The Federal Aviation Administration is currently seeking to employ disabled or other \u201cspecial\u201d pilots and air traffic controllers<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has placed \u201cspecial emphasis\u201d on hiring employees with a \u201csevere intellectual disability\u201d and other serious conditions, and has tasked managers with skipping these candidates to the top of the queue for jobs, according to the agency\u2019s website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under its decade-old \u2018Diversity and Inclusion\u2019 program<\/a>, the agency, which regulates civil aviation in the US, \u201cactively recruits, hires, promotes, retains, develops and advances people with disabilities,\u201d treating these candidates to an \u201con-the-spot\u201d hiring process in which they do not have to compete with abler applicants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSpecial emphasis\u201d is placed on hiring candidates with \u201chearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism,\u201d the website<\/a> states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many of the open positions currently advertised on the FAA\u2019s website are open only to existing FAA employees, but out of 78 vacancies open to the public at present, 52 are listed as suitable for people with disabilities or other \u201cspecial\u201d characteristics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two of these vacancies are for the role of \u201cairplane pilot,\u201d while one is for an \u201cair traffic control specialist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The FAA\u2019s Diversity and Inclusion program has existed since 2013 and the web page explaining this policy was last updated more than a year ago. However, a report<\/a> by Fox News on Sunday triggered a discussion on social media and on Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAll I ask is that the FAA hire individuals based on who is most qualified for the position and who will best protect our airspace,\u201d Republican Representative Jeff Van Drew told the network on Monday. \u201cThat is the job of the FAA; it is not their job to be politically correct.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tech billionaire Elon Musk wrote on his X (formerly Twitter) platform on Monday \u201cJust had a conversation with some smart people [who] could not believe this is happening.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Musk has been a strident critic of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) policies in the aviation industry, pointing out last week that according to Boeing\u2019s corporate filings, the US aerospace firm has been paying bonuses to executives who could hit DEI targets since 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDo you want to fly in an airplane where they prioritized DEI hiring over your safety? That is actually happening,\u201d he wrote<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Airplane safety was thrust into international headlines when a door plug \u2013 a part of the fuselage installed to block off an emergency exit \u2013 in a Boeing 737 MAX 9 blew out in mid-air over the US state of Oregon earlier this month. After United Airlines discovered loose bolts on the door plugs of its own fleet of MAX 9s, all 171 of the aircraft operating in the US were grounded by the FAA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The agency\u00a0told Fox News that all candidates, regardless of disability,\u00a0\u201cmust meet rigorous qualifications that, of course, will vary by position.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n