Originally Posted by
FollowMe
If you can’t recognize that a white middle class or above male has a distinct advantage in attaining a pro pilot career than you are looking through rose colored glasses.
White middle class+ has an advantage in getting the early education (and staying out of trouble) which is the necessary foundation to progress to many "higher end" careers, including aviation.
I'm all for helping disadvantaged kids build the foundation
Originally Posted by
FollowMe
Does that mean that a white middle class male is less deserving of an opportunity? Of course not, but they don’t need any extra help to get them to the “competitive” line. A little bit of empathy will go a long way in understanding the situations of those not so fortunate as yourself.
But the problem with affirmative action in airline hiring is that it's ONLY available to people who have already acquired the foundation...
A non-white/non-male junior regional CA or senior regional FO with a college degree and 5000 hours is not at any sort of disadvantage whatsoever, even though he have may climbed out of a pretty deep hole to get where he is. At the point where you are even remotely competitive for a major, the disadvantage is all behind you.
At that point it's just a very cynical effort on the part of the majors to put numbers on the board and have faces they can put on posters.
With women it's even worse... there's only a "shortage" in aviation because most young girls are not interested in airplanes, and many that are might not be interested in the lifestyle (most of the ones I started out with dropped out over the years to be home for their kids, either left completely or delayed career progression to retain seniority in seat). If there really is some sort of shortage crisis of women (maybe just because they need every new pilot they can get), they need to do outreach in JH, HS, and college. As it is now it's just all the bigs scrambling to scoop up the limited number available. Even a legit early outreach program may be pounding a square peg into a round hole, but I'll leave that choice up to the pegs in question.