DEI in Airlines Having Haunting Effect on Veteran Pilots: Many Afraid to Leave Co-Pilots Alone in the Cockpit
In a recent podcast with Tucker Carlson, veteran airline captain Sherry Walker expressed grave concerns regarding the impact of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) hiring programs on aviation safety. She claimed that these initiatives have compromised safety standards to the point were pilots hesitate to leave the cockpit for breaks, fearing that their unqualified co-pilots may take unnecessary risks or mishandle the aircraft. Walker’s comments were sparked by a broader critique of DEI practices that prioritize demographic characteristics over qualifications in hiring, which has become particularly contentious following a series of airline accidents attributed to inadequate pilot training and experience.
Walker highlighted that pilots are legally required to take rest periods during flights,yet many feel uncomfortable doing so due to the perceived incompetence of some DEI-hired co-pilots. This situation raises alarms about the qualifications necessary for high-stakes roles like aviation, where lives are at stake. The discussion touches on a wider debate about the consequences of prioritizing diversity over merit in various industries, drawing parallels with the challenges faced by South Africa after its shift to race-based hiring practices following apartheid, which Walker and others warn could lead to similarly dire outcomes in the United States.
Veteran airline captain Sherry Walker said the infestation of DEI hiring programs has eroded safety standards so much that some pilots are afraid to take a bathroom break for fear their unqualified co-pilot might crash the plane in their absence.
Walker, who has been a commercial airline pilot for nearly 35 years, made the alarming revelation to Tucker Carlson in a podcast that aired Monday.
Carlson said he doesn’t want a person who espouses irrational propaganda — such as gender is a social construct — flying his plane.
“That’s irrational,” Carlson said. “That’s what freaks me out. It’s irrational. So if you believe in something so irrational, I don’t want you flying my airplane. “
Walker replied, “I don’t want you flying next to me on that airplane because I have to get up on a 10-hour flight and go take a break or go to the bathroom. How are you going to behave when I’m not here?”
She continued: “We got pilots that are asking those questions right now. They’re saying, ‘I’m not comfortable leaving the flight deck.’”
Sherry Walker has been a commercial airline pilot for almost 35 years. She says DEI has so completely undermined safety standards that pilots are sometimes afraid to leave the cockpit for fear of what their co-pilots will do unattended.
(0:00) Why Are All These Planes Crashing?… pic.twitter.com/Fl5SNtRlmB
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) March 24, 2025
Walker said pilots are required by law to take a nap during an eight-hour flight, but some are afraid to take mandatory breaks because they’re terrified of leaving an unqualified co-pilot alone in the cockpit.
The public outcry against DEI hiring practices that prioritize a candidate’s race, gender, or sexual orientation above qualifications has become a flashpoint amid a series of deadly airline crashes.
Female DEI hire by Endeavor Air and Delta who was was at the controls of the plane, according to the new report. She had 1,422 hours of flying total, which is below the Federal Aviation Administration minimum to be a commercial pilot… pic.twitter.com/MOlbNXfdCn
— Isaac’s Army (@ReturnOfKappy) March 20, 2025
What do ya know? The FAA went on a DEI hiring spree, so much so an article was written about it 1/14/24.
Can you imagine what state this country would have been in if Kamal had one. America has dodged a huge bullet.#planecrash pic.twitter.com/XLmoMquVLT— Joyreaper (@joyreaper) January 30, 2025
It’s not unreasonable or bigoted to require that individuals who perform high-skill jobs, such as brain surgery or flying planes, be qualified — because people’s lives are at stake.
The left-wing crusade to sacrifice merit on the altar of “diversity” will not only kill people, but it will destroy civilization.
South African author Rian Malan — a white journalist who fought against apartheid — said the United States will crater into the same anarchy and poverty that infest his homeland if it keeps caving to toxic wokeness.
In his 2021 New York Post commentary “How ‘equity’ ideology plunged South Africa into inequality and chaos,” Malan recounted how white guilt destroyed his country.
He said the implosion began when South Africa replaced meritocracy with race-based hiring and slavishly catered to its black population to make amends for apartheid.
“Tendering for government business became increasingly pointless, because contracts were invariably awarded to black-owned firms, even if their prices were double, triple or tenfold,” Malan wrote.
For years, South African companies hired and promoted black workers “whether or not they brought anything to the table besides black skin,” Malan wrote.
He added: “Firms were also required to meet racial quotas in hiring and ensure that management was racially representative, meaning roughly 88 percent black.”
The eradication of standards for the sake of elevating “equity” decimated South Africa’s economy and led to a breakdown in society, Malan recalled.
Shocking videos show riots and looting across South Africa pic.twitter.com/akxCM3r0Eq
— Insider News (@InsiderNews) July 14, 2021
“Kill the Boer/White farmer” earlier Today. So much for Human Rights Day.. https://t.co/BBhKbiwJ9U
— Boer (@twatterbaas) March 21, 2025
“The economy stagnated, causing unemployment to surge to 11.4 million today, from 3.3 million in 1994,” he wrote.
“The upshot: utter misery for the underclass, doomed to sit in tin shacks, half-starved, watching the black elite grow fat on the pickings of equity laws and rampant corruption.”
This is the doomsday scenario the U.S. will face if we continue to bend the knee to destructive virtue-signaling.
DEI hiring practices must end, not only in aviation, but in all industries.
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