The Full Story of the FAA’s Hiring Scandal
On New Year’s Eve, 2013, after years of furtive work, the FAA abruptly threw a grenade into its air traffic control hiring pipeline.
Moranda Reilly always wanted to work in aviation. She read books on aviation heroes, watched air disasters, she listened to live air traffic control in her car. Around her neck, she wore an airplane necklace, a gift from a friend that she’d mended repeatedly. In her 20s, she elected to take the plunge and do whatever it took to make it happen. She quit her full-time job, took out student loans, and moved to attend a university that offered a two-year degree as part of the FAA’s collegiate training initiative (CTI) for air traffic controllers.
The FAA had established its CTI program in 1989, working together alongside a select group of universities and community colleges to build a better-prepared, college-educated workforce. By the early 2010s, when Moranda and other aspiring air traffic controllers entered the program, CTI was the primary way by which people would enter the field, with the FAA accepting virtually no off-the-street hires. On its website, the FAA instructed aspiring air traffic controllers that if they got CTI degrees, passed the profession’s aptitude test (the AT-SAT), and met other eligibility requirements, it would place them into a priority hiring queue, giving them first opportunity every time employment slots opened up. Students understood that the FAA hired virtually everyone who completed the program and passed the assessment.
As the CTI program ramped up with increasing success in the mid-2000s, Florida State College of Jacksonville applied to join, and in 2008, Sam Fischer launched their program. By 2013, he had settled into a comfortable rhythm, training wave after wave of successful students.
Andrew Brigida, a 2013 graduate from Arizona State’s CTI program, had just aced the AT-SAT, getting perfect marks while meeting all other job requirements. He was fully qualified, poised to become an air traffic controller.
Then, on New Year’s Eve, 2013, while students and professors alike were out for winter break, the FAA abruptly sent an announcement to the presidents of the CTI schools. The announcement came, without warning, as an email from one Mr. Joseph Teixeira, the organization’s vice president for safety and technical training. “The FAA completed a barrier analysis of the ATC occupation pursuant to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) Management Directive 715,” the email read,1 then went on to spell out some changes:
First, every past aptitude test applicants had taken was voided. Andrew Brigida’s perfect score was meaningless.
Second, every applicant would be required to take and pass an unspecified “biographical questionnaire” to have a shot at entering the profession.
Third, existing CTI students were left with no advantage in the hiring process, which would be equally open to all off-the-street applicants—their degrees rendered useless for the one specialized job they had trained for.
The rules had changed, and students and program managers alike were left scrambling to figure out what was going on.
D.E.I.
Didn’t. Earn. It.
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As someone who has a son who travels a lot for his job, this scares me shitless.
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Look, I know it would be rude, but it’s time to start ostracizing anyone in the workplace who has even the slightest hint of being a DEI hire.
If you’re not there because of skill, ability, knowledge, and competence, then you unworthy of respect from your peers. Employees should demand to be judged only by their own merit and the content of their character.
That’s the single biggest problem with DEI. There are a great deal of people, male and female, and of all races and creeds, that work hard and actually do deserve the positions they have, thanks to this crap they’re all looked on with scorn and suspicion.
The “soft” racism of lowered expectations. Quite possibly the most evil and vile form of racism there is.
It is the worst.
Many qualified and competent people are now painted with the DEI brush. Until DEI is utterly destroyed, and meritocracy returns, how can anyone not be suspicious.
Precisely this. Even the highly qualified who did it the right way and put in the work have to put up with the stigma merely by having a particular colour of skin.
The female pilot in the recent DC crash is a perfect example.
My daughter in law has a PhD from Stanford in a hard biological science. She is a woman ovvvvvv culllller. Every DEI hire and promotion undermines her legitimate achievement. And she came out of “the LBC” … the ghetto. To a wonderful mixed race mom and dad. She overcame … with discipline and scholarship.
I have three daughters. I don’t want them to be employed because they’re women. I want them to be employed because they’re good at their job.
As with my one biological daughter, and mother of my two adorable grandsons … who puts my own work ethic to shame. Puts my parenting skills to shame. But we must have done something right? She came out this way.
How do you know she earned it? Is it possible she got inflated marks in high school, then was given preferential treatment to get into university, where she was given inflated marks then given preferential treatment to get into a PhD program? You don’t think Stanford didn’t go out of their way to recruit Women Of Color into hard science degrees? You think your daughter in law didn’t benefit from all of that when every other person of color did?
I have no doubt that she presented as a two-fer if not three-fer candidate initially. And I have no doubt she had minimal scholastic competition at Long Beach High. But, after that it was ALL her. At UC Davis and Stanford. No grade inflation, no preferential treatment.
Don’t listen to what they say, watch what they do. Who was flying Joe Biden around on Marine One for four years? Was it a 28 year old “fearless” female with no combat experience and just 500 hours in the pilot’s chair or a couple of middle-aged, well-seasoned military men with almost 30 years under their belt each?
https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/article24596380.html
Go soldier, I’ll be right behind you.
The 28 yr old army pilot who had all her social media scrubbed before her name was released wouldn’t be flying in the marines
She was a lesbian that was assigned to the Squadron that flies VIPs around. There a picture of her with Biden she apparently had a bit of an activist streak. Could be bullshit but it sure does look like it. She was taking a proficiency flight. It’s probably a case of DEI right there in the USMC or the White House. Very important to have diversity in those VIP flights.
Have not taken a plane since TSA was established. Drive, sail, fly solo, or train. I have my pilot’s licence, I’ve seen the degradation of the entire system. There is a reason why there was an explosion (pardon the pun) of personal private jets.
Yes, but don’t private jets depend upon air traffic control?
Sorry to post off-topic, but SDA is again acting weird not allowing access unless my VPN (Surfshark) is paused.
Previously another person reported that his VPN worked fine. Is this something I should be reporting to Surfshark? or can SDA implement a permanent fix?
Thanks for this, Kate. It was a long read (especially with 93 comments attached) but well worth the time.
I have no dog in this particular fight but the article still angered me. Everyone from the FAA to CNN and the New York Times needs to be taken to task over this outrageous and deliberate discrimination that prioritized DEI over public safety.
I worked for a company that produced training simulators for ATC displays: working ERAMS STARS and CARTS displays that could be configured for real airspaces and airports with simulations or recordings of real air traffic.
I produced a bunch of sales material for this.
Naturally, demand fell off quickly in that market: they no longer list any ATC programs on their website. I have a bit of a soft spot for the company, because even though I was fired over vaccine mandates in early 2022, they still use my 3D illustrations and artwork in all their marketing materials – https://www.kongsberggeospatial.com/
I never fail to be amazed at how complex our world is … and all the different kind of jobs and technical skills there are. How amazing! And the fact you found something to do with your skills other than 3d map painting for Pixar is amazing!!!
How many generations (or years) after affirmative action is ended will a member of a protected class in a desirable position be thought to have earned it without preference?
I worked at a car company HQ for almost 20 years until retiring a little over a year ago. A few months before I left they had made an effort to begin hiring “trans” weirdos and oh lordy – did they regret it. Nothing but trouble. God forbid you misgender them for one. Everything upset them. An HR nightmare, but hey, it was their idea to hire them in the first place, so no sympathy from moi!
Racist Obama administration, no surprise there…
Remember that female RAF Wing Commander in charge of recruiting that quit because she was ordered to recruit only minorities? She thought it was illegal and immoral. We will see more, because the competant people that held the system together are retiring but also because the DIE hires are coming into positions of responsibility more and more.