How to choose your pilot

[Spectator]

The South African national carrier, SAA, is reportedly accepting new cadets only from a certain race group.

http://business.iafrica.com/news/811572.html

Cadet pilot training course applications from white men are no longer being accepted by the SA Airways (SAA), it was reported on Friday.

SAA spokesman Kabelo Ledwaba told Beeld that the cadet programme was being advertised online as an initiative to bring pilot demographics in line with the country's broader demographics.

"Only 15 percent of SAA's pilots are currently black, and this includes Indians and coloureds. The rest are white, and 91 percent of them are men."

Ledwaba said the airline would appoint male, white pilots when there were vacant posts for which applicants of other races could not be found.
Beeld had asked why white applicants were being rejected across the board.

An irate father had called the newspaper to complain that his son, who had a commercial pilot's licence and met the educational and physical criteria, had been rejected on the grounds of race.

By filling out several dummy applications, Beeld established that the online form had been programmed to reject any white applicants.

Forget selecting pilots based on aptitude, critical thinking, etc... we have a much easier way!

(Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that one group of persons is any more suited than the other for the job. It's just seems stubborn to arbitrarily exclude a group that could have the right man for the job.)

[Gabriel]

It's called "positive discrimination" (i.e. discrimination in favour of the minorities or vulnerable groups). It is a subject of discussion whether it is a good practice or not.

Supporters will tell that there is no reason for a black person to be any less suitable to be trained as a professional pilot than for a white person, and if the proportion of black pilots is much smaller than the proportion of black population, it means that there is already in the society, in some way or another, a discrimination against black people, and hence the positive discrimination for black pilots is simply a matter of social justice and that doesn't has to affect the quality of the flight crews, because you'd still select only those who are fit even if you restrict your search to black people, and that you'll accept white male candidates if you can't find the right stuff among those positivelly discrimintaed.

Those against will say that discrimination is discrimination period, and that a pilot (or candidate to be trained as such) should be selected based on a number of qualities (psychological, physical, medical, etc.) among which race, religion, political preference or sexual preference are not included.

There are also intemediate positions, like hiring from all groups with quota: For example, if only 15% are blaco when 60% of the population is black and you wish to take the black pilots proportion to at least half of that in the society, you could hire at least 50% black until the black pilots proportion grows to 30%. That would leve a lot of position open without discrimination, so be best "white male" pilots will still qualify to apply for the position.

By the way, it looks that women are also being positively discriminated even if they are white.

[brianw999]

I'm not absolutely certain what you're getting at but all I do know is that I am most certainly not racist or anti-feminism......

.....black, white, gay, homosexual, religious leaning! male, female etc. .......

.....you piss me off ? .....

.....you are in DEEP poo !!

[Fear_of_Flying]

Originally Posted by Gabriel

It's called "positive discrimination" (i.e. discrimination in favour of the minorities or vulnerable groups). It is a subject of discussion whether it is a good practice or not.

Supporters will tell that there is no reason for a black person to be any less suitable to be trained as a professional pilot than for a white person, and if the proportion of black pilots is much smaller than the proportion of black population, it means that there is already in the society, in some way or another, a discrimination against black people, and hence the positive discrimination for black pilots is simply a matter of social justice and that doesn't has to affect the quality of the flight crews, because you'd still select only those who are fit even if you restrict your search to black people, and that you'll accept white male candidates if you can't find the right stuff among those positivelly discrimintaed.

Those against will say that discrimination is discrimination period, and that a pilot (or candidate to be trained as such) should be selected based on a number of qualities (psychological, physical, medical, etc.) among which race, religion, political preference or sexual preference are not included.

There are also intemediate positions, like hiring from all groups with quota: For example, if only 15% are blaco when 60% of the population is black and you wish to take the black pilots proportion to at least half of that in the society, you could hire at least 50% black until the black pilots proportion grows to 30%. That would leve a lot of position open without discrimination, so be best "white male" pilots will still qualify to apply for the position.

By the way, it looks that women are also being positively discriminated even if they are white.

The practice is known as affirmative action around here (in the U.S.). I guess one could say that it shouldn't be necessary, or that it only masks the deeper causes, or even that it is an attempt to use two wrongs to make a right, but at the end of the day it does seem to provide opportunities to those who otherwise might not have them, and also demonstrates that given those opportunities, the minority group in question is just as capable as anyone else, hence further advancing their cause. I just think in this case the airline has adopted a somewhat extreme version of affirmative action which might only serve to exacerbate the very attitudes that led to the problem in the first place.

[Spectator]

Sorry gents. I really didn't want this to turn into a discussion of racial policies and history, but I suppose I should have know better. What was on my mind was all the discussions we've had in the safety forum regarding supposedly "sub-standard" pilots, or improperly trained pilots. This was just just the cherry on the top.

In in the mean time, SAA has evidently rescinded on their plan (assuming the initial report was accurate), and say they will be accepting all cadet candidates.

[Gabriel]

Originally Posted by Spectator

What was on my mind was all the discussions we've had in the safety forum regarding supposedly "sub-standard" pilots, or improperly trained pilots. This was just just the cherry on the top.

The original article said:

Ledwaba said the airline would appoint male, white pilots when there were vacant posts for which applicants of other races could not be found

I read between lines and get "We wil not hesitate to appoint white male pilots if we don't find the quality we want within the minorities".