Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has ordered commercial airlines across the United States to halt DEI hiring for pilots or face federal investigation and potential enforcement action.
Duffy said on Friday that the order, sent to airlines by the Federal Aviation Administration in the form of a mandatory ‘Operations Specification’ or OpSpec, was in accordance with one of President Trump’s early executive orders to restore merit-based hiring.
The Department of Transportation (DOT) didn’t actually provide any evidence that any airlines were hiring pilots through DEI initiatives, but Duffy said that rumors and allegations of airlines hiring based on race and sex had prompted the order.
The OpSec applies to 14 CFR Part 121 carriers, which, in layman’s terms, is any U.S. registered airline that operates regularly scheduled, commercial passenger or cargo flights.
The actual order is surprisingly simple and states: “The certificate holder shall ensure pilot hiring is exclusively merit-based to fulfil its duty to provide the highest possible degree of safety in the public interest.”
The FAA is using its powers under 49 U.S. Code § 44701(b) and (d), which allows the agency to prescribe minimum safety standards to enforce the order.
“When families board their aircraft, they should fly with confidence knowing the pilot behind the controls is the best of the best,” commented Duffy on Friday.
“The American people don’t care what their pilot looks like or their gender—they just care that they are most qualified man or woman for the job.”
Duffy added, “Safety drives everything we do, and this commonsense measure will increase transparency between passengers and airlines.”
Within a couple of weeks of Trump’s second term in office, the FAA announced that it was reversing a Biden administration decision that changed the name of an aviation safety publication system from ‘Notice to Airmen’ to ‘Notice to Air Mission.’
Commonly referred to as a NOTAM, the system is the primary method to provide updates to pilots about anything that may affect the safety of flight.
In 2021, the FAA adopted a recommendation from an external committee that had suggested changing the meaning of NOTAM to ‘Notice to Air Mission’ as part of a push to introduce gender-neutral language.
Other gender-neutral changes suggested by the committee included replacing ‘repairman’ with ‘technician,’ ‘airman’ with ‘aviator,’ and ‘manmade’ with ‘manufactured.’
Around the same time, the Biden administration stopped using the ‘cockpit’ and replaced it with ‘flight deck.’
Last September, Trump congratulated Delta Air Lines for its decision to ban two ‘woke’ references in its operations manuals.
The Atlanta-based carrier’s manuals now refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, and NOTAMs are now officially known as Notice to Airmen.
Internationally, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) still refers to the Gulf of America as the Gulf of Mexico.
Anyone know the Ops Spec number? I’d like to see it
N_8900.767
So only white pilots can be hired
Didn’t read that. Perhaps you can tell me exactly where that wording exists?
You know exactly what he’s talking about.
You have to understand how modern racism works. Everybody knows that blatant racism is unacceptable. What is acceptable is to call into question the credentials and/or ability of anyone who can be shoved under the rubric of “DEI” hire. That fundamentally means that the hiring of women or brown skinned people is going to be assumed to not be because of merit.
If you read it it says only the most qualified pilots. Whare did you get only white pilots out of that ?
They only say dei to question credentials of non white pilots. Read between the lines. We
If only white males get most of the jobs then its difficult to say a woman or people of color will not be considered due to lack of experience. DEI is not and never was a method of hiring a person with less experience. Of course if you are against DEI then one could use the argument that Pam Bondi and Kristi Noem are DEI hires.
I guess that means there will be less Caucasian pilots since it’s a substantiated fact that POC and Women work and learn 4x as hard to get a position based on “meritocracy.” If only Caucasian males are going to be considered/hired, then expect a lot of almosts, incidents and accidents. IMO
DEI is one of the most racist programs to exist. Hiding behind the woke agenda. It’s disgusting. I could care less about color or gender, especially when it comes to my life. Like doctors and pilots. If you have a policy that says you have to hire people because of gender or race then it’s blatant and clear they will not all be qualified. Would you get the qualified person to hold your life in their hands or joe shmo off the street that has no clue because they are colored or female. I want someone that knows what they are doing. It’s pretty simple. Color or gender has nothing whatsoever to do with what you know.
If you ha
ve 10 experienced and equally capable pilots you hire the five white males and not consider the non whites or females because that’s DEI
That is just plain idiotic. All pilots (or all doctors, to use someone else’s example) have to pass the same exams and meet the same standards in order to be licensed. POC, women, or whomever has a license should be considered. You know that under this ruling, they will question every person who is not a white male and call it DEI. Don’t be so obtuse.
Judging by the article, I would say that Trump will favour airlines that hire mainly white male pilots.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Trump forced airlines to get rid of male flight attendants.
No, that is not what it means. Frankly, I don’t care what color your skin is I want a pilot who is qualified. I really think you do too if you getting on. Racism is a hateful sin and I think God will judge it. Wish you a great day.
Nop, just the best, doesn’t matter colour and sex. But if you need cover a percentage from ethnic or sex reason, it’s not the best.
Yes u idiot!
Is Duffy saying that there are pilots now flying who are not qualified? If so, what action has he taken to remove them from the cockpit? I assume he has taken no action whatsoever. Probably because it is really hard to fake knowing how to fly a commercial jet. Unlike being president.
Sean-boy needs to worry about shooting lasers at party balloons.
Actually, laser pointers are becoming more and more a problem.
Something tragic is going to happen one day.
If airlines are again hiring based on merit, this order has no effect. But if they were retaining DEI hiring practices, it endangers the public so this order is fair warning and opens noncompliant airlines up to more trouble than they ever wanted.
Now if an airline hires a minority they will have to show that they were way better than a white male pilot because if it’s even close the current admin will argue the minority is a DEI hire
This is such BS. In 1979 while working for C&P telephone co. I was promoted to a position of pbx installer which paid $10 more a week. After about 8-9 months I had to train a black man who was hired off the street at my same rate of pay. It took me 10yrs. to get there. Does anyone on this post think that is fair? This individual and I became good friends and he really didn’t agree with it either but he took what was offered. So think this DEI BS is new
DEI doesn’t mean hiring unqualified crew. The most unqualified people hired by the American people are those in the regime in D.C., and that is endangering the public every day.
Your TDS is showing.
This is a phony fix to a nonexistent problem. Please list all of the plane crashes or even near misses due to unqualified pilots being hired due to race or gender requirements.
You have to be a person with brown skin to understand DEI. I’m a veteran of 3 wars and 4 deployments. This is almost like the 60’s and not the country I protected.
Retired 0-4, 76-94. I’m feeling the same. I was commissioned just after they de-segregated women, but heavily restricted in career paths.
When I retired, CSAF told Congress women would not fly fighters, because.
Shortly after, Jesus and MBAs subsumed the Officer Corps, to the point where they walked into Afghanistan.
From time and distance, things did not go well. Reliance on SO has its dangers, due to the paradox between the need for doctrine and the rejection of doctrine in asymmetrical warfare.
Relying on SO as doctrine tends to weigh strategic planning and resourcing in favor of “special” missions.
I’m sure relying on “special” white men will result in a unbeatable force. For the first time since WWII.
Good point. But we don’t want to wait for it to happen either. Training and abilities are a must for safe air travel. Especially if I’m on the plane 😜
I does not because DEI doesn’t mean they aren’t qualified. It means that they aren’t discriminated against for their name or other reason. DEI removes identifiable information to remove discrimination. Stop with the Charlie Kirk B.S. He didn’t even have an associate degree. How can he say who’s qualified to fly or not? Tuskegee Airmen proved yall wrong. Now stop with the BS.
Charlie Kirk was God.
For all the airplane crashes that has happened in history. None of the planes were piloted by a person of color or a woman
That’s a mighty sweeping statement, Amanda, and demonstrably false. Right off the top of my head I can name three each accidents with women and with black men at the controls. That said, these were not pilot error accidents, and not reflective of their ability or lack of it. If you dig into the statistics you will find that that the accident rate for female and minority pilots is well below their percentage of representation on the flight deck. In my years of flight instructing I found that women and persons of color tended to work harder, learn faster, and retain their skills better than your average white male flyboy. They had to, as back then the cards were stacked against them and they knew it.
Too bad people in this administration are worried about such petty language. Airliners have been the safest for years. We certainly dont need miller ad trump pouring through any manuals and changing such insignificant language. I guess this administration has nothing better to do! Oh and how about putting time and effort into the epstein files!! And its still Gulf oo Mexico!
But you probably had no issue with the Biden admin changing NOTAM to Notices to Air Mission, or other given examples of the admin “pouring through manuals and changing insignificant language” right? The sheer hypocrisy, and you probably don’t even realize it. 🙄
Meh. Bidens trying to include females. This guy dog whistling ass if brown people don’t have to pass all the same requirements.
Surely you can see how those aren’t the same?
Made up nonsense by Nathan for 500 Alex…
Delta calls it The Gulf of America? Last time I fly with them. I refuse to patronize any company that toes this administration’s silly lines
Love this. Thank you President Trump 🙏 ❤️
They have to pass all the same tests. The standards are the same for everyone. You love dog whistles….
I love Trump!
ALL racist love Donald Epstein and Jeffrey trump
I would much rather fly safe than with DEI
🦬💨🧠💩
LoL 😂
They all have to pass the same tests. It’s the same rules for all. So you’re saying you don’t trust equally qualified brown people.
Do you even know what DEI means? It means that companies look in non traditional places for QUALIFIED candidates from a group that has been historically overlooked . Sorry if that offends you.
Exactly. The exact same standards must be met or they don’t fly
So you just apply to be a pilot? It takes thousands of hours of flight to qualify That’s why so many are military. That’s the only way to get the hours. Duffy is stupid if he doesn’t know that
So you want only people who invented the language and the test to be hired. Those who also teaches the test to its kids and give them every answer so that they can pass the test to be hired. Then you wish to call them smart, intelligent. What about the people who has wisdom and knowledge and understanding that these invented language, test taught people don’t have; wisdom is greater than any worldly intelligence. Say it ain’t so.
A FAA test scores doesn’t know or care what color, or gender, you are, there is a passing standard score both in a written test and a practical ( meaning a flight test). If you can’t pass all of the many tests including flight tests which are more than one, with proficiency. YOU ARE NOT PILOTING A PLANE PERIOD. So all the talk of DEI is not in for the ability of person but for the fainess in the hiring processes. Let me also remind you that the most decorated fighting pilots is the Tuskegee airmen all black Americans.
Let the airlines hire who they wanted, which should be the best qualified. I want the best pilots flying those planes and to feel safe.
Hard to stop something which never started. All pilots must pass the same tests and get the same certs and flying time before they can fly commercial. There are no dei hired pilots. Go find the dei requirements vs the non dei requirements. You will look for a long time because no such thing exists. This is more dog whistle bs
Website only allows a single comment while under moderation? Thats lame guys!
There is one set of tests and standards. If they become a pilot they passed the same things and got all the same credentials, did everything the same as everyone else. This is dog whistle nonesense.
Any white man in America that can’t capitalize on his existing privilege to the point of needing to tip the scales even more is a LOSER. Its embarrassing.
How to get rid is thy current DEI pilots is the next challenge
Sean Duffy is a classic DEI hire (Dumb, Entitled, & Incompetent).