Following the DELTA Toronto Crash Is it Fair to Speculate on DEI Hiring Practices for Pilots?

This one is going to be short, but I think it is important.

I’ve seen some speculation regarding the identities of the pilots of the Delta CRJ crash in Toronto. If what I’ve seen is true, one of the pilots is a female, and this has led some to bring up the subject of DEI and its influence over who is hired to fly.

I will go on record to say that I have over the course of my career flown with a number of female pilots. All were competent. Some were exceptional. Same as the men I flew with.

I don’t know what happened on this flight. If it was pilot error, that will come to light during the investigation. If more experience or training could have possibly prevented the accident, that too will come to light.

The facts I do know are these:

The old “Greybeards” are retiring. Younger pilots are coming on board. Some don’t have a lot of experience, but all do meet the minimums set forth by the Federal Aviation Administration.

The only way to get the experience is to go out and fly. Airlines already do it, but perhaps additional simulator LOFT (Line Oriented Flight Training) time should be allotted during recurrent training to cover unusual circumstances. That would provide more learning experience in a few hours than a pilot would typically get in a few months flying straight and level at cruising altitude.

This of course costs money. More simulator instructors. More paid training days offline for pilots. More time and more maintenance on the simulators. Maybe even the need for more simulators.

Airlines don’t like to spend money. That not only affects their willingness to pay for the additional simulator training I have suggested, but the pay scales for pilots as well. One of the main reasons major airlines own subsidiary airlines utilizing smaller regional jets is that they can do so without paying the employees - in this case, pilots - as much as they do at the major airline. That means that many pilots view these smaller carriers as stepping stones to their dream jobs flying bigger jets for bigger paychecks. Which in turn, creates turnover at the smaller airlines and requires them to hire and train new pilots. Round and round it goes.

Some, myself included, believe that increased pay scales would reduce turnover, which in turn would result in pilots staying longer and accumulating more experience while also freeing up simulators, instructors, and money to be used toward additional LOFT time.

The bottom line, and the main point of this post is, regardless of what the cause is determined to be for the DELTA Toronto crash, I don’t think we should be so fast to focus on DEI as long as the pilots had to pass the same training and evaluation as everyone else.

And a HUGE shoutout to the Flight Attendants who maintained their composure and did a professional job of getting the passengers out of that airplane. They don’t get the recognition and compensation they deserve.