The furore over the United Airlines announcement that they are trying to increase the size of their pilot talent pool by opening up opportunities to under-represented groups is both totally predictable and exactly why being a woman in aviation is SO DAMN TIRING. 1/

The main complaint is that “hiring for diversity” will deliver incompetent pilots.

Guess what everyone? Being a white male doesn’t make someone a superior pilot. Trust me, I know!

You know what does? Training. And that’s exactly what United is proposing to do. 2/

The truth is that for decades the only people who could access aviation training in large numbers have been white men. That’s why they dominate the industry. Not because they are somehow innately better pilots. 3/

The assumption that women and POC can’t or won’t meet the same training standards is straight-up laughable - as well as both sexist and racist.

Some of the best damn pilots I know are women and POC.

But they are few. To get more, we need to improve accessibility. 4/

What United is proposing to do is to remove some of the artificial barriers that have kept the talent pool restricted to mostly white men for decades and open it up.

That will result in having better pilots, not worse ones. Even if they don’t all look the same. End rant. 5/5

Listen to the man, people. He knows. Just like I know. From direct experience. https://twitter.com/hreczko/status/1379995503954386946