Pilots of both the Blackhawk and the Commercial Plane were white men

[milestogo]

so how is DEI responsible for the crash?

https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/local/2025/01/30/dc-plane-crash-mississippi-man-helicopter/78057618007/

https://www.fox5dc.com/news/pilot-american-airlines-jet-crashed-near-washington-dc-had-georgia-ties

[elleng]

1. It's not.

Thank you.

[meadowlander]

2. I suppose it's not too late to insinuate that one of them was trans or autistic.

[milestogo]

3. I think its too late for TSF to eat his words.

What an idiot.

Not that it would matter what race the pilots were; it just shows that he will use a tragedy to push his ideology.

[rampartd]

5. they usually post articles like these about every school shooter and such

usually bull shot

[albacore]

6. Some fairly trustworthy sites confirm this. Brace for projectile word-vomiting by the MAGA crowd. nt

[obamanut2012]

33. Zero trustworthy sites posted this

Jo Ellis is alive.

[Wiz Imp]

41. Trustworthy sites? Anyone reporting this in NOT trustworthy. @Fakegaypolitics is an anti-LBGTQ+ hate account.

https://www.newsweek.com/washington-dc-plane-crash-jo-ellis-trans-helicopter-pilot-wrongly-named-2024149

Who is Jo Ellis? Trans Black Hawk Pilot Wrongly Named in DC Crash

transgender soldier has spoken out after being incorrectly named as one of the Black Hawk helicopter pilots involved in the collision with an American Airlines plane in Washington D.C on Wednesday.

"Some craziness has happened on the internet and I'm being named as one of the pilots of the DC crash," Ellis wrote on Facebook on Friday.

"Please report any accounts or posts you see. It's insulting to the victims and families of those lost and they deserve better than this BS from the bots and trolls of the internet."

Newsweek has contacted Ellis for further comment on Facebook.

[albacore]

47. Yup...

https://www.newsweek.com/washington-dc-plane-crash-jo-ellis-trans-helicopter-pilot-wrongly-named-2024149

[Jacoby365]

8. It's fake for sure.

[obamanut2012]

34. It is, CW Elliis has poated on her FB

[ExciteBike66]

12. If this is true then trumps EO about trans people in the military might have added stress about her career

Thanks trump

[mahatmakanejeeves]

15. That's from @FakeGayPolitics, and you're a spammer.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219965685#post54

[Cobalt Violet]

19. Wrong! It was Andrew Eaves.

[choie]

26. Better hope you're not a troll.

[obamanut2012]

32. This is a fuckibg scurrilous lie and you need to be mirted

Started on Twitter by haters. Jo Ellis has posted on social she is alive and well.

You are spreading hate.

You have three posts and this is one of them.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

37. I think you should delete this

because it's bullshit.
Jus sayin'.

[marmar]

38. Trolling much?

[MarineCombatEngineer]

39. Welcome to DU

hope you enjoy your stay.

On edit: that was quick.

[Aussie105]

9. I don't quite see the link between someone's competency as a pilot

and who they are as a person.

Can someone explain the link in terms of unemotional logic that I can follow?

Mistakes were made, there is no doubt.
By whom, is as yet undetermined.

67 people are dead, speak no ill of the dead! (One fuTure exception of course!)

[benfranklin1776]

10. Excellent find!

Thanks for providing an excellent truthful smackdown to TSF’s senseless factless regurgitation of racist vile bullshit. 👏🏼👏🏼

[iluvtennis]

11. Yes, the two articles offer informative data on the lead pilots from both the

American Eagle plane and the military helicopter. And the info provided is from their family members.

[John1956PA]

13. One news report indicates the helicopter pilot was female.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/army-black-hawk-crew-involved-in-dc-crash-made-up-of-top-pilots/ar-AA1y91JU

The report indicates that the instructor was a male with over 1,000 hours of flight experience. The report further states the pilot, who was undergoing evaluation skills, was a female.

Koziol confirmed to reporters on a conference call that the male instructor pilot had more than 1,000 hours of flight time, the female pilot who was commanding the flight at the time had more than 500 hours of flight time, and the crew chief was also said to have hundreds of hours of flight time.

[obamanut2012]

28. The crew chief was a white male

He was in charge of the helo.

[yagotme]

48. So, the crew chief tells the pilot where to fly?

I believe you misunderstand the role of the crew chief...

[progree]

14. "severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions ... hearing and vision

Last edited Fri Jan 31, 2025, 07:19 AM - Edit history (1)

issues, as well as paralysis, epilepsy and 'dwarfism.' "

There isn't anything in his statement that I've seen that include race, color, gender, or LGBTQ ... in the articles I've seen. Granted, DEI is a huge dog whistle, in that many people immediately associate Black and gender and quotas when they hear the DEI word.

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2025/01/30/npr-without-evidence-trump-blames-faa-diversity-initiatives-for-the-crash

Trump blamed former President Joe Biden's administration for encouraging the Federal Aviation Administration to recruit workers “who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative.” He added that the program allowed for the hiring of people with hearing and vision issues as well as paralysis, epilepsy and “dwarfism.”

dwarfism. Hmm

The FAA’s diversity efforts aren’t new. Before Trump’s administration removed them from the agency’s website this month, they were promoted there since at least 2013, including during Trump’s first term in office. Substantially similar language about seeking candidates with disabilities was on the site during both Biden’s term and Trump’s first term, according to snapshots from the Internet Archive.

Edited to add, Please see #18 below on Washington Post's fact check on DEI in the FAA - "Trump launched air controller diversity program that he now decries"

[progree]

18. Just now a post in LBN - a Wapo fact check on the history of DEI in FAA

Last edited Fri Jan 31, 2025, 10:57 AM - Edit history (1)

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143384977
WaPo free with no requirement to sign in: https://archive.is/nmBrL

Trump launched air controller diversity program that he now decries
At news conference, Trump read a list of disabilities he calls disqualifying, but his administration started such hiring in 2019

...

For air traffic controllers, the Obama administration in 2013 instituted a new hiring system that introduced a biographical questionnaire to attract minorities, underrepresented in the controller corps. The program was criticized, such as in a Fox News report in 2015, as making it harder for more skilled applicants to get hired as controllers.

But Trump, in his first term, left the policy in place, . . .

Moreover, the FAA under Trump in 2019 launched a program to hire controllers using the very criteria he decried at his news conference.

. . .

The link under “targeted disabilities” is now dead, but the Wayback Machine retains links from June 2017 and January 2021 that show the page was unchanged during Trump’s tenure. The list included:
Hearing (total deafness in both ears)
Vision (Blind)
Missing Extremities
Partial Paralysis
Complete Paralysis, Epilepsy
Severe intellectual disability
Psychiatric disability
Dwarfism

much more interesting fact checks in linked article

Edited to add a couple paragraphs to clarify that while diversity initiatives didn't start under Trump, it was under Trump that the FAA "launched a program to hire controllers using the very criteria he decried at his news conference."

[Ms. Toad]

31. He didn't launch it, but he didn't reverse The Obama era policy. n/t

[progree]

42. I edited my #18 to add a couple paragraphs to clarify that while diversity initiatives didn't start under Trump, it was

under Trump that the FAA "launched a program to hire controllers using the very criteria he decried at his news conference."

So it's a little more than just passively leaving the Obama program in place.

[meadowlander]

44. That's Trump's garbled, misinformed version of hiring initiatives for autistic people.

Autism is not synonymous with intellectual disability and is not a mental health condition. Many autistic people have neurological differences that allow them to perform better than average neurotypical people in some areas and spatial reasoning, visualisation, and organisation is a well-known one of these. For example, Temple Grandin can recreated 3D models of spaces in her head with spooky levels of detail and accuracy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_Grandin

I have something similar applied to architecture, interior design and spatial planning.

Lots of autistic people also aren't easily rattled or prone to emotional outbursts, wouldn't be distracted by chit chat around the office, and can hyper-focus on a task for hours at a time which would all be beneficial for that role as well.

So who knows, many successful air traffic controllers are already probably on the spectrum and it makes sense to hire people who are actually better than neurotypical people at the job itself as long as they can manage the stress and other work demands.

[BoRaGard]

16. G.O.P. Felon begs for mercy for lying to America

Sure

[claudette]

20. Dumpy lied

So what’s new about that?

[Harker]

21. It wasn't a White Hawk helicopter. n/t

[malaise]

22. Because Donvict knew he would be held responsible

and nothing is ever his fault so blame the blacks and the women.

Eff his EOs.

[Tickle]

24. It's being blamed on air traffic control

Supposedly, Air traffic controllers are dei hires. I just want to give up

[Emile]

25. Only one thing is for certain, Trump never takes responsibility

when something bad happens on his watch.

[NCDem47]

30. For someone who projects all power and knowingness as President

He sure does shoulder shrug and deflect when any federal government agency comes under the microscope in a crisis.

[Voltaire2]

27. The assumption that people who aren't white men

are inferior is contained in that question.

[Red Mountain]

29. Even if everybody involved was a white, hetero, christian male

They'll pivot to saying yes, but DEI initiatives brought down standards and caused this.

You can't win the argument.

[boston bean]

35. Passengers on the plane maybe? Their lives worth less in his sick and twisted mind.

[AnnaLee]

36. The voice from the traffic controller

The voice from the traffic controller that was communicating with both the helicopter and the plane was male. No way to insist he was white straight male but probably was.

[Ping Tung]

43. When will Trump & Elon announce the establishment of Aryan Airlines?

Which will only allow certified White people to fly to certified White destinations. (Except when Certified Aryan troops are sent to establish new Aryan Only countries.).

[moondust]

46. aka Luftwaffe

[Mountainguy]

45. The ATC was a

Trans man pacific islander feminist with a club foot.