The Federal Aviation Administration has rejected 1,000 air traffic controller applicants because of the dei policy despite a shortage of staff, according to a lawsuit.
Complaints about the recruitment policy of the FAA have surfaced again after the flight 5342 of the American Airlines collided in the air with a helicopter about Washington DC, killing 67.
In a lawsuit that was submitted in 2015, head of plaintiff Andrew Brigida, 35, claims that the obsession of the agency with dei hiring was a catalyst to ensure that an accident would probably take place – and repeated this in an interview with the Telegraph On Thursday.
De FAA dropped a skills-based system for hiring air traffic controllers and rather based on a 'biographical assessment' under the Obama administration.
Brigida, who is white, claimed that he was discriminated against on the basis of his race and was the reason that his application was knocked back.
The graduate of the state of Arizona was rejected for a job at the agency, although he had passed his training exam with full figures, the suit claims.
The FAA has had difficulty with personnel issues in recent years after fired from the Pandemic era and still has to recover completely.
The lawsuit is only on mounting criticism of the agency, especially after President Trump Dei blamed the hiring of the policy of the cause of Wednesday's crash.
Andrew Brigida, 35, claims
Complaints about the recruitment policy of the FAA have surfaced after the flight 5342 of the American Airlines collided in the air with a helicopter about Washington DC, killing 67 people
Brigida, who now works as a program manager in front of the agency, told the Telegraph that years of recruitment in diversity meant that it was only a matter of time before a large accident occurred.
He said: 'You want to hire the best and smartest for this kind of job because it is a very stressful task and it can take your toll, granting you prematurely. You want to make sure that the people who do it are the best. '
Brigida added: '[Trump] It is clear that the problem sees and if he didn't, I am sure that people who work at the Ministry of Transport and the FAA let him know that there is a problem with personnel and air traffic controller and I hope they can work it immediately. '
In Trump's first term, lawyers from the federal transport department claimed to throw away Brigida's case.
They said that deciding to open applications for more diverse candidates is not solid enough grounds to submit a discrimination suit.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prevents employers from discriminating against 'race, color, religion, sex and national descent'.
In a 2020 motion submitted by the government, they said: “The decision of an employer to broaden the pool of potential applicants between rounds of hiring is not a personnel action that can be recognizable under title VII.”
They added that Brigida cannot claim discrimination, just because the new system has no longer benefited him.
They wrote: 'According to the other claim, even if claimants would have had an advantage if they registered under the old recruitment process, Title VII does not give them a claim to retain that benefit.
“Instead, the claimants must show that the recruitment process to which they have actually discriminated on the basis of a protected characteristic.”
His lawsuit against the FAA is still underway, whereby the Agency and the Ministry of Transport will be due to the court next year to combat it.
After the gruesome scenes on Wednesday evening, it has since emerged that there were staff problems in the Ronald Reagan National Airport control tower.
The FAA has discovered in their provisional report that it was 'not normal for the time of the day and the traffic volume'.
On Wednesday, an air traffic controller was left to process both helicopter traffic and to manage aircraft – which should have been a divided duty – according to the New York Times.
According to the report, these tasks are usually treated between two people from 10 a.m. to 9.30 p.m.
Shown: seeing parts of the wreck sitting in the Potomac River after flight 5342 collided on Wednesday evening with an army Black Hawk -Helikopter, killing 67 people were killed
After 9.30 pm the tasks are usually combined and left to one person, because the airport sees less traffic later in the night.
Allegedly, a supervisor has decided to combine those tasks before the planned cut -off time and allowed one air traffic controller to leave the work early.
Reagan National has been understaffed for many years, with only 19 fully certified controllers from September 2023 – well below the goal of 30 – according to the most recent air traffic controller that has been submitted to the congress.
The situation seemed to have been improved since then, because a source said that CNN the Reagan National Control Tower was manned by 24 out of the 28 functions.
Chronic understaffing with air traffic controllers is nothing new, with known causes, including high turnover and cuts.
To fill the gaps, controllers are often asked to work for 10 hours, six days a week.
