Brace for impact: DEI is flying the plane.

When airlines care more about diversity than competence, passengers should start praying.

United Airlines has announced that by 2030 half of its new pilots will be either women or people of colour.

If you don’t understand why this is a problem, I suggest you reach for the oxygen mask!

United are not alone in the push to replace white male pilots with quite literally anyone else!

Airlines around the Western world are increasingly deciding that when you're hurtling through a thunderstorm in a tin can at 40,000 feet, what really matters is whether the person up front ticks the right identity boxes.

Don’t misunderstand me. Women and people of colour have every right to fly jets. But when airlines start announcing diversity outcomes before the training has even begun, one starts to wonder: are we recruiting the best pilots, or just the best optics?

Remind me again where the exits are!

The great irony in all of this is that it does zero favours to the very groups these airlines claim to uplift.

Imagine being a highly qualified black woman pilot who has worked her tail off to earn her wings, only to have passengers in a flap about whether or not she was hired to fly the plane, or fly the flag of wokeness.

Aviation is one of the few remaining places where nobody cares about your pronouns, skin colour or genitals. The only question is whether or not you have the skill required.

In the cockpit, merit isn't a luxury. It's the minimum requirement.

Call me old-fashioned, but I breathe a sigh of relief when I board an aircraft (which is often) and see that the pilot is a middle-aged white guy.

Because I know for sure that the only reason he’s behind the controls is because he can fly the damn plane and he is competent. Not because he ticks a diversity box.

Senator Ralph Babet.

United Australia Party.