The Federal Aviation Administration's diversity, equity, and inclusion policies led to a critical shortage of air traffic controllers, according to an attorney representing plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit.
More than 1,000 would-be air traffic controllers were removed from consideration due to DEI hiring targets suddenly being implemented, attorney Michael Pearson told the New York Post.
Pearson, a former air traffic controller and trainer, added the FAA's focus on DEI has resulted in a "gaping hole" in recruitment and a shortage of 3,800 controllers.
The lawyer said his clients were trained at FAA-approved institutions before they were placed in a direct hiring pool for air traffic controllers. But within months of graduating, they were informed by the agency they would need to pass a new "biographical assessment."
Pearson said the assessment awarded extra points to people with "no aviation experience" and "screened out" 95% of the previously qualified candidates he represents.
"The FAA basically decided the students were too white and the schools too elite, so in 2013 [under the Obama administration] knocked them off the preferred hiring list they had trained and worked hard to get onto — all because of their race," Pearson told the Post.
"They had the training and the passion and they were ready to be hired."
The FAA says the biographical assessment was "removed as a screening tool" in 2018, during the first Trump administration.
The agency's staffing practices became a national issue after everyone aboard an American Airlines jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members that collided with an Army helicopter over Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C., died Jan. 30. Three soldiers in the helicopter also died.
It was the worst U.S. aviation disaster in almost a quarter century.
"If the DC crash is determined to be linked to ATC fatigue or lack of awareness — it's directly related to DEI — President Trump was right about that," Pearson told the outlet.
"The FAA engaged in staffing suicide. It takes two to five years to train as an air traffic controller and a long time to get these people through. Losing them meant a gaping hole was left in the ATC talent pool."
Pearson said a simultaneous four-year near-freeze on air traffic controller hiring was also underway as the DEI policies were introduced.
"The FAA, because of DEI policies, stopped hiring for three to four years and that directly correlates to the lack of staffing, and controllers being overworked and getting fatigued and burned out," Pearson said.
The FAA and the Department of Transportation are fighting the class-action suit, which was filed in 2015. It’s scheduled to go to court early next year.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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