A retired American Airlines flight captain said he is “disgusted” by President Trump’s recent criticism of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) hiring practices in the wake of the deadly collision outside Reagan National Airport earlier this week.
“Sorry, but I was disgusted by that entire press conference and the statements that were made for people that I depended upon throughout my career,” Les Abend said Friday during an appearance on CNN, referencing Trump’s remarks from the White House briefing room a day earlier.
“The qualifications that are required for a controller are stringent. And it’s a lot of work,” he told CNN’s Kasie Hunt. “It’s, at least five years before somebody can actually be solo, for instance, at a particular facility, and each facility has its own difficulty level.”
The day after the crash between an American Airlines flight en route from Kansas and a military helicopter — which killed all 67 people on board both aircraft — Trump blamed DEI hiring practices, arguing they jeopardized the safety and weakened the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
He doubled down on his claim that the incident, one of the deadliest air collisions in the U.S. in the last 20 years, was caused by DEI practices.
“You have to go by psychological quality, and psychological quality is a very important element of it,” Trump said Thursday. “These are various, very powerful tests that we put to use. And they were terminated by Biden. And Biden went by a standard that seeks the exact opposite. So we don’t know.”
Abend claimed Friday that just like for air traffic controllers, applicants have to meet certain standards to become a licensed pilot.
“Same thing for pilots. There’s a specific standard for hiring pilots, whether they’re Black, white, purple, Brown, it doesn’t make any difference,” he said. “Those standards have to be met, and nobody’s going to get hired, that doesn’t meet those particular standards.”
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have either questioned or publicly criticized Trump’s remarks about diversity programs after the deadly crash.
Trump has pushed the FAA to end DEI hiring practices, a part of a wider push to eliminate the initiative across the federal government. He appointed Chris Rocheleau, an agency veteran, to be the acting administrator until an official nominee is confirmed by the upper chamber.
