Surviving Biden......
There is massive potential trouble ahead
As the Biden Administration continues to drag our country down the tubes, we must ask ourselves what we can do to survive another two years of the incompetence and corruption which has been its hallmark from the very beginning.
By recruiting and selecting high government officials based on race, sexual preference or any other factor than experience and competence in the field they will be administering, the Biden presidency is putting the citizens of this nation at risk. A classic example of that is who Biden or his handlers have chosen to head the Department of Transportation, and a vital branch of that, the Federal Aviation Administration.
In recent weeks and months there has been an alarming rise in runway incursions. That’s a fancy term to describe what can become a catastrophic event, two aircraft colliding on or above the same runway. The costliest airplane accident in history, in terms of the number killed, occurred on the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands on March 27, 1977. Five hundred and eighty-three people were killed when a KLM 747 collided with a Pan American 747 on a fog shrouded runway. It was a classic case of human error, and can happen again in the current environment.
The Biden Administration continues to appoint and promote officials based on a quota system. “Mayor Pete” Buttigieg was selected as the Secretary of Transportation. Nothing in his resume qualified him for that job. However, he was an openly gay man with a husband. Check that box and he’s in. Then Biden appointed Phil Washington to be approved by the Senate to become the next FAA Administrator. Again, no qualification for that whatsoever. However, he is black. Another critical factor in the Democrats mind. It would be racist not to approve him. Thankfully, after his obvious shortcomings were pointed out by Democrat and Republican Senators during the Senate confirmation hearings, he withdrew his name from consideration on Saturday evening.
Our airports and air traffic control system, which in the past were one of the worlds finest, have fallen into disarray. Technological advances such as modernized ground control radar and runway and taxiway lighting improvements have either not been installed or efficiently utilized. Runway incursions have been recorded from Honolulu, Hawaii to JFK International Airport in New York. What was once very rare is now becoming more and more common. Why is this happening?
One factor, and I believe the most important one, is WHO are the new hires for the airline pilots and air traffic controllers. “Woke” methodology has entered those fields as well. Because of a growing shortage of qualified candidates, standards have already been lowered.
Major airlines like United, Southwest and American are reportedly mandating that a very large percentage of all their new hire pilots over the next ten years must be either women or minorities, possibly both. Educational requirements, and minimum logged flight hours and required licenses have been slashed or eliminated. The HR departments are doing the hiring, with very little input from Flight Operations management. This is madness.
In the continued attempt to place equity before equality we are gradually going down a path which will inevitably lead to death and destruction. We shouldn’t have to worry about the skill level of the pilots when we board an airliner in this country, any more that we should worry about the competence of the surgeon when we are wheeled into the operating room. Both can end our life if they make a fatal error. We must never forget that. In the case of the pilots, no amount of automation insures our safety either.
As to the Department of Transportation. Its administrator must have a broad understanding of all areas he or she will control. It is obvious that Buttigieg does not. His focus on “racist” highways and bridges, instead of dealing with the alarming number of railroad derailments like the disaster In East Palestine, Ohio, and the near total breakdown in several air traffic control centers during his tenure in office, prove that point. He is constantly reactive, not proactive in his approach.
As to the previously nominated FAA Administrator. He is not a licensed pilot, something I believe should be a prerequisite for that position. You can’t efficiently fix something that is broken if you have never had to use the system. Anything beyond that is just theory. Mr. Washington’s only experience with any area of aviation was that he was CEO of the Denver International Airport, but only in charge of the “Land Side” of that facility. In other words, the parking lots, restaurants and terminal facilities prior to the security check points. The “Air Side” of the airport, which includes the gates, ramps, taxiways and runways, were someone else's responsibility, and that’s where the “rubber meets the road”.
Air traffic controllers are another group the FAA supervises. They don’t actually “control” anything, but rather partner with the air crews to make our skies a safe environment. The Pilot In Command of the airplane, whether it is a Cessna or a 747, can disregard a controllers instructions under the concept of “Emergency Authority”. This is rarely done, but sometimes the only thing which averts disaster.
Air Traffic Controllers are some of the most professional people I worked with during my long flying career. Basically imperturbable, they are trained to remain calm under the most trying of circumstances. Candidates for that job must be selected with that in mind. Race, gender or national origin don’t matter. Only the ability to do something that can be likened to what a pilot faces, which has been described as “Hours of boredom, punctuated by brief moments of stark terror!”
Likewise, it takes a special type of person to become a modern day airline pilot. You must learn the complexities of a cockpit space smaller than the average master bedroom closet, and although spending most of your time monitoring the progress of the flight while on autopilot, never lose your own situational awareness, being able to take over the controls instantly if something goes wrong.
Not everyone can do that. Again race, gender or nationality aren’t a factor in determining who can do the job.
In closing, I would observe that age doesn’t equal competency. Joe Biden is a classic example of that fact and has proven so many times since he took his current office. Maybe, some “Graybeards” like myself and others who survived years safely doing their jobs in aviation should be the ones who interview and select the next generation of airline pilots, and be actively involved in their training as well. The same applies to the applicants for Air Traffic Controllers. Retirees from that profession have a wealth of knowledge and experience to pass along.
None of that will happen of course until the current “woke” administration is replaced. For the welfare and safety of this nation, that can’t come soon enough. God grant that we will all be able to survive the Biden Administration unscathed.