Being a pilot is one of the professions where background, race, ethnicity, religion, etc should have absolutely NOTHING to do with selection. It shouldn't be asked, HR shouldn't be involved, and there should be an exception from all that equal opportunity stuff. It should be completely based on skill and experience as a pilot.

When I'm riding in the back of an airplane that has a serious emergency, I don't care what the pilots look like, I care that they're good pilots. I don't care if the airline's pilots are 100% white males or 100% black females, as long as they're good pilots. And neither should anyone else.