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It's extremely likely that it was a factor.
ATC hiring practices since the Obama administration have been engineered to promote the admission of unqualified candidates (which have a ~70% failure rate) and outright rejecting people who qualified due to having answers in preliminary questionnaires that are stereotypically "white" (and Asian). In fact it's pretty outrageous that this program gave basically no weight whatsoever to past experience as a military air controller or licensed pilot, to name two obvious examples. This was all happening while ATCs are so badly undermanned that even if they had hired all of the candidates who were known to be rejected due to their perceived race, they would still have been understaffed nationwide.
It's now publicly known (even though it's common knowledge in commercial aviation) that Reagan was running at about 2/3 staffing at the time of the accident. Therefore, the exclusionary aspect of the DEI hiring is absolutely a contributing factor before even addressing the actions of the individual controller. Without any kind of inside information, I have no reason to think that the controller is necessarily incompetent (see above that even though tons of people who weren't worth the time got into training slots, they still had to pass to actually get the job) - but if they were trying to do the job of two or more people by themselves, or didn't properly communicate with the helicopter in such a way to verify that they could see the correct airplane, then that's all it would take.
I haven't seen many bring this up either but I'll say it: the Blackhawk pilot, which by my understanding was an officer, almost certainly was NOT an expert, and was doing this flight to stay current and meet the minimum standards for the assignment. The lack of a second crew chief onboard is also strange for a night flight, because Blackhawk crews heavily rely on them for visibility to the sides. Night Vision sucks and is basically useless in a lit-up area like a major airport, but also causes a bit of tunnel vision when they are used, so in any case, there's a strong chance that the helicopter's visibility was suboptimal and/or they were looking at the wrong jet they were supposed to move after.
No evidence proves that the plane and helicopter crash was a direct result of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies. Donald Trump is merely using the plane and helicopter crash as propaganda to portray DEI policies as harmful to the United States, allowing him to score some cheap political points on behalf of his braindead followers.
The truth of the matter is that no matter how much Trump and the MAGA goofs attempt to argue such, people are not automatically unqualified for their positions simply because they were hired through DEI policies, nor are people automatically qualified for not falling under a DEI category for consideration. Considering that MAGA expounds upon race when mentioning DEI, please note that White people can be hired under DEI, as DEI covers women, veterans, low-income earners, and foreign immigrants from White-majority countries and lands, all of which can be—and often are—White people. Additionally, White people that are not hired through DEI policies can still be unqualified, as a person requires more than being White to possess the skills, talent, and experience to excel at a certain occupation. Only an irrational White supremacist akin to neo-Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan, and so on would believe that solely being White guarantees qualification for a job.
When hiring through DEI policies, employers mainly ensure that the most qualified candidates for the job are hired, regardless of the race, gender, sexuality, religion, veteran status, and/or immigrant status of the candidate. Ironically, one can argue that Donald Trump's blatant anti-DEI efforts he implemented in the short few weeks he's been in office contributed to the plane and helicopter crash. Shortly after taking office, Trump has fired the head of TSA, fired the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, frozen hiring of federal workers, which includes air-traffic controllers, and fired 100 FAA security officers. Reports also mentioned that, before the crash, only one air traffic controller was doing a job that normally requires two people. However, whether or not this is a result of Trump's many firings is not yet known.
While one can argue that it is simply too early to cast the blame on Trump for his current efforts, as his actions may require more time to take effect, Trump's actions can still be harmful in the long run if he doesn't implement a quick solution to fill the gaps.
With that being said, instead of DEI policies, the only known cause of the plane and helicopter crash is a simple but unfortunate miscommunication.
They only had 19 air traffic controllers working there instead of 30 which is what they are supposed to have.
Like was mentioned maybe the helicopter didn't even receive the traffic controllers message because the helicopter 🚁 and the airplane ✈️ were on different frequencies. 🤷🏼♀️
As far as DE goes I know that Biden didn't give a flying flip about America or Americans and didn't even ever talk about air traffic controllers. And if he did it wouldn't surprise me at all if he put blind people to do the air traffic controlling.
It isn’t a result of ‘DEI’. An air traffic controller handling the helicopter & airplane was doing the work of two controllers which could’ve contributed to the crash. “Unrelated” though worth mentioning from him as well, was Trump fired 100 senior FAA officials which could’ve contributed (not saying it did or whatever). I would advise waiting for the whole report to be concluded before pushing speculations of any kind. ‘DEI’ policy is unproven, just like the firing of 100 senior FAA officials is unproven to being linked to this particular incident.
Here is what I am 99.9% sure if the reports I’m reading are credible: Air traffic controllers apparently changed the long runway to the shorter runway not knowing the Black Hawk Helicopter was close by. The approaching Black Hawk was coming toward the river as the American Airlines Flight with 60+ passengers was making an approach toward the runway to make a successful landing. Air traffic talked to the helicopter 30 seconds before the crash asking if they saw the airplane, also to make a maneuver out of the way…. Then the crash happened leading to an explosion and tragically ended up in the river. It is my understanding that there were high winds and that the American troops flying the Black Hawk were well trained with thousands of hours on their belt.
Rest in peace to the 67 Americans lost in this tragedy and God be with their friends, family, and loved ones.
Opinion
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I just posted this same video to another thread on this. But here we go again. The crash simplified. In sane terms by a professional.
Very good video. Interesting that the Black Hawk had the CRJ visual from many miles out... thats an interesting tidbit. But the main narrative should be let the NTSB do its job.
@northerngal Agreed.
@RSav4013 Trump needs to educate himself first. Then comment. Something I don't think he has ever taken the time to do.
That press conference was a disgrace. Not just Trump but Vance and Hegseth. All three of them have no clue about what they are talking about. Imagine what it felt to the members of ATC who where working that night to hear your President and Cronies claim you are unqualified...
Apparently Mr. Trump has withheld important information from the public. I assume that everyone in the airport tower and the helicopter responsible for the crash were trans people. However, I don't understand why Mr. Trump doesn't want to publish this information. Maybe because it's NONSENSE?
It's because that information would make him look bad, since he's the one who caused this.
Do you want a pilot, flight controller, firefighter, soldier, doctor, nurse, ship captain, police to be given a job they are not qualified for due to DEI?
DEI never forced unqualified people to be hired. This is an issue of Trump firing 100 TAA senior personnel, and so the controller was doing multiple people's jobs at once.
@NimbleOcelot they didn't force but they certainly rewarded and pushed for it. Its like myself a reasonably able student academically but my math skill is low but DEI would allow me to pursue a career as an engineer or architect. I'm 5ft and I know I couldn't carry my boyfriend out of a burning building, I'm not suited to be a firefighter but DEI would allow me to be become one.
No it wouldn't. You'd still have to pass all the tests. DEI won't help you take tests.
@NimbleOcelot they litteraly watered down the tests required for DEI
Proof? In college, I take the same tests as the women and minorities. The only thing that was affected was getting into college in the first place, but everyone who graduated still had earned their degrees.
@NimbleOcelot yes but DEI meant you didn't have to do as well as everyone else.
No it didn't. They still have to pass, the same as anyone else. It only meant you didn't have to do as well in the entrance exams, and this was only because minorities needed this, due to the systematic racism that prevented them from doing so in the first place.
Just another moronic spewing of garbage from the King of Bullshit. He was the one who fired 12 supervisors, the head of TSA, gutted the budget, and froze the hiring of TCO's.
The buck NEVER stops at the head when it's Scump in charge -- it's always someone else's fault. Why was there only one traffic controller handling the entire DCA area that night? Budget cuts. Why was the military doing a training exercise, at night, in that area? You tell me. Why does credible video show the helicopter flying directly INTO the jet that was landing? You tell me, then tell me WHY there is no competent investigation ordered into it immediately? I'll tell you ----- because it's Scump, and he never takes responsibility for anything that goes wrong under his watch.
I don’t see any DEI impact on this incident so far. That said DEI puts us all at risk in many areas. The FAA ignored over 1,000 better candidates based on objective scoring in tests for Traffic Controllers and this is one of the things Trump was referring to as a problem, and it is!
Medical doctors and nurses at another area. Black doctors have the highest levels of malpractice suits against them. Obama though had those statistics taken down as they showed that disturbing fact years ago. Pilots, airline mechanics, EMTs, fire fighters like the obese lesbians who run LA Fire Department and told the media if a man is in a fire and needs to be carried out she couldn’t do it but HE got himself in the wrong place so that is on him.
DEI IS INDEED DEADLY.
It's because Musk threw a hissy fit that the director of the FAA wasn't approving his Space X flights as quickly as he wanted. To stop getting criticized and yelled at daily, he quit, and Trump didn't have the time or energy to look for or consider a replacement. Since Trump didn't do anything to try to keep him, it's really on Trump to deal with the fallout of this because the FAA can't do its job without leadership. This is why gutting federal agencies is a BAD IDEA, they exist for a reason, and the best way to discover what they do is not to get rid of them and see what happens.
I seriously doubt if DEI hiring policies had anything to do with this collision.
I tend to think that the pilot and crew of the Blackhawk were at fault.
However, when Trump read the FAA's web statement about DEI hires, it really made those policies sound insane.
Considering the state of air-traffic controllers, I would be surprised if they were not short-staffed during this incident. They have had problems problems finding enough people since forever and while realistically the hiring freeze Trump put in place had nothing to do with this incident in particular, it certainly does not help the situation further.
The FAA simply needs more bodies. I dont think they particularly care where they come from at this point, we are way beyond the point of being picky.
@Syntosi. Due to staffing shortages, the controller was tasked with the demanding dual responsibility of monitoring helicopter traffic while simultaneously directing arriving and departing aircraft on the airport’s runways.
The New York Times reported that per the FAA’s findings, the airport’s air traffic control facilities have been grappling with severe understaffing issues for years.
As of Sept. 2023, the facility employed only 19 fully certified controllers, falling significantly short of the targeted 30 controllers jointly established by the FAA and the controller’s union.
Thanks to DEI, more than 3,000 top-performing, motivated applicants who applied as air traffic controllers to the FAA lost out because they weren’t the right race.
Wut? That does not even make sense. The argument is that DEI prioritizes one over another based on race and such but I have never heard of someone making the argument hat NO ONE got hired because "they were not the right race".
I also looked into this a bit more and found a nice little timeline.
January 20: Trump fires FAA director
January 21: Trump freezes Air Traffic Controller hiring
January 22: Trump disbands the Aviation safety advisory committee
January 28: Buyout/Retirement demands sent to existing employees
January 29: First American mid-air collision in 16 years
January 31: Ambulance plane crashes after takeoff
This is NOT a good start for Trump as president and I fear it might herald things to come.
- One guy in ATC tower instead two like
- days before a landing aircraft had to break off landing attempt because another Blackhawk crossed restricted airspace in landing path of a runway.
- finally some Army idiot flow too high in restricted airspace and collided with passenger aircraft.
But Godemperor Trump sees DEI as main issue. While it's blatant violation of laws and procedures.
He's looking to place blame away from himself after firing all the aviation safety guys that keep the skies safe. He stated a reason that fits his political agenda regardless of the facts, he did this before the investigation fully got off the ground, without any facts to back up his statements.
My understanding is that the plane was doing everything correctly. The helicopter started lifting off without communicating to civilian airport.
This seems like it's more likely a case of people just making a mistake. I'll be interested to have a proper investigation.
There will never be a more vile, loathsome, depraved, unfit, opprobrious, irredeemable, racist, misogynistic, grotesque, pigheaded, megalomaniacal, narcissistic, self-obsessed, cruel, and vindictive bottomless disgrace to this nation or to humanity than Donald fucking Trump. What a disgusting human-being.
“What’s the site? The water? You want me to go swimming?”
This was Trump’s response when asked if he had visited the site of the deadly DC plane crash.
The very same ghoulish sociopath who said “it is what it is” when he was asked about 1,000 Americans dying a day from Covid.
Bodies were still in the water.
“You want me to go swimming?”
Fuck anyone who isn’t outraged by this shit.
Of course he says that. He gets to be racist and pass off blame to someone else simultaneously. He is a pitiful excuse for a leader to never take responsibility and constantly blame everyone else for everything while always obsessing about giving himself credit for things he had nothing to do with.
I got the sense from the news reports that Trump thinks it was DEI hired pilots (haven't actually heard what he said yet). However, I saw a documentary a few months back about the problem with DEI at the FAA; specifically air traffic controllers. So my money is on it being the FAAs fault.
not exactly said...
I agree that dei is dumb when what you want is top skilled... thats what he said.
caused by... don't know yet.
It's the result of an understaffed and overworked FAA: the kind of mismanaged and inefficient federal agency which trump and stupid republicans love to create out of functional ones.
My thoughts? President tRump also told people to drink chlorine bleach and eat horse deworming paste to cure Covid.
Sound like a guy anyone should be listening to?
if they were under staffed because of diversity aspirations he may be right air controller is a serious job
We don't know the reason for the collision, and won't until the NTSB releases its report, after its full investigation is complete.
Yes. 100% DEI. This wouldn't have happened if it was a White Hawk helicopter.
Not impressed with Trump's response here. People are suffering. Not a good look, Mr. President...
The A-block is all about this.
@FunkyMonkee My friend. You'll have to do better than this if you want to distract from reality.
Another plane crash a few hours ago.
www.youtube.com/.../wbzh03Etypk
@dustybiker2 Blah, blah, woof, woof, whatever!
We both know you're smarter than that.
@dustybiker2 Well, thank you but, what's the matter, YOU can't stand the truth, either?
Problem is the people believing his lies. It'll all come out in the end though.
@dustybiker2 Name some!
Funny how none of you EVER found any of the hundreds of lies Joe told you that you all blindly believed!!
Not claimed. He will wait for the FAA report. Is it possible along with other possible causes, yes.
We will not know for sure until it is investigated. I think that it is very likely.
We may find out who was responsible for the lack of tower operations. Have to wait and find out.
Seems like he's using this tragedy as a platform to push his agenda. It may be for the greater good (or may not) but it's unclear at this stage how much DEI has contributed to this instance.
I do feel he definitely jumping to conclusions on this one. It isn't the time to point fingers yet. As for when I watched stuff a out it we had no details yet when he made these allegations.
It shows only his lack of education and ability to manipulate.
This happened under trumps watch. But as usual he blames someone else. Coward
Diversity and inclusion are put in there to hide the equity part that nobody understands.
The pilots and the controller were all white men.
Yes it’s a result of DEI policies
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