeles.

But I don’t plan on flying unless it is absolutely necessary.

homo unius libri