Does this seem like a good idea?

Our flight deck should reflect the diverse group of people on board our planes every day. That’s why we plan for 50% of the 5,000 pilots we train in the next decade to be women or people of color. Learn more and apply now: https://t.co/VbOFvFOksB pic.twitter.com/r0ScH6MQAJ

— United Airlines (@united) April 6, 2021

Social justice types told me on Twitter that this is not a problem, because it’s just a goal (quota) for the flight academy, not for hires. Everyone still has to pass the test! But my argument is not that people who can’t pass the tests will become pilots. It is that people who are minimally qualified, but not the best qualified, will become pilots. This is a trade-off: safety for social justice. Nothing the social justice warriors say can change that fact, and it makes flying on a United Airlines plane potentially more dangerous.

Being a woman or racial minority by itself is a not criterion that makes you more likely to be a skilled pilot with a strong safety record. If a good old boy system preferencing white males for their race or sex once existed, I am all for doing away with that — but not by preferencing a different race or sex. Race and/or sex should never be qualifications to be a pilot. It does not matter which race or sex you are favoring. Pilots, like brain surgeons and other occupations dealing with health and safety, ought to be peopled by the best qualified folks, period. I consider quotas immoral in all areas, but in these occupations they are dangerous as well.