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One of things I find fascinating about producing this scruffy little blog is I occasionally get ahead of the media, sometimes far ahead.  A case in point is an article I did on the Federal Aviation Administration’s latest bit of DEI lunacy.  They’re trying to hire people with disabilities, among them, serious psychiatric issues.  That’s right gentle readers.  The FAA wants to hire crazy people as Air Traffic Controllers (ATC), and that’s not remotely all.

I’ve noticed over the weekend the media is finally waking up to what the FAA is up to, more than a month after I covered it.  Just to keep you updated, I decided to update that original article.  I hope you enjoy it!

Do you, gentle readers, want the smartest, most flexible and capable people possible in vital, public service positions?  For example, when you’re in real trouble, how smart and capable do you want the police officers responding to your 911 call to be?  As long as they’re really good at their job, do you care about their race or gender?  Do their sexual practices matter to you?

Did you know beginning police officers have to be able to multi-task on a level most never achieve?  They have to be able to drive, be totally aware of their surroundings, listen to and answer the radio, write notes, analyze other issues, think ahead, and that’s just while they’re patrolling.  Many recruits can’t do that.  Imagine the physical and cognitive skills they need for more demanding tasks.

As regular readers know, particularly in d/S/C ruled cities and states, they’ve chased those officers away, and can’t hire anyone, so they’re dramatically reducing the minimum qualifications for officers.  That’s necessary because sane, qualified people won’t go to work for places likely to prosecute them for doing their jobs.  It’s also necessary because such places are kookoo for Coco Puffs for DEI, which should more accurately be termed DIE.

As regular readers also know, for many years, police agencies across the country have been consciously hiring only people of average and below average intelligence. Why in the name of all that’s holy would they do that?  It takes about a year for a recruit to be sufficiently trained and experienced to be allowed to operate a patrol car alone.  Training is expensive, and police administrators fear if they hire people that are too smart, they’ll get bored and leave.  Really.  You don’t get many Columbos or Longmires that way.

Fortunately, when police officers really screw up, they usually only kill themselves and one or two others.  What, however, about air traffic controllers?  Not The Bee explains:

‘NYT publishes a new article about how a shortage of air traffic controllers is leading to dangerous mistakes. Meanwhile, some in the Federal Aviation Administration are pushing to lower standards for new controllers, like decreasing the importance of the AT-SAT standardized test and hiring more people with disabilities.

Don’t get me wrong here. People with audiovisual and cognitive impairments should have opportunities to live good lives and work fulfilling jobs. However, air traffic control is a profession that needs people that can stay mentally stable and able to see and hear things as clearly as possible. The FAA’s push for equity may have deadly consequences in the future.’

The New York Times story referenced in the tweet details how the shortage of qualified air traffic controllers is leading to poorer working conditions and to less qualified and competent people being hired.

‘There were at least seven reports of controllers sleeping when they were on duty and five about employees working while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The New York Times obtained summaries of the complaints through an open-records request.

Air traffic controllers, who spend hours a day glued to monitors or scanning the skies with the lives of thousands of passengers at stake, are a last line of defense against crashes. The job comes with high stakes and intense pressure, even in the best of conditions.’

Long story short, we’re about to see some totally avoidable air disasters soon.

But in 2019, the FAA let us know their priorities when it came to hiring air traffic controllers.

So this has been going on for some time?

Was it competence or ability? No. In fact, the desire for diversity meant that they were willing to lower competency requirements.

They want to hire people with “targeted disabilities?!”  Why?  

On the FAA’s website, the agency claims that people with ‘severe’ mental and physical disabilities are the most under-represented segment of the federal workforce.

Hmmm.  Might there possibly be good reasons such people are “under-represented?”  But let’s play along; what might those “targeted disabilities” be?

I’m hoping they intend to hire such people for jobs other than ATC.  Though why would they want to hire anyone with a “severe intellectual disability, “psychiatric disability” or “complete paralysis?!”  Hire the handicapped for jobs they can do, surely, but “severe intellectual disability?”  Has a prior refusal to hire certifiably crazy people as ATCs caused safety issues, or do they want to hire them because we haven’t had enough safety issues?  This is, after all, the Mummified Meat Puppet Administration (MMPA), which thinks an open border is a good thing.  By that measure, they’re probably perfect for federal jobs.  Before we discuss the issues, let’s give the FAA a chance to respond via their hiring website:

Diversity Takes Flight

Diversity is integral to achieving FAA’s mission of ensuring safe and efficient travel across our nation and beyond. Our inclusive culture is defined by our values and we continuously seek employees from all backgrounds with distinctive ideas, perspectives, insights and talents. As our NextGen technology and systems continue to evolve to meet the aviation challenges of tomorrow, so must our workforce.

So, wouldn’t this evolving technology and these NextGen systems require the people best able to use it, you know, the technologically best and brightest, the most intellectually and emotional stable?  As John Belushi used to say: “but noooooooooooo!”

Because diversity is so critical, FAA actively supports and engages in a variety of associations, programs, coalitions and initiatives to support and accommodate employees from diverse communities and backgrounds. Our people are our strength, and we take great care in investing in and valuing them as such.

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.

Just so long as they’re really sharp, stable and rational people, right?  Right?  Right?  Of course not.  And why is “diversity so critical?”  Is there any evidence hiring completely paralyzed and crazy people improves aircraft and air travel safety?  How many DEI boxes must be checked these days?  Must we have a black, female, lesbian, completely paralyzed, mentally ill ATC in every control tower?

Employee Associations and Special Emphasis Programs

The FAA takes great pride in ensuring that all employees are afforded the opportunity to connect with others who share a similar culture, background, identity, interest or goal. Our employee associations and Special Emphasis Programs serve to facilitate career development, formal and informal mentoring, diversity, inclusion and social interaction. The FAA supports the following groups, which are open to all FAA employees.

*FAA Pride — Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual Employees

*National Native American Alaska Native Coalition of Federal Aviation Employees (NAAN)

*National Hispanic Coalition of Federal Aviation Employees (NHCFAE)

*National Asian and Pacific American Association (NAPA)

*National Black Coalition of Federal Aviation Employees (NBCFAE)

*National Coalition of Federal Aviation Employees with Disabilities (NCFAED)

*Professional Women Controllers (PWC)

*Technical Women’s Organization (TWO)

*Special Emphasis Programs

*Federal Women’s Program (FWP)

*Hispanic Employment Program (HEP)

*People with Disabilities Program (PWDP)

How about the “Highly Competent, Sane, Sexually Normal, Non-Islamist Terrorist And Stable Air Traffic Controller’s Association (HCSSNNITSATCA)?”  Oh, there is no such organization, and the FAA wouldn’t recognize it if there were?

Final Thoughts:  Like police officers, ATCs have to be emotionally, mentally stable people.  They also have to be capable of an usually high degree of multitasking, and have to be able to think—fast—in three dimensions, translating what they see on a flat radar screen into three dimensional calculations.  They have to be able to think ahead, and keep the speed, altitude and instructions given to multiple aircraft in their heads, while constantly changing those parameters, and most of all, they have to do all this with 100% accuracy.  This means a high degree of general intelligence and high degree of specific abilities.

But the FAA’s priorities are…let’s review:

Diversity is integral to achieving FAA’s mission of ensuring safe and efficient travel across our nation and beyond. Our inclusive culture is defined by our values and we continuously seek employees from all backgrounds with distinctive ideas, perspectives, insights and talents. As our NextGen technology and systems continue to evolve to meet the aviation challenges of tomorrow, so must our workforce.

Keeping in mind that when an ATC screws up badly, hundreds can and will die, what are these people thinking?

What should be the priority of the FAA?  Diversity or hiring the most capable, stable people possible?  Imagine Joe average airline passenger faced with these choices for an ATC:

(1) A highly intelligent, capable and emotionally stable person of any race or gender whose every waking thought is not their deviant sexuality and how to force it on everyone else.

(2) A person less intelligent, capable and stable, but very diverse and able to check at least three DIE boxes.

Joe would surely chose #1.  The FAA would choose #2, but pretend they’re #1, except better because they’re diverse, which makes everything better.

But hey, what do I know?  I just want a reasonable chance of not dying when I take a flight.  The FAA?  Obviously not so much.

The problem is when diversity is the priority, it’s impossible to hire the very best people.  In fact, it’s imperative the best people aren’t hired.  It’s a binary decision: merit or DIE.  There is no “intersectionality”–see, I’m hip–between them.  There aren’t many of them–true excellence is rare–but there are loads of people able to check multiple diversity boxes, and no, they’re not better for being Native American female trans two spirit dog play practitioners with severe psychiatric problems.

Am I some kind of everything-phobe?  Nah.  When a job requires that the lives of others be held in the hands of the person holding that job, I’d like to be reasonably assured they’re the best possible person for that job.  If one of them happens to be lesbian, gay, black, whatever, that’s fine, but excellence and competence have to come first.  Every other concern must be a distant—very distant—second.  If not, Not The Bee is right, and we’re going to be seeing a great many planes coming down in flames.

I wonder why that doesn’t bother the FAA?

Oh. Right. MMPA. Department of Transportation. Pete Buttigieg.