If you&#8217;ve followed my show regularly over the past few months, you know that I&#8217;ve done a couple of monologues on the aviation industry. 
The frequency of near-disasters in the sky has increased dramatically in recent years, and as I&#8217;ve noted, the increase began around the time that the Obama administration began a concerted effort to &#8220;diversify&#8221; the FAA, including air traffic control. According to a NASA database, which tracks self-reported data from pilots, we now <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-government-diversity-initiatives-are-leading-us-to-a-major-airline-disaster">average</a> roughly five near-misses per week — more than double the number from a decade ago. And that&#8217;s not even getting into the obvious maintenance issues that have been popping up — including doors and wheels that have been flying off planes lately.
Given how terrible all of this looks from the outside, I wanted to get a better idea of what&#8217;s happening internally at the FAA and major airlines in this country. We hear a lot about DEI in the abstract sense, but we rarely get a glimpse of what it looks like in practice. We don&#8217;t often hear firsthand testimonials from people affected by DEI because they&#8217;re worried about protecting their careers. They know if they speak out, they&#8217;ll face termination, and they&#8217;ll probably be blackballed from the industry forever. But with social media, some level of anonymity is possible. So to take a closer look at how far this DEI rot has spread, I <a href="https://x.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1744869138151924174?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted</a>: &#8220;If you&#8217;re an airline pilot and have firsthand knowledge about the DEI agenda being forced into your profession, send me a DM and tell me about your experiences. Curious yet terrified to see how bad it is at this point.&#8221;
To say my inbox was completely flooded would be an understatement. I received too many DM&#8217;s to count from pilots and other professionals in the aviation industry. Virtually every single message told me the same thing: that the ideology of &#8220;diversity, equity, and inclusion&#8221; is the top priority in their workplaces. It goes without saying, but this is an industry where one mistake can kill hundreds or even thousands of people. This is not comparable to DEI departments in universities or corporate America, as destructive and as wasteful as those departments are. DEI in the aviation industry could lead to a catastrophic disaster. That&#8217;s why — even though it was a risk — several of these sources provided me identifying information to validate their identities, along with permission to post some of the internal documents and footage they&#8217;ve obtained. These people knew they might lose their jobs, but they decided that getting the word out was more important.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1311-i-ve-obtained-internal-footage-revealing-the-faa-s-plans-to-reduce-the-number-of-white-males-in-aviation-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h4>
Yesterday, I posted some of these materials on my Twitter feed. They reveal that, at the very highest levels of the FAA, there&#8217;s an effort underway to reduce the number of white men who work in the aviation industry. In April of 2022, the FAA&#8217;s acting deputy chief operating officer — a woman named Angela McCullough — led a meeting with the FAA&#8217;s Flight Operations division. This division is responsible for all aspects of aviation operations, including overseeing airline maintenance. 
But McCullough did not spend the call talking about ways to make sure that airplane doors don&#8217;t fly off mid-flight. She didn&#8217;t say a word about the importance of keeping the wheels attached to jetliners as they&#8217;re taking off. Instead, McCullough talked extensively about DEI. As you&#8217;ll see, she was prompted to do so by a man named Wil Riggins, who&#8217;s the FAA&#8217;s Vice President of Flight Program Operations. 
If that name sounds familiar at all, it&#8217;s probably because Riggins is the same guy who <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/09/15/faa-dot-coordinated-to-hide-cost-of-buttigiegs-flights-report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">conspired</a> to find ways to hide Pete Buttigieg&#8217;s spending on government aircraft. So this is a completely corrupt group of bureaucrats who have assembled here. Watch:
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2/ The footage begins with FAA acting deputy chief operating officer Angela McCullough saying more workers need to go from &quot;ramp to cockpit,&quot; meaning she wants to see more baggage handlers become airline pilots. <a href="https://t.co/2KAeHNcJA2">pic.twitter.com/2KAeHNcJA2</a>
&mdash; Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) <a href="https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1755319180306346029?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 7, 2024</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;We&#8217;re looking at a need across the agency to recruit and retain a diverse population of folks,&#8221; says Wil Riggins. In response, McCullough talks about the arms race of DEI that&#8217;s occurring in the industry. She mentions &#8220;partnerships with universities.&#8221; And then she says the FAA wants to look at something called &#8220;ramp to cockpit.&#8221;
Let&#8217;s think about this. When she&#8217;s talking about &#8220;partnerships with universities&#8221; in the name of diversifying aviation, McCullough is referring to relationships that airlines have established with historically black colleges and universities. For example, United Airlines has <a href="https://www.northcarolina.edu/news/elizabeth-city-state-university-united-airlines-launch-partnership/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">allied</a> with Elizabeth City State University. The airline describes this as, &#8220;a partnership that seeks to not only train future pilots, but also bring more women and people of color into the ranks of commercial aviation.&#8221;
In case it&#8217;s not obvious, Elizabeth City State University is not a hotbed of engineering or aviation talent. In fact it&#8217;s not a hotbed of any kind of skill whatsoever. The average SAT score at the school is 960 out of 1600, which is one of the lowest scores that you&#8217;ll find anywhere in the country. The only reason for partnerships like this is because of the racial makeup of Elizabeth City State University, which is overwhelmingly black. This is the kind of partnership that, based on this video, senior FAA officials want to see more of. 
They aren&#8217;t interested in seeing the best pilots in the cockpit. They&#8217;re interested in seeing more black pilots in the cockpit.
That also could explain why McCullough is promoting something called &#8220;ramp to cockpit&#8221; in that footage. When she says &#8220;ramp,&#8221; she&#8217;s referring to ramp agents, who are responsible for loading and unloading baggage on airplanes. Evidently, the FAA believes that these employees deserve some sort of specialized program to encourage them to become pilots. But nowhere in this footage does McCullough explain why this makes any sense whatsoever. It doesn&#8217;t follow in any way. The job of a baggage handler is completely different from the job of an airline pilot. There are precisely zero transferable skills or even interests. Just because you have a job working around a plane doesn’t mean you should be flying them. This is like having a “janitor to surgeon” pipeline at a hospital, or setting up a program so that the window washer cleaning the outside of the skyscraper can one day become an architect designing skyscrapers. These two lines of work have almost nothing to do with each other. So what’s the point of this?
A few seconds later, McCullough provides something of an answer. She tells the FAA&#8217;s senior leadership in Flight Operations that their whole division is &#8220;white-male dominated.&#8221; Then she says that should change. And Wil Riggins, rather than reacting with surprise to this suggestion, agrees with her. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="008 FAA COO Angela McCullough" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/m9MmG1zYRg0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
There&#8217;s no pushback from anyone in that clip, as they listen to this. No one says, &#8220;wait a minute — why should baggage handlers become pilots? And what&#8217;s wrong with having a lot of white men in Flight Operations, exactly?&#8221; Instead, this woman gets complimented for her insights.
But of course, not everyone on the call was in agreement. They didn&#8217;t want to speak up because they&#8217;d be fired. But they knew this was going to happen. So one individual recorded the meeting. This source had seen several white men get passed over for jobs because of their skin color, and he or she heard these kinds of remarks all the time at the FAA. That&#8217;s why the source saved it, and it&#8217;s why we have it now.
As of this morning, neither the FAA nor the secretary of transportation, Mayor Pete, has responded to this footage. That&#8217;s because it reflects exactly what they believe. This is what they talk about behind closed doors. They want fewer white people flying planes and working in Flight Operations, including maintenance. They want more baggage handlers to become pilots. And they are not remotely concerned about professional standards or competence. That topic just doesn&#8217;t come up in their discussions.
This what DEI is all about, and it&#8217;s not limited to Pete Buttigieg&#8217;s agency. In response to my post, I received several other tips from sources outside of the FAA who say they&#8217;re seeing similar policies all across the aviation industry. Airlines are promoting DEI as well, even when it clearly endangers passengers. One source — a pilot at Delta Airlines — told me this: &#8220;We recently had a transgender pilot repeatedly receive negative reviews during his first-year probationary period from Captains he flew with regarding attitude, CRM, and judgment, yet the Chief Pilot’s Office (CPO) was unwilling to address the issue. Had this not been a transgender pilot, the individual would likely not have successfully completed their probationary period. Coincidentally, that CPO has a management pilot on staff who recently transitioned who is able to weigh in on these matters.&#8221;
This is what the airlines and the FAA will never admit publicly. They&#8217;ll never admit that they&#8217;re lowering standards, and endangering the public, in order to get more &#8220;diverse&#8221; pilots flying planes. But that&#8217;s exactly what&#8217;s happening. The source also sent along this internal Delta Airlines manual that&#8217;s designed to help Delta pilots &#8220;transition&#8221; into another gender. Here&#8217;s what that looks like:
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7/ The source also notes that Delta routinely makes exceptions for trans-identifying pilots concerning grooming and behavioral standards. Internally, Delta has even published a lengthy guide for pilots who believe they were born in the wrong body. <a href="https://t.co/8aQszhqVJw">pic.twitter.com/8aQszhqVJw</a>
&mdash; Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) <a href="https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1755319191123439760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 7, 2024</a></blockquote>
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It reads, &#8220;Helpful Steps for Transitioning at Delta.&#8221; And of course there&#8217;s the pilot with the trans pride flag draped over his body.
It goes without saying that this is incredibly irresponsible for several reasons. Put aside the fact that Delta is discriminating against qualified pilots on the basis of their skin color and gender, and promoting incompetent pilots instead. This document shows that Delta is also going out of their way to recruit trans-identifying pilots — people with extremely high rates of mental illness, and a propensity for suicide. Remember, these are people who, according to the trans activists themselves, are at risk to kill themselves if they’re misgendered or if they don’t receive all of the “affirmation” they feel they need. And the FAA and Delta want to more of them flying commercial aircraft.
In fact, in private, they&#8217;re open about the fact that they&#8217;re willing to endanger the public in order to hit diversity goals. Recently on Twitter, someone named Trace Woodgrains has been looking closely at FAA documents that were unearthed in a long-running class action lawsuit filed against the agency back during the Obama years. And he found further proof that the agency does not care if &#8220;diversity&#8221; costs people their lives. They&#8217;ve put it in writing. In 2013, for example, FAA leaders reviewed this slide:
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Interesting questions being posed by the FAA in 2013 <a href="https://t.co/tnit9ipsRx">pic.twitter.com/tnit9ipsRx</a>
&mdash; TracingWoodgrains (@tracewoodgrains) <a href="https://twitter.com/tracewoodgrains/status/1752378790846796038?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 30, 2024</a></blockquote>
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It reads: &#8220;Key questions for leadership: What are the relative values of diversity and the prediction of performance/outcomes? There is a trade-off between diversity (adverse impact) and predicted job performance/outcomes. How much of a change in job performance is acceptable to achieve diversity goals?&#8221;
So there it is, as clear as it could possibly be. The answer to that question should be: No trade-off in job performance is acceptable to achieve any diversity goals. The mission of the FAA is to make sure people don&#8217;t die on airplanes. But increasingly it&#8217;s clear that&#8217;s not important to the FAA. I didn&#8217;t mention this on Twitter, but one of the sources who DM&#8217;d me sent this information over: &#8220;I was unaware of this until recently, but the FAA has authorized special issuance medical certificates to individuals on SSRIs &#8230; The FAA and the [airline pilots association] are looking to broaden/expand the SSRI and mental health on-ramps back to being able to exercise a first class medical certificate.&#8221;
In other words, the agency is doing everything it can to ensure that pilots taking antidepressants can fly. At the same time, the source says: &#8220;The FAA just sent a letter requesting Congress NOT to raise the mandatory retirement age from the current age of 65, and the FAA primarily states safety as a justification. Obviously, there’s zero safety data that shows a switch is flipped when you turn 65 and you are somehow instantly less competent; we all know competent 70 year olds and incompetent 50 year olds running around. &#8230;The point is that the FAA and [the pilot&#8217;s association] are much more willing to go along with the idea that SSRIs and transitioning pilots being at the controls is somehow more safe than someone who just woke up on their 65th birthday.&#8221;
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These are the kind of incoherent medical standards we&#8217;ve come to expect in the FAA. A year ago, for example, the FAA abruptly lowered its medical certification guidelines for pilots with heart block. This is a serious condition; it makes it harder for the heart to pump blood effectively. Before the change, pilots with first-degree block had to provide medical documentation proving they had, “no evidence of structural function or coronary heart disease.&#8221; Now, many pilots with first-degree heart block can fly without this documentation. There was a lot of speculation this was due to complications of the COVID shot, or that this might implicate the safety of passengers. The FAA denied that, but of course we have no reason to believe anything they say anymore. This is what we can expect from the federal government at this point. Even on matters of life-or-death, they have absolutely no credibility.
There are some more documents I posted on Twitter along these lines, including some insider information on how the FAA awards contracts to various small businesses. These small businesses handle important engineering and logistics tasks for the agency. But it turns out that these contracts, like everything else these days, often prioritize &#8220;socially disadvantaged&#8221; businesses, which according to federal regulations, typically means businesses that aren&#8217;t owned by white people. In the FAA&#8217;s &#8220;eFast&#8221; contract system, these &#8220;disadvantaged&#8221; businesses get first dibs at contracts valued under $150,000.
What this means is that the FAA has adopted a gender and race-based spoils system for pretty much everything. At every step — whether you&#8217;re a baggage handler, a pilot, or a contractor — you will get priority treatment if you look a certain way. The only way to bring an end to this is for more whistleblowers to do what they did yesterday, and speak out about it. Record the meetings where they tell you they don&#8217;t want white people working for them. Save the documents showing they&#8217;re promoting incompetent pilots because they&#8217;re &#8220;trans.&#8221; If we expose enough of this, then it might finally collapse under the weight of its absurdity. If we don&#8217;t — if we allow it to fester, as everyone on that FAA videoconference did — then before long, people will die as a result.

Cockpit of a modern passenger aircraft. Pilots at work.

I’ve Obtained Internal Footage Revealing The FAA’s Plans To Reduce The Number Of White Males In Aviation 

I've Obtained Internal Footage Revealing The FAA's Plans To Reduce The Number Of White Males In Aviation 

Airlines

American Airlines

Delta Airlines

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

Flights

Matt Walsh

Racism

Readers Pass

Transgender

Here’s a thought experiment. Imagine one of your buddies comes up to you with a big smile on his face and tells you he just got a brand-new job. He&#8217;s vague on the specifics, but he says it&#8217;s a federal government gig that pays six figures. It didn&#8217;t require any kind of bachelor or associate degree, or a physical fitness test. But your friend does tell you that, as part of the application process, he had to complete a couple of computer exams.
Then, as the conversation goes on, your friend recounts a few of the questions from one of those exams. He tells you the questions went something like this: &#8220;Would more classmates remember you as humble or dominant? What age did you first start making money? How many high school sports did you participate in?&#8221;
At this point, you&#8217;re thinking to yourself, this is a little odd. What kind of job would ask questions like this? This all sounds kind of dumb and unserious. So your friend reassures you that he had to complete a second test as well. This second test asked slightly more <a href="https://www.tsatestprep.com/atsa-practice-test/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">challenging questions</a>, like, &#8220;What&#8217;s the difference between the numbers 8 and 6?&#8221; If you answered &#8220;2,&#8221; then congratulations, you could also pass this test.
Now, at this point, if you had to guess what job your friend just landed, what guess would you make? Based on all of the information provided, and knowing this is a government job, what would you think? Well, you’d probably make some obvious assumptions right away. You&#8217;d think, at a minimum, that whatever job your friend is gunning for in the federal government, it can&#8217;t be that important. And, indeed, there are a lot of very unimportant jobs in the federal government. Jobs that were made for incompetent and unimpressive people. Maybe your friend got a gig in the Department of Education, for example, or the IRS. That would make sense.
But then imagine that your friend informs you that he is not working in some frivolous government agency that contributes nothing of value to humanity. Imagine he tells you that, in act, he applied to be an air traffic controller. And after just a few months of training, very soon, he&#8217;s probably going to be directing planes with hundreds of people onboard. This may be a hypothetical thought experiment, but it is very much grounded in reality. I didn&#8217;t make up any of the test questions I mentioned earlier. They&#8217;re all based on real air traffic control <a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2018/06/27/the-disastrous-initiative-to-hire-air-traffic-controllers-based-on-diversity-not-talent/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">exams</a> or <a href="https://www.tsatestprep.com/atsa-practice-test/#atsa-memory-game" target="_blank" rel="noopener">practice exams</a>.
Now ten years ago, this little hypothetical scenario would&#8217;ve been unthinkable. But everything changed very quickly in 2013, when the Obama administration <a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2018/06/27/the-disastrous-initiative-to-hire-air-traffic-controllers-based-on-diversity-not-talent/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">embarked</a> on a plan to diversify the ranks of air traffic controllers. Obama&#8217;s FAA chief announced that he intended to &#8220;transform&#8221; the agency, which includes air traffic control, into a, &#8220;more diverse&#8221; workplace. As part of that plan, air traffic controllers no longer needed to take a more demanding cognitive assessment before being hired. Instead, all they needed was a high school diploma and the ability to speak English. All of the tests were dumbed down to the point of being absurd.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1269-the-matt-walsh-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h4>
The result, over the past decade, has been exactly what you&#8217;d expect. The number of air traffic controllers who are not white men has significantly increased, according to the FAA. Coincidentally, so have the number of near-collisions involving commercial airlines. According to a database maintained by NASA, which relies on data self-reported by pilots, the number of &#8220;near misses&#8221; has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/08/21/business/airline-safety-close-calls.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more than doubled</a> over the past ten years. 
In just the past year, there have been more than 300 near misses involving commercial airlines, averaging more than five per week. Just to emphasize that point again: they diversified the FAA, and near-misses immediately doubled. Correlation does not prove causation, but it can point towards it. And in this case there is a giant, glowing sign pointing in that direction.
Of course, only a handful of these incidents receive any major media attention. So it&#8217;s easy to underestimate the scale of the problem, no matter what media outlets or social media platforms you frequent. That&#8217;s why, in a moment I&#8217;m going to go through some of the near-misses that have gotten very little coverage.
But I&#8217;ll start with an incident that did get some attention from the national news media, because it helps put the broader problem into some context. This incident happened in July, when air traffic controllers put two aircraft — an Allegiant air passenger plane and a Gulfstream jet — on a collision course, shortly after the Allegiant plane took off from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Allegiant plane avoids mid-air collision at 23,000 feet" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3k2j31B3Dak?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The report goes on to mention that the pilot&#8217;s last-minute evasive maneuver was so extreme that it sent one flight attendant to the hospital.
If there&#8217;s anything reassuring in this clip — something that might make you feel a little better if you, like me, plan on boarding a plane in the near future — it’s that automated software called &#8220;TCAS&#8221; saved the day. This is a system that relies on transponders that are installed on all domestic aircraft. As you heard, it&#8217;s capable of sounding an alarm in the cockpit, and directing planes away from one another if there&#8217;s a risk of an imminent collision. It&#8217;s a failsafe for when air traffic controllers mess up and command planes to fly into one another.
But TCAS isn&#8217;t perfect. It certainly doesn&#8217;t prevent all mid-air collisions. In 2002, for example, a passenger jet and a DHL cargo plane <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_%C3%9Cberlingen_mid-air_collision" target="_blank" rel="noopener">collided</a> over Germany, because one pilot followed TCAS while another listened to the Swiss air traffic controller — who, incidentally, was later murdered by a surviving family member of several passengers. In fact, just this year, TCAS failed to prevent a mid-air collision at an international airport in this country — Houston Hobby. Fortunately, and miraculously, no one died as a result of that collision, but it was very close to being disastrous.
This incident illustrates the obvious, which is that the failsafe is not capable of solving all mid-air collisions, nor is it designed to. Particularly when planes are close to the ground, and covering a lot of ground very quickly in close proximity to one another, things can happen too quickly for the system to respond.
Those are the kind of incidents that are happening more and more often. A month ago, at Portland International Airport, for example, an Alaska Airlines jet turned directly into the path of a departing Skywest airliner. Air traffic controllers didn&#8217;t notice this until the planes were right on top of each other. In that case, the Alaska plane was trying to land, but it had to execute a &#8220;go around&#8221; because of high winds. Around the same time, the air traffic controller tells a departing Skywest plane to turn right. But for some reason, the Alaska pilot responds to that command, and turns to the right — straight into the path of the Skywest plane. And the controller completely misses it until pretty much the last possible moment. Radar data shows that the planes came within 250 feet vertically and less than 2,000 feet horizontally.
An even closer near-miss took place in August at San Diego International Airport. Controllers cleared a private plane to land right on top of a Southwest plane. They noticed their mistake just before the private plane hit the Southwest jet on the runway. The plane got within 100 feet of the Southwest passenger jet. There&#8217;s no TCAS system that can prevent something like that, either. If the visibility had been worse, and if the controllers didn&#8217;t notice the problem, there would have been a collision. Hundreds of people would likely be dead.
You can go to YouTube and find many clips showing these near misses. We won’t review all of them here, but I do want to share one that may be the most shocking recent example. It&#8217;s from JFK airport in New York City earlier this month, which is one of the busiest airports in the world. An American Airlines passenger jet was lining up for its approach, when air traffic controllers told a small private plane to line up for a parallel runway. But the private plane didn&#8217;t follow that instruction. Instead it made a beeline for the same runway the American Airlines plane was going for. At no point in this process did controllers notice the problem. They also didn&#8217;t notice that the private plane didn&#8217;t read back the right clearance. Instead, the only person who noticed anything wrong were the pilots of the American Airlines jet, when the private plane was right on top of them:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="“If we hadn’t bailed out, we would have collided”. American A321 has problems at New York. Real ATC" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-2XVD2yIDww?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&#8220;If we hadn&#8217;t bailed out, we would have collided.&#8221; That&#8217;s what the pilot of an American Airlines Airbus said, just a couple of weeks ago, at JFK airport. There was apparently no TCAS instruction to take evasive action. (If there had been, the pilots should have called it out. But they didn&#8217;t.) There was certainly no ATC warning. One of the pilots just looked out his window, or maybe saw something on his screen, and realized a plane was coming right for him. And he realized it just in time, to save a lot of lives.
I could go on and on. There&#8217;s the Southwest Airlines flight on July 2nd, which had to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/08/21/business/airline-safety-close-calls.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">abort</a> its landing at New Orleans International Airport because a Delta plane was taking off from the same runway. The passenger planes came within seconds of hitting each other. That same month, an American Airlines plane nearly crashed into a Frontier Airlines jet on takeoff, because nobody — including the ground controllers — noticed that the nose of the Frontier Airlines jet was jutting out into the runway. Earlier this year, in February, an air traffic controller routed a Spirit Airlines flight within 200 vertical feet and 700 horizontal feet of a cargo plane. You get the point.
It&#8217;s true that we can&#8217;t blame this dramatic rise of near-misses solely on diversity and equity efforts, single-variable explanations are rarely sufficient. This is a complex issue. For one thing, when Ronald Reagan fired more than 10,000 air traffic controllers who went on strike in 1981, in violation of federal law, a bunch of new controllers needed to be hired. And many of those controllers recently hit retirement age — all at once. That creates a staffing crunch. That&#8217;s all true.
But that staffing crunch was foreseeable. It&#8217;s been obvious it would happen since Reagan fired the controllers more than four decades ago. The problem is that, instead of providing incentives for competent people to become air traffic controllers — say, by raising the salary, and providing more training and offering better hours — the government chose to do what it always does. It drastically lowered standards, in the name of equity. 
And the Biden administration is still proud of it. Right now, on the FAA&#8217;s <a href="https://www.faa.gov/jobs/diversity_inclusion" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a>, you&#8217;ll find this line: 
<blockquote>The mission of the FAA involves securing the skies of a diverse nation. It only makes sense that the workforce responsible for that mission reflects the nation that it serves.</blockquote>
Actually, that doesn&#8217;t make sense at all. The job of the FAA, and air traffic control, is preventing catastrophic accidents where a lot of people die. It doesn&#8217;t matter what the workforce looks like. Everyone knows this, because deep down, everyone knows that diversity doesn’t matter. That’s why no passenger on a plane has ever cared in the slightest about the racial makeup of the guys in the cockpit, or the ones on the ground directing the plane. Just like nobody has ever cared about the diversity of fire departments when they’re trapped in a burning building, and nobody has ever cared about diversity among brain surgeons when they have a tumor that needs to be removed. 
When it comes down to it, when it really matters, diversity doesn’t matter. And we all know it. 
But that&#8217;s all the FAA has been focused on lately. Just a year ago, the FAA <a href="https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/faa-launches-be-atc-campaign-recruit-next-diverse-generation-air-traffic-controllers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">launched</a> yet another initiative to &#8220;diversify&#8221; the ranks of air traffic controllers — meaning to hire people based on qualities other than competence. The FAA calls this the &#8220;Be ATC&#8221; campaign. The agency says in a press release that: 
<blockquote>Building on last year’s successful campaign to receive more applications from women and other underrepresented groups, the FAA will again work with diverse organizations, host Instagram Live conversations, and work with social media influencers.</blockquote>
That&#8217;s what the FAA is working on right now. We&#8217;ll be getting more women and more &#8220;underrepresented groups,&#8221; courtesy of Instagram influencers. That much is clear. What&#8217;s not clear is whether we&#8217;ll be getting a workforce that&#8217;s capable of preventing two jetliners, full of passengers from colliding with one another while they&#8217;re each going in excess of 500 miles per hour. And that&#8217;s alarming, to say the least, because every single week we&#8217;re discovering that the existing crop of air traffic controllers is barely capable of doing that.
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Keep in mind that this is all happening even as airlines also begin their own quest to add more equity to their ranks. It was only a couple of years ago that United Airlines pledged to diversify its pilots. Many other airlines have followed suit. Soon we will have diverse air traffic controllers directing diverse airline pilots, while thousands of lives hang in the balance — and inevitably many are lost in the process.
You often hear aviation experts say that nothing ever gets fixed until a lot of people die, which is not a thought that will help cure your anxiety about flying. But it’s true and it’s been true throughout the history of aviation. Planes didn&#8217;t have wind shear detectors until commercial airliners started crashing in bad weather, just shy of the runway. TCAS wasn&#8217;t mandatory until there were a lot of mid-air collisions. Pilots didn&#8217;t have to de-ice until an Air Florida plane nose-dived into a Potomac after sitting for too long on the tarmac on a snowy day.
What this means is that, if history is any guide, soon enough, we may finally start to get some solutions to the air traffic control debacle we&#8217;re seeing right now all over the country — from Portland to San Diego to New Orleans to New York, to pretty much any other major metropolitan area in this country. That&#8217;s because, as problematic as it may be for the Biden administration&#8217;s equity agenda, we&#8217;re closer than we&#8217;ve been in more than a decade to a disaster of truly historic proportions. And when that happens, a lot of people will die. And then, and only then, when it’s too late, will anything be done about the problem.

Passenger airplane taking off at sunset

How Government ‘Diversity’ Initiatives Are Leading Us To A Major Airline Disaster

Air Travel

Airplane

Biden Administration

A North Carolina teenager who was flying for the first time skip-lagged on his flight — meaning his ticket was booked for connecting flights but he never boarded the second — and was detained at the initial airport, taken to a security room, and then interrogated.
Logan Parsons, 17, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was flying on an American Airlines ticket from Gainesville, Florida to New York’s JFK airport with a stop in Charlotte.  The ticket was purchased with the intent that Logan would get off in Charlotte, as it was a cheaper fare than a direct flight to Charlotte, a practice nicknamed “skip-lagging.” But his North Carolina ID caused an agent at the airport to be suspicious of his true intended destination, prompting him to be detained.
Logan’s father Hunter said his family has skiplagged before, acknowledging, “We&#8217;ve used Skip Lagged almost exclusively for the last five to eight years.”
“They kind of got out of him that he was planning to disboard (sic) in Charlotte and not going to make the connecting flight,” Hunter Parsons said of this son being detained. “Our concerns are he is a minor and was kind of left to fend for himself several states away. &#8230; I think a stern warning, ‘Hey, this is frowned upon. If you do it again there would be consequences, financial penalties,’” Hunter Parsons told <a href="https://www.qcnews.com/news/local-news/father-says-son-was-detained-at-airport-before-having-to-purchase-a-new-ticket/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Queen City News</a>.
“It’s the first time he’s flown, and he really doesn’t know what he is doing,” aviation attorney Bruce Brandon told Queen City News. “It seems to be a bit harsh to me. I just don’t understand why they would do this.”
“Was it a security issue or was it a contract issue?” Brandon wondered. “Was he held against his will in that back room?”
“Purchasing a ticket without intending to fly all flights to gain lower fares (hidden city ticketing) is a violation of American Airlines terms and conditions and is outlined in our Conditions of Carriage online,” American Airlines noted in a statement.
In 2014, United Airlines and Orbitz sued Skiplagged; a Chicago judge <a href="https://money.cnn.com/2015/05/01/investing/united-airlines-lawsuit-skiplagged/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dismissed</a> the lawsuit in 2015. In 2019 it was <a href="https://simpleflying.com/united-airlines-skiplagging/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that United Airlines sent an internal memo to airport staff to look out for skiplagging and report it to higher-ups at the company.
Last year a report <a href="https://lifehacker.com/youre-going-to-get-caught-skiplagging-and-it-s-not-goi-1849041104" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stated</a> that United Airlines would fine people who repeatedly skiplagged and that airlines could ban passengers from their airline if they skiplagged.

Airport security # 18

North Carolina Teenager Skiplags On His First Flight. He’s Caught and Interrogated.

Flying

North Carolina

Teenagers

A woman on an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/american-airlines" target="_blank" rel="noopener">American Airlines</a> flight was recorded over the weekend having a bizarre moment on the plane in which she wanted to be let off because she claimed that a passenger was &#8220;not real.&#8221;
The incident, which has gone viral on social media over the last few days, was apparently recorded at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
&#8220;I’m telling you, I’m getting the f*** off and there’s a reason why I’m getting the f*** off and everyone can either believe it or they can not believe it,&#8221; the woman said as she addressed the entire plane.
&#8220;I don’t give two f***s, but I am telling you right now – that motherf***er back there is NOT real,&#8221; she said.
&#8220;You can sit on this plane and you can die with them or not,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;I’m not going to.&#8221;
A spokesperson for the airlines said in a statement that the plane returned to the gate due to a &#8220;disruptive customer.&#8221;
&#8220;The flight was met at the gate by local law enforcement and the customer was removed from the flight,&#8221; the statement <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/business/2023/07/04/american-airlines-passenger-claims-fellow-traveler-was-not-real/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. &#8220;We thank our customers for their understanding and our team members for their professionalism in managing a difficult situation.&#8221;
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WATCH:
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Unhinged. <a href="https://t.co/P82le0BG0O">pic.twitter.com/P82le0BG0O</a>
&mdash; Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) <a href="https://twitter.com/stillgray/status/1675965225760362496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 3, 2023</a></blockquote>
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American Airlines Unveils New Logo

Woman Disrupts Flight In Meltdown Over ‘Not Real’ Passenger

Woman Disrupts Flight In Meltdown Over 'Not Real' Passenger

General

Texas

U.S.

Video of an American Airlines flight headed to Phoenix, Arizona, from Columbus, Ohio, bursting into flames in mid-air after a flock of geese collided with it has been released.
The plane, a Boeing 737-800, took off at 7:43 a.m. on Sunday but was forced to make an emergency landing back at John Glenn Columbus International Airport at 8:22 a.m. Although initial reports stated an engine had caught fire, John Glenn Columbus International Airport corrected the report later, <a href="https://twitter.com/columbusairport/status/1650236223972147204" target="_blank" rel="noopener">writing</a> that “the aircraft experienced mechanical issues, not an engine fire.”
Two passengers, Marni Kallestad and Ryan Brink, recorded the view from the plane as it caught fire, The Daily Mail <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12006963/Terrifying-video-INSIDE-American-Airlines-Boeing-737-caught-fire-midair.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Pilots of an American Airlines flight turned the plane around shortly after it took off from the airport in Columbus, Ohio, after an apparent bird strike caused the engine to catch fire <a href="https://t.co/ih45zfGFq1">pic.twitter.com/ih45zfGFq1</a>
&mdash; Reuters (@Reuters) <a href="https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1650418046744313858?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 24, 2023</a></blockquote>
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One witness <a href="https://twitter.com/Cbus4Life/status/1650109671900889088" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> the collision with the geese caused the plane to emit “wonky, pulsing noises.”
“The flight landed normally and taxied safely to the gate under its own power,” American Airlines reported. “The aircraft was taken out of service for maintenance and our team is working to get customers back on their way to Phoenix.”
“Genuinely, this is the first time in my life that I was ready to die,” Matthew Danek, a passenger on the plane who saw the plane catch fire, told <a href="https://www.10tv.com/article/news/local/reports-plane-headed-toward-phoenix-reroutes-columbus-after-engine-trouble/530-7c257709-447e-4e83-bf22-d5feee99dd8c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WBNS</a>. &#8220;There were extreme rumbling vibrations. The noise was deafening.”
Danek said the fire lasted roughly three minutes while other passengers were panicked, albeit silent.
“Immediately the mood changed,” he continued. “Like everyone stopped talking. We all got quiet. We all kind of did that look around like ‘You hearing this? You seeing this? We in this right now.’”
“All the crew was absolutely amazing. The pilot was even, I dare say, funny during it. He had a good sense of humor. His poise was astounding,” Danek recalled.
&#8220;This is something that airline crews train over and over again, under varying conditions, bad weather, daylight, nighttime,” aviation safety expert Shawn Pruchnicki told WBNS. “So regardless of why the engine failed, it&#8217;s something that as a former airline pilot, it&#8217;s something that we are very, very well trained to handle.”
Last week, an Airbus A321 plane experienced a fire due to mechanical failure just before takeoff from Charlotte Douglas Airport in North Carolina. The plane was headed to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. Passengers disembarked safely, and the aircraft was decommissioned, according to <a href="https://simpleflying.com/american-airlines-airbus-a321-returns-gate-mechanical-failure/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Simple Flying</a>.
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American Airlines A321 experiences an engine fire moments before takeoff from Charlotte Douglas Airport. The crew successfully extinguished the fire and all passengers disembarked safely. 
📹 cuhhlayre <a href="https://t.co/YIjCWU9JZM">pic.twitter.com/YIjCWU9JZM</a>
&mdash; Breaking Aviation News &amp; Videos (@aviationbrk) <a href="https://twitter.com/aviationbrk/status/1649702424758611969?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 22, 2023</a></blockquote>
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American Airlines To Reduce International Flights Due To Boeing Supply Delays

WATCH: Terrifying Moment American Airlines Plane Bursts Into Flames Following Bird Strike Goes Viral

Fire

Do you remember Sha&#8217;Carri Richardson? She is a highly-talented, young athlete who qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics as a sprinter in track and field. 
Due to COVID, the Olympics were postponed for a year, so she was set to compete in the summer of 2021. She then tested positive for cannabis which led to a one-month suspension right before the games were set to start. Because of that, Sha&#8217;Carri was passed over by Team USA for a spot on the Olympic team.
Many people were outraged by her suspension. Sha&#8217;Carri&#8217;s excuse was that she was anxious and emotionally upset over the loss of her estranged biological mother.
Granted, she had a very tough childhood, raised by her grandmother, and she was understandably distraught once she found out her real mom had died. Who wouldn&#8217;t be? So, she said smoked weed to deal with the tragedy.
Of course, that situation would be upsetting to anybody. 
Yet, knowing Olympic officials are going to perform a drug test, it doesn’t seem like a viable excuse for doing drugs. Those are the rules.
Many leftists and pro-BLM pundits, however, attempted to turn the situation into a racial injustice crusade — as if she were suspended because she&#8217;s black and passed over by Team USA due to her skin color.
Now, it must be said, Sha&#8217;Carri is a tremendously gifted young woman. I want her to come back and I want her to be successful in her career. We all want her to do great things in her sport and in life.
But people don&#8217;t become successful if they are handed excuses.
Making her situation into a racial one gives her the mentality that she has black privilege. It&#8217;s giving her the idea that she doesn&#8217;t have to abide by the rules, because she can say, &#8220;I&#8217;m black, I&#8217;m suffering. I&#8217;m the victim.”
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-78-sha-carri-richardson-has-black-privilege-steven-crowder-needs-our-prayers-george-santos-needs-a-reality-check-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Don&#8217;t believe me</a>? 
Well, recently she was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/shacarri-richardson-returns-to-the-track-finishes-last" target="_blank" rel="noopener">allegedly ejected</a> from an American Airlines flight because she was arguing with a flight attendant who asked her to stop using her phone as they were going to take off — which is something all passengers have to do.
As the video purports to show, she began arguing not only with AA employees, but other passengers. For some reason, Sha&#8217;Carri thought she could keep recording, even though she was asked to stop — as the flight attendant would do to every other passenger in that situation.
Here&#8217;s the video, watch for yourself.
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Track star Sha&#39;Carri Richardson was kicked off a AA flight for arguing with Flight Attendant and recorded the whole incident. <a href="https://t.co/LEOhcRvyne">pic.twitter.com/LEOhcRvyne</a>
&mdash; Anthony Tilghman (@AnthonyTilghman) <a href="https://twitter.com/AnthonyTilghman/status/1616834246135488517?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 21, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Now, we&#8217;ve all been on these flights before. We have all seen that one person on board, acting like a jerk, causing a scene while delaying the entire plane.
Many of us have likely been told to get off our phones or computers prior to departure. I&#8217;ve been that passenger who is trying to wrap up a phone call, only for a stewardess to request I get off the phone as we’re moving toward the runway.
So, what do I do? I hang up the phone and say, &#8220;Sorry, I will have to call you back.&#8221;
Why? Because I know I am not a special person. I have to abide by the rules. I wasn&#8217;t targeted for being black — I was asked to get off the phone because that is what the airline requires.
Instead of doing that, it seems Sha&#8217;Carri spent her time trying to paint herself as a victim, and she continued recording.
To me, this is a perfect example of black privilege. I see this sort of thing all the time.
In fact, I experienced a similar situation while living in D.C.
I was pregnant, walking across a crosswalk, when a black woman in a car almost hit me. She was totally in the wrong. I called her an idiot — she almost ran me over when I had the right of way — and she rolled down her window, yelled back, and began recording me.
At that moment, said, &#8220;Look at my skin color. I&#8217;m black. So if you&#8217;re recording to paint yourself as a victim because you just almost hit somebody, then you&#8217;ve got the wrong person.&#8221;
I think at that moment, she thought, &#8220;Why am I recording?&#8221; because she stopped filming.
Yet, recording people has become a form of protection for people who want to make themselves the victim. It&#8217;s an intimidation tactic used to send a message to those being recorded. We all know a viral clip can be taken out of context and can make you look like some evil racist.
So, when I saw Sha&#8217;Carri recording, it seemed she was setting herself up to play the victim. In reality, all she had to do was listen and it would have been over in no time. She likely would have been able to use her phone up in the air.
Maybe she would have listened had people stopped handing her “black privilege excuses” throughout life. But, not enough people have done that, so I will.
Sha’Carri, these incidents are not happening to you because you&#8217;re black or a victim in the world. Both the weed suspension as well as the incident with American Airlines happened because you did not follow the rules.
Plain and simple.
Yet, you want to create drama in your life. You may have had a very tough childhood, Sha&#8217;Carri, I don&#8217;t doubt it.
But let me tell you something, you were handed some talents the rest of us don&#8217;t have, and that gave you a literal leg up in life, OK?
And you&#8217;re not acting like it. You&#8217;re not acting like you&#8217;re grateful, you&#8217;re acting like a brat and somebody needs to tell you to button it up and behave well.
That&#8217;s it. Stop smoking pot. Stop yelling. Stop throwing tantrums. 
Listen, you&#8217;re not special. I want you to go out in the world and I want you to be successful, and to do that you need to understand you are not a special snowflake and you are not a victim.

Candace_3b16x9 copy 16 (2)

Black Privilege Is On Full Display When This Track Star Is Removed From Flight

Candace Owens

Social Issues

Track &amp; Field

<div>
A baggage handler for an American Airlines regional carrier died Saturday after reportedly being sucked through the engine of a jet at an Alabama airport, authorities said.
</div>
<div>
The gruesome tragedy occurred at the Montgomery Regional Airport at around 3 p.m. The victim, who was not immediately identified, worked for Piedmont Airlines, a subsidiary of American Airlines. The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating, <a href="https://www.al.com/news/2023/01/american-airlines-ground-crew-worker-killed-at-montgomery-airport.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to AL.com</a>.
</div>
<div>
“We are devastated by the accident involving a team member of Piedmont Airlines, an American Airlines regional carrier, at Montgomery Regional Airport (MGM),” a spokesperson for American Airlines said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and our local team members. We are focused on ensuring that all involved have the support they need during this difficult time.”
</div>
<div>
According to Reuters, two sources briefed on the incident said the employee died in &#8220;an accident involving one of the airplane&#8217;s engines that was running.&#8221;
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Today around 3 pm an American Airlines ground crew piedmont employee was involved in a fatality, no additional information is available at this time. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the deceased.
&mdash; Montgomery Regional Airport (@flymgm) <a href="https://twitter.com/flymgm/status/1609342211480588288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 1, 2023</a></blockquote>
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<div>
The aircraft was reportedly an Embraer 175, a narrow-body plane designed to carry up to 124 passengers and used frequently for short- to medium-range routes.
Airport Executive Director Wade Davis issued a statement following the tragic accident.
</div>
<div>
“We are saddened to hear about the tragic loss of a team member of the AA/Piedmont Airlines,” Davis said.
</div>
<div>
The airport resumed normal operations Saturday evening, the airport tweeted.
</div>
<div>
The “worker was fatally injured on the ramp at Montgomery Regional Airport where American Airlines Flight 3408, an Embraer E175, was parked,” the FAA said in a statement to AL.com.
</div>
<div>
A preliminary report from the FAA is expected on Monday, according to the agency.
</div>
<div>
Although extremely rare, such incidents have <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF55oyAJDBk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">occurred in the past</a>. <a href="https://aerocorner.com/blog/can-a-human-get-sucked-into-a-jet-engine/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">According to Aerocorner.com</a>, jet engines use a powerful compressor to suck up to 1.2 million tons of air per second through them, even while idling or powering up. The suction created is strong enough to pull a human through the engine if he or she gets too close. Baggage, tools, and birds have all been sucked through the engines.
</div>

Airport Horror As Baggage Handler Dies After Reportedly Being Sucked Through Jet Engine

Alabama

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/christmas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Holiday</a> travel and gift delivery could be severely disrupted by a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/weather" target="_blank" rel="noopener">winter storm</a> expected to hit the center of the country from Wednesday to Sunday.
Residents of the Midwest and the Great Lakes region will contend with an incoming Arctic front causing heavy snowfall, according to a <a href="https://twitter.com/NWSWPC/status/1605137973703573504" target="_blank" rel="noopener">forecast</a> from the National Weather Service. Blizzard conditions are expected to last from Thursday to Saturday, which marks Christmas Eve.
Snow is predicted to fall at a rate of one to two inches per hour at certain times, while winds could surpass 50 miles per hour, producing dangerous wind chills and low visibility. “The combination of heavy snow and strong wind gusts could lead to significant infrastructure impacts as well, including scattered tree damage and power outages,” the agency said.
The weather conditions could impact families’ holiday travel plans. Nearly 102 million Americans plan to drive to their holiday destinations, marking an increase of 2 million drivers since last year despite volatile gas prices, according to data from AAA. Meanwhile, as many as 54 million passengers will depart from airports between December 18 and January 3, constituting a 20% increase from last year, according to <a href="https://media.hopper.com/research/christmas-2022-holiday-outlook" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data</a> from Hopper.
“If the distance is not reasonable to drive, more people are taking to the air to maximize the time spent at their destination,” AAA Senior Vice President of Travel Paula Twidale remarked. “Conversely, if the travel distances are reasonable and more than one or two people in the household are taking the trip, it may be more cost-effective to drive rather than buy multiple air tickets, rent a car, and spend too much money before the fun even begins.”
One reason for the increase in holiday travel could be the continued embrace of virtual work options by many employers. “With hybrid work schedules, we are seeing more people take long weekends to travel because they can work remotely at their destination and be more flexible with the days they depart and return,” Twidale added.
Thousands of flights were <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/christmas-frightmare-continues-thousands-of-flight-cancellations-driven-by-omicron-and-bad-weather" target="_blank" rel="noopener">canceled</a> last Christmas as a result of COVID outbreaks among crew members. Hundreds of flights entering or leaving the United States were canceled on Christmas Day alone, while thousands of additional flights were delayed.
Carriers such as American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines have already posted <a href="https://www.united.com/ual/en/US/fly/travel/notices.html#northamerica-waivers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">extensive lists</a> of cities from which they expect to travel to be disrupted this year, including Chicago, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, and Milwaukee. The companies are waiving fees for customers who rebook their flights within certain time frames.
The most popular destinations for holiday travel include New York City, Los Angeles, Orlando, Dallas, and Atlanta, according to Hopper. Domestic roundtrip airfare prices for Christmas are currently averaging $339, an 11% decrease from 2019 and a 15% decrease from 2021.
Year-over-year inflation for airline prices, however, reached 36% as of last month, according to <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cpi.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data</a> from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Rising fuel prices and industry pressures such as pilot shortages have impacted affordability; the air travel sector will lack 12,000 pilots by next year, even as 14,000 pilots will be forced to leave the workforce over the next five years because of a federal law mandating that airline pilots retire by 65 years old, according to a <a href="https://www.oliverwyman.com/our-expertise/insights/2021/mar/after-covid-19-aviation-faces-a-pilot-shortage.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> conducted by consulting group Oliver Wyman.

Airplane On airport

Massive Snowstorm Expected To Impact Christmas Travel Nationwide, Airlines Brace For Cancellations

Massive Snowstorm Will Impact Christmas Travel Nationwide

Christmas

Severe Weather

United Airlines

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/american-airlines" target="_blank" rel="noopener">American Airlines</a> announced on Tuesday that it would <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/business" target="_blank" rel="noopener">purchase</a> 20 Boom Overture supersonic <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/air-travel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">planes</a> capable of flying from Miami, Florida, to London, England, within five hours.
The aircraft, manufactured by startup Boom Supersonic, is capable of flying at Mach 1.7 over water — “twice the speed of today’s fastest commercial aircraft,” according to American Airlines. With a range of 4,250 nautical miles, the planes, expected to roll out in 2025 and carry their first passengers by 2029, can fly over 600 routes in less than half the previous time.
“Looking to the future, supersonic travel will be an important part of our ability to deliver for our customers,” American Airlines Chief Financial Officer Derek Kerr said in a <a href="https://news.aa.com/news/news-details/2022/American-Airlines-Announces-Agreement-to-Purchase-Boom-Supersonic-Overture-Aircraft-Places-Deposit-on-20-Overtures-FLT-08/">statement</a>. “We are excited about how Boom will shape the future of travel both for our company and our customers.”
In addition to paying nonrefundable deposits for 20 Overture planes, American has the option to buy an additional 40. The planes can carry between 65 and 80 passengers.
Last year, United Airlines became the first entity to <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/united-adding-supersonic-speeds-with-new-agreement-to-buy-aircraft-from-boom-supersonic-301304669.html">forge</a> a commercial agreement with Boom by purchasing 15 aircraft with the option of later buying another 35. Defense contractor Northrop Grumman <a href="https://boomsupersonic.com/news/post/northrop-grumman-and-boom-supersonic-enter-collaboration-to-provide-mission-solutions-to-u-s-military-and-allies">announced</a> a strategic partnership with Boom last month to create a “supersonic special-mission aircraft” for the United States and its allies.
“Pairing Northrop Grumman’s airborne defense systems integration expertise with Boom’s state-of-the-art Overture supersonic aircraft makes perfect sense,” Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems President Tom Jones said. “Together we can ensure military variants of Overture are tailored for missions where advanced system capabilities and speed are critical.”
Boom <a href="https://boomsupersonic.com/news/post/boom-supersonic-first-supersonic-airliner-manufacturing-facility">revealed</a> earlier this year that it would build a plant in Greensboro, North Carolina, to handle the manufacturing of the Overture planes — a move that will add $32.3 billion to the state’s economy over the next two decades.
The airline industry has continued to reel from COVID and the lockdown-induced recession. Although the United States witnessed a flight volume of 6.2 million in 2021, the figure continued to trail a flight volume of 8.1 million in 2019, according to the <a href="https://www.bts.gov/newsroom/air-travel-consumer-report-december-2021-full-year-2021-numbers">Bureau of Transportation Statistics</a>.
Meanwhile, flight <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/over-3000-flights-canceled-in-two-days-amid-severe-weather-warnings">cancellations</a> continue to persist as airlines face a pervasive pilot shortage. The United States will lack 12,000 pilots by 2023, even as 14,000 pilots will be forced to leave the workforce over the next five years because of a federal law mandating that airline pilots retire by 65 years old, according to a <a href="https://www.oliverwyman.com/our-expertise/insights/2021/mar/after-covid-19-aviation-faces-a-pilot-shortage.html">study</a> by consulting group Oliver Wyman.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) recently proposed the <a href="https://roy.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-roy-introduces-bill-alleviate-pilot-shortage-raising-mandatory-retirement">Let Experienced Pilots Fly Act</a> — a bill that would <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/lawmakers-introduce-bill-with-key-reform-to-stop-flight-cancellations">raise</a> the mandatory commercial pilot retirement age from 65 to 67.
“Following the heavy-handed stupidity of government lockdowns, travel demand has naturally skyrocketed. However, Americans are now experiencing flight delays and cancellations on an unacceptable scale due to a worsening pilot shortage,” Roy argued. “A key factor is a government-mandated retirement age that forces out thousands of our most qualified pilots every year.”
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, however, has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/buttigieg-slams-airlines-for-flight-cancellations-but-rejects-key-reform">responded negatively</a> to a version of the bill from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). “These retirement ages are there for a reason, and the reason is safety. I’m not going to be on board with anything that could compromise safety,” he said. “Now, what’s clearly the case is we need to cultivate, train, and support a new generation of qualified pilots.”

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An Arizona man who spent 17 days in jail after being wrongfully arrested for shoplifting is suing <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/american-airlines">American Airlines</a>, which incorrectly identified him as the suspect.
Michael Lowe, 46, of Flagstaff, Arizona, was boarding a flight on May 12, 2020, at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport when someone broke into a duty-free store nearby. The burglary suspect was shown on surveillance cameras boarding the same flight as Lowe, his lawsuit says. Police asked American Airlines for a list of passengers, NBC News <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/arizona-man-wrongfully-arrested-jailed-17-days-due-american-airlines-e-rcna32584">reported</a>, but for some reason the airline only gave them Lowe’s name.
&#8220;As a result of American&#8217;s identification — or rather, misidentification — of Mr. Lowe as the culprit, felony and misdemeanor arrest warrants were issued for Mr. Lowe,&#8221; Lowe’s attorney Scott Palmer wrote in the lawsuit. &#8220;The consequences of American&#8217;s breach of care it owed to Mr. Lowe would prove to be life-changing.&#8221;
Lowe said in his lawsuit that he had no idea he had been misidentified by American Airlines until more than a year later when he was on vacation in New Mexico and arrested for a crime he had never heard about and didn’t commit. He had been at a Fourth of July party when police showed up asking partygoers for identification while claiming to be investigating a disturbance. When they ran Lowe’s name through a law enforcement database, they discovered he had multiple outstanding warrants from Texas.
Lowe was held in Quay County Jail, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram <a href="https://amp.star-telegram.com/news/local/fort-worth/article262126407.html">reported</a>, for 17 days as the COVID-19 pandemic swelled, in what his lawsuit calls “grossly unsanitary conditions.” Lowe said the prison did little to handle COVID-19 and didn’t provide adequate medical care. He also accused the prison of making no effort to keep violent suspects away from nonviolent suspects, NBC <a href="https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/man-files-lawsuit-against-american-airlines-over-wrongful-arrest/2987140/">reported</a>. Lowe is not suing Quay County, however,
Lowe says in his lawsuit that he didn’t even know what crime he had been accused of committing until after he was released from prison.
“I’ve never heard of this fact pattern in my life or my career,” Palmer told the outlet. “If it can happen to him, it can happen to anyone.”
It wasn’t until police compared Lowe’s booking mugshot with surveillance images of the airport burglary suspect that they realized “it was obvious that American Airlines had the wrong person, and that Mr. Lowe was not the person responsible for the burglary on May 12, 2020,&#8221; according to Lowe’s lawsuit.
American Airlines spokesman Rob Himler released a statement on Wednesday saying the airline had done nothing wrong.
&#8220;As required by law, American cooperates with and responds to court orders for information related to possible criminal activity, and that’s what we did in this instance when we were presented with a search warrant,&#8221; Himler said.
Himler did not immediately respond when NBC asked if it was true the airline only gave police Lowe’s name.
Palmer told the outlet that his client decided not to sue the sheriff or police due to higher standards relating to lawsuit against government agencies.
&#8220;We believe [American Airlines] has liability for the disclosure of Michael as the sole suspect,&#8221; Palmer said. &#8220;But for their actions, warrants are never issued for Michael’s arrest. American set in motion all of this by singling him out.&#8221;
He also noted that his client still suffers from trauma relating to the false identification.
&#8220;Mr. Lowe also suffers from nightmares and intrusive thoughts because of his incarceration,&#8221; Palmer wrote in the lawsuit. &#8220;It is also harder for Mr. Lowe to fall asleep and stay asleep as the result of both anxiety and depression.&#8221;

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He Says He Was Misidentified As A Burglary Suspect And Spent 17 Days In Jail. Now He’s Suing American Airlines For The Mistake.

Arizona Man Sues American Airlines After He Says It Misidentified Him As A Burglary Suspect, Leading To Him Spending 17 Days In Jail

Crime

false accusations

Lawsuit

America&#8217;s largest airlines released statements on Monday indicating that they will no longer enforce Democrat President Joe Biden&#8217;s mask mandate on airplanes and at airports after a federal judge in Florida ruled that the mandate was &#8220;unlawful.&#8221;
U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle for the Middle District of Florida <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-federal-judge-in-florida-voids-bidens-national-mask-mandate-at-airports-planes-public-transit">ruled</a> earlier in the day that the mandate was unlawful because the mandate “exceeded the CDC’s statutory authority, improperly invoked the good cause exception to notice and comment rulemaking, and failed to adequately explain its decisions.”
The following airlines have released statements indicating that masks are now optional on flights:
<ul>
<li>American Airlines: &#8220;In accordance with the Transportation Security Administration no longer enforcing the federal face mask mandate, face masks will no longer be required for our customers and team members at U.S. airports and on domestic flights. Please note face masks may still be required based on local ordinances, or when traveling to/from certain international locations based on country requirements. In keeping with our commitment to creating a welcoming environment for everyone who travels with us, customers and team members may choose to continue to wear masks at their own discretion.&#8221;</li>
<li>United Airlines: &#8220;Effective immediately, masks are no longer required at United on domestic flights, select international flights (dependent upon the arrival country&#8217;s mask requirements) or at U.S. airports. While this means that our employees are no longer required to wear a mask &#8211; and no longer have to enforce a mask requirement for most of the flying public &#8211; they will be able to wear masks if they choose to do so, as the CDC continues to strongly recommend wearing a mask on public transit. We will continue to closely monitor the situation in the event of changes.&#8221;</li>
<li>Delta Air Lines: &#8220;Effective immediately, masks are optional for all airport employees, crew members and customers inside U.S. airports and onboard aircraft. Delta employees and customers may continue wearing masks if they so choose. Wearing a well-fitting mask protects the wearer, even if others around them are not wearing masks.&#8221;</li>
<li>Southwest Airlines: &#8220;As a result of this development, effectively immediately, Southwest Employees and Customers will be able to choose whether they would like to wear a mask, and we encourage individuals to make the best decision to support their personal wellbeing. Additionally, Southwest will continue supporting the comfort of those who travel with us by offering additional layers of protection, including sophisticated cabin air ventilation systems onboard our aircraft which incorporate HEPA air filtration that removes at least 99.97% of airborne particles.&#8221;</li>
<li>Alaska Airlines: &#8220;Face masks have been like boarding passes for nearly two years — you couldn’t fly without one. But, as of today, masks are optional in airports and onboard aircraft, effective immediately. Due to a judicial decision in our federal court system, the mask mandate has been overturned, which means our guests and employees have the option to wear a mask while traveling in the U.S. and at work. While we are glad this means many of us get to see your smiling faces, we understand some might have mixed feelings. Please remember to be kind to one another and that wearing a mask while traveling is still an option.&#8221;</li>
<li>JetBlue: &#8220;In line with Monday’s federal court ruling and the Transportation Security Administration’s guidance, mask wearing will now be optional on JetBlue. While no longer required, customers and crewmembers are welcome to continue wearing masks in our terminals and on board our aircraft. Regardless of the U.S. rule change, customers and crewmembers who are traveling internationally should always have a mask with them in case they continue to be required at their destination.&#8221;</li>
<li>Spirit Airlines: &#8220;Face coverings are now optional for Spirit Team Members &amp; Guests onboard our flights following the federal court ruling and TSA guidance. We understand some Guests may want to continue wearing face coverings on flights, and that&#8217;s perfectly fine under our optional policy. For our Guests traveling internationally, please remember to check country-specific airport requirements before traveling.&#8221;</li>
<li>Frontier Airlines: &#8220;To mask or not to mask, the choice is yours. Masks are now optional on domestic flights, however, certain airports or countries may still require masks, so check the policy at your destination prior to departure and we&#8217;ll see you in the sky.&#8221;</li>
</ul>
This report has been updated to include additional responses from several airlines.

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Major U.S. Airlines Each Reveal If They Will Continue To Enforce Biden’s Mask Mandate

Mask Mandate

Southwest Airlines

Update: United Airlines released a new statement after the publication of this story saying that masks are no longer required on flights. 
Two major U.S. airlines have announced that they will continue to enforce Democrat President Joe Biden&#8217;s mask mandate on public transportation despite a federal judge ruling on Monday that the mandate was &#8220;unlawful&#8221; and that it must be &#8220;terminate[d].&#8221;
&#8220;Both United and American Airlines tell @ABC they will continue to require masks on board aircraft for customers and employees, &#8216;despite the decision by a federal judge on Monday that struck down the federal mask mandate&#8217; as they await on more guidance from the US government,&#8221; The Denver Channel, a local ABC News affiliate, <a href="https://archive.ph/VceGA">tweeted</a>.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
NEW: Both United and American Airlines tell <a href="https://twitter.com/ABC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ABC</a> they will continue to require masks on board aircraft for customers and employees, &quot;despite the decision by a federal judge on Monday that struck down the federal mask mandate” as they await on more guidance from the US government.
&mdash; Denver7 News (@DenverChannel) <a href="https://twitter.com/DenverChannel/status/1516169901202763784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 18, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
After the publication of this report, United released a new statement saying, “Effective immediately, masks are no longer required at United on domestic flights, select international flights (dependent upon the arrival country’s mask requirements) or at U.S. airports.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
NEW FROM UNITED AIRLINES: “Effective immediately, masks are no longer required at United on domestic flights, select international flights (dependent upon the arrival country’s mask requirements) or at U.S. airports.”
&mdash; Pete Muntean (@petemuntean) <a href="https://twitter.com/petemuntean/status/1516184179570057226?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 18, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The announcement from the two airlines comes after U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle for the Middle District of Florida <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-federal-judge-in-florida-voids-bidens-national-mask-mandate-at-airports-planes-public-transit">ruled</a> earlier in the day that the mandate was unlawful because the mandate “exceeded the CDC’s statutory authority, improperly invoked the good cause exception to notice and comment rulemaking, and failed to adequately explain its decisions.”
The ruling said that Court declared the mandate to be unlawful because “our system does not permit agencies to act unlawfully even in pursuit of desirable ends.”
“The Court DECLARES UNLAWFUL and VACATES the Mask Mandate, remanding it to the CDC for further proceedings consistent with this order,” Mizelle ordered. “The Court directs the Clerk to TERMINATE President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., as a Defendant to this action, to ENTER final judgment in favor of Plaintiffs as prescribed in this order, and to CLOSE this case.”
Numerous top Republican politicians <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/republicans-weigh-in-after-florida-federal-judge-rules-biden-mask-mandate-unlawful">praised</a> the ruling from Mizelle, who clerked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and was appointed to U.S. District Court by former President Donald Trump.
“Great to see a federal judge in Florida follow the law and reject the Biden transportation mask mandate,&#8221; Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) wrote on Twitter. &#8220;Both airline employees and passengers deserve to have this misery end.”
“Great news—a federal judge struck down Biden’s stupid transportation mask mandate,&#8221; Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) tweeted. &#8220;This is a win for common sense and a crushing loss for the Democrats’ obsession with forcing Americans to wear masks forever. Also, why wasn’t Biden wearing a mask as he followed the Easter Bunny around the White House lawn? Biden will be 80 in a few months—if he thinks masks are necessary, he should wear one.”
This report has been updated to include additional information after publication.

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Two Major Airlines Announce They Will Ignore Court Ruling Ending Mask Mandate [UPDATED]

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