VIDEO: The DEI problem in the handling of large, lethal machines

There are lots of problems with the theory and practice of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). Chief among those, IMHO, is that the "E" (for "Equity"), in demanding equality in everything for everbody, regardless of race, gender, religion etc, is premised on the theory that God created everyone equal. He did not.

Look around you, in your workplace, your classroom, your place of worship, wherever. You cannot avoid seeing a rainbow of different colours, different sizes, different shapes, and different genders (although how many "genders" there are is disputed nowadays).

Those are the differences you can see. As you interact with the humans around you, you find that they have different cultures, different religions (religion and culture being inseparable), different aptitudes (white men can't jump!) and different levels of intelligence. 

To expect that you can mold Diversity into Equality is the veriest nonsense. I would like to be an all-star hockey player (with the Montréal Canadiens, of course!), but I don't have the ability or the talent, and you can't force the Habs to let me play for them because short, bald, overweight octagenarians are under-represented on their roster.

Admit it! Some people are better at some things than others, and some are worse, sometimes tragically so. Some readers have noted (and taken me to task for) my remarks about Chinese drivers. And Chinese sailors. And I'm not the only one to question the wisdom of letting poorly trained pilots fly airplanes just because they're women. See "DEI pilot song", WWW 15/8/25 (includes video).

That brings me to this video recreation by Allec Joshua Ibay of the tragic crash of Kenya Airways flight 507, a scheduled Abidjan–Douala–Nairobi passenger service, operated with a Boeing 737-800, that crashed in the initial stage of its second leg immediately after takeoff from Douala International Airport in Caméroun on 5 May 2007.

To see how this proves my point about DEI, you should understand that when the African colonies of Britain, France and Portugal were given their independence... ready or not... in the 1960s, one of the first things the new black rulers did was to set up a national airline. Hey, how can you be a nation without an airline.

Since there were almost no black pilots in those days -- not even in the US of A -- hundreds of black Africans were enrolled in crash courses [Careful now... Ed.] to learn how to fly these ultra-sophisticated marvels of aeronautical engineering. Until they did, pilots were recruited from Europe and North America. 

Then came DEI, or "Africanization" as it was termed on the Dark Continent. It was shameful, the liberals said, that white men (almost none of the pilots were female) should be flying African airliners. As if the locals couldn't do it! And so you got pilots like the captain of Flight 507, who, in spite of many flying hours, never quite got the hang of things like managing the autopilot.

Note also that the first officer on the ill-fated flight had only 837 hours of experience. He had been the subject of incessant criticism by the captain and didn't dare to open his mouth about the impending disaster until after the captain said "We are crashing!"

What you see there is African culture at work. (I say this as one with seven years' experience in training and management in southern Africa.) Africans defer to age and authority, as they still do to tribal chiefs. (Yes, such things still exist.) To question an elder, especially one who has just called you out, is unheard of. By the time the FO got over that cultural block, it was too late.

In closing, let me repeat the point of "The DEI pilot song", as the lesson to be learned from this video. It's not about white supremacy, but about how the woke goals affect airline standards, pilot competency, and aviation safety. Will qualified candidates be passed over in the name of diversity? Can DEI hiring and meritocracy coexist? 

Sadly, the problems caused by DEI are not unique to the aviation industry. Any human enterprise involving more than one person must sooner or later face the reality that we are not all created equal.

Allec Joshua Ibay, RIP.

We are sad indeed to report that one of our favourite bloggers, Allec Joshua Ibay, best known for his "Air Disasters" series on YouTube, died in a car crash in his native Philippines on 24 July 2025. Allec had a lifelong interest in airplanes and aviation, and always wanted to be an airline pilot, like his father before him. 

While he was learning to fly, he started creating these simulations using FS2004, to educate himself and others about the lessons to be learned from these accidents. Over the years, he put up 728 videos, and his channel has over 272,000 followers. 

Allec did get his commercial pilot's licence a couple of years ago, but now has been taken from us. But through his channel, he's still "keepin' `em flying." RIP.

VIDEO: Delta 4819 crash: all signs point to DEI pilot error

Yesterday, Canada's Transportation Safety Board released its preliminary report into the crash (call it "collision with terrain" if you like) of Delta Airlines flight 4819 on landing at Toronto's Pearson International Airport (YYZ). If you missed our initial post on this story, click here to read it and see the video.

The TSB report, boiled down to one sentence, says that the Bombardier CRJ900, experienced a hard "pancake" landing. A warning system on the flight sent an alert indicating a high rate of descent less than three seconds before the plane touched down. Less than a second before touchdown, the plane's rate of descent was 1110 feet per minute.

The flight manual defines a hard landing as a "landing at a vertical descent rate greater than 600 ft/min when the aircraft's gross weight is less than or equal to [maximum landing weight]." Flight 4819 (operated by Delta Air Lines subsidiary Endeavor Air) weighed less than its maximum allowable take-off weight at the time of the crash. 

The report also says that less than a second before landing, the angle of the plane's aircraft, known as the pitch attitude, was 1 degree. The flight operations manual states pitch attitude at touchdown should be between 3 and 8 degrees.

In today's video, Dan Millican -- the same experienced pilot who appears in the earlier video -- analyses the TSB report and draws some inescapable conclusions as to the role played by DEI First Officer who was flying the plane. We've added a summary of the report below the video window.

   

In a news release yesterday, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said, "It is too early to draw conclusions as to the causes of this accident. A full investigation report, which will include the TSB's analysis into why the accident happened and the Board's findings, will be released in due course.

Delta 4819 took off from Minneapolis (MSP) with 76 passengers, two flight crew members and two cabin crew members. The names of the pilots have been scrubbed from the Internet. in the wake of Delta's denial that they were DEI hires. 

All we know is that the Captain was male, hired by Mesaba Airlines (forerunner of Endeavor Air) in 2007, and that the First Officer was female, hired by Endeavor in 2024. Delta says stories that she had failed training events are false. 

According to the TSB, the FO was in control of the plane when it crashed. At 1400 EST, winds were gusting to 35 knots in the area. After the flight crew received clearance to land at Runway 23 at YYZ, they flew the approach at 149 knots, "given the reported wind gusts."

 Around 2.6 seconds before touchdown, a "sink rate" alert sounded, "indicating a high rate of descent," the report said. The alert came from the plane's enhanced ground proximity warning system. At the time the alert sounded, the plane's airspeed was 136 knots. Less than a second before touchdown, the aircraft's indicated airspeed was 134 knots and its ground speed was 111 knots. 

Around 1412, the right main landing gear touched the runway. The report continues: "At touchdown, the following occurred: the side-stay that is attached to the right [main landing gear] fractured, the landing gear folded into the retracted position, the wing root fractured between the fuselage and the landing gear, and the wing detached from the fuselage, releasing a cloud of jet fuel, which caught fire. The exact sequence of these events is still to be determined by further examination of the fracture surfaces." 

The plane then began to slide along the runway, eventually going off the right side into a snow-covered grass area, coming to rest on Runway 15L, near the intersection with Runway 23. Meanwhile, the right wing became fully detached from the plane and slid around 215 feet further along Runway 23. Once the aircraft came to a stop, an evacuation began. There were 21 people injured among the 80 on board, with two people reported to have serious injuries.

John Gradek, an operations and integrated aviation management professor at McGill University, told the media the plane had "a hard, flat landing", sometimes called a "pancake landing". He said the plane's descent rate was "significantly higher than you would expect to have in a given landing area.... It was, by all classifications, a hard landing. The nose only being up 1 degree is also not typical, he added, and can result in a flat landing that puts stress on the aircraft, he said.

Getting back to the DEI question, here's a photo from the Endeavor Air website.

On the same page, one can read Endeavor Air's Mission Statement, followed by:

"OUR MOST IMPORTANT BEHAVIORS [which include]

Promote diversity and inclusion in all aspects of the airline and our operation."

That's all ye know and all ye need to know.

Reflections of an old pilot

Ed. here. Today we turn the blog over to Agent 17's old buddy, Terry. Terry is 80 years old and flew the Meteor, Vampire, Canberra, Argonaut, VC10, 747 and 777 -- amongst others! He was a BOAC/BA training captain, and later flew for Virgin and SIA. He writes...

An Old Pilot's Reflections - (Only pilots can truly relate to these.)

· Pilots are people who drive airplanes for other people who can't.

· Passengers are people who say they fly, but really just ride.

· Fighter pilots are steely eyed, weapons systems managers who kill bad people and break things. However, they can also be very charming and personable. The average fighter pilot, despite sometimes having a swaggering exterior, is very much capable of such feelings as love, affection, intimacy and caring. (However, these feelings don't involve anyone else.)

· Flying is a hard way to earn an easy living.

· Both optimists and pessimists contribute to society. The optimist invents the airplane; the pessimist, the parachute.

· Death is just nature's way of telling you to watch your airspeed.

· As a pilot only two bad things can happen to you (and one of them will):
a. One day you will walk out to the aircraft, knowing it is your last flight.
b. One day you will walk out to the aircraft, not knowing it is your last flight.

· There are rules and there are laws:
The rules are made by men who think that they know how to fly your airplane better than you.
The laws (of physics) were ordained by God.
You can and sometimes should suspend the rules, but you can never suspend the laws.

· About Rules:
a. The rules are a good place to hide if you don't have a better idea and the talent to execute it.
b. If you deviate from a rule, it must be a flawless performance (e.g., if you fly under a bridge, don't hit the bridge.)

· Before each flight, make sure that your bladder is empty and your fuel tanks are full.

· He who demands everything that his aircraft can give him is a pilot; he who demands one iota more is a fool.

· There are certain aircraft sounds that can only be heard at night and over the ocean. Most of them are scary.

· The aircraft limits are only there in case there is another flight by that particular aircraft. If subsequent flights do not appear likely, there are no limits.

· "If the Wright brothers were alive today, Wilbur would have to fire Orville to reduce costs." (President, DELTA Airlines.)

· In the Alaskan bush, I'd rather have a two-hour bladder and three hours of gas than vice versa.

· An old pilot is one who can remember when flying was dangerous and sex was safe.

· Airlines have really changed; now a flight attendant can get a pilot pregnant.

· I've flown in both pilot seats. Can someone tell me why the other one is always occupied by an idiot?

· And my favourite: You have to make up your mind about growing up and becoming a pilot. You can't do both.