Yes: Obama, Biden endangered flights by rejecting whites for air-traffic controller jobs

Last month’s horrific plane crash that killed 67 at Washington’s Reagan National Airport was a wake-up call for the millions of Americans who fly regularly.We count on pilots and air-traffic controllers to keep us safe in the skies — but that trust is betrayed when the government inserts irrelevant and discriminatory considerations into its hiring policies.Unfortunately, that happened.As President Donald Trump pointed out in the disaster’s aftermath, the Federal Aviation Administration in 2014 replaced its well-established merit-based selection process for would-be air-traffic controllers with a new “Biographical Questionnaire.”Rather than focusing on a candidate’s proven skill set or familiarity with the high-pressure demands of the job, this test asked questions designed to benefit certain racial groups.While previously the FAA’s entry tests favored candidates with years of rigorous aviation training in FAA-approved career technical schools, its new test measured intangible factors with little bearing on actual job performance.These changes were intended to reduce the percentage of Caucasian candidates in the hiring pool.The FAA discriminated against ATC applicants in violation of federal civil-rights laws. We filed suit in 2015, and have certified a class action of nearly 1,000 people who would be ATCs today.Our clients were forced to find other careers — and today the FAA is seeing severe shortages of qualified controllers.

The court case continues, 10 years later.The injustice is as bitter as it is unnecessary.Without enough qualified controllers on duty, the margin for error shrinks dramatically.Each controller must manage more flights with fewer backups, which compounds the stress and fatigue inherent in an already high-stakes profession.By excluding more than 1,000 eminently qualified candidates, the FAA not only derailed promising careers, but also missed an opportunity to bolster a workforce that is critical for public safety.The agency...