At a press conference following a deadly collision between a jetliner and a Black Hawk helicopter at Reagan National Airport, Donald Trump blamed the accident on diversity hiring practices imposed by the Obama and Biden administrations. He claimed these policies weakened the FAA by allowing individuals with disabilities"such as hearing and vision impairments, paralysis, epilepsy, and psychiatric disabilities"to qualify as air traffic controllers.
Trump asserted that he had reversed Obama-era hiring policies to restore higher safety standards, but that Biden reinstated them. However, fact-checking shows that Trump left Obama's policies unchanged during his first term and did not roll back diversity hiring in air traffic control.
Further contradicting his claims, the FAA under Trump introduced a program in 2019 that encouraged hiring air traffic controllers with disabilities. The initiative provided career opportunities for individuals with conditions Trump criticized, such as deafness, blindness, and paralysis, but required them to meet the same qualifications as any other trainee.
Verdict: Trump's claims are false. He did not change Obama's FAA hiring policies, and the program he attacked was actually launched during his own presidency. Rating: Four Pinocchios.
During Trump's first term, the FAA began a program to hire air traffic controllers with the conditions that Trump decried.
This is false.
In 2014, the FAA rolled out the new biographical questionnaire in line with the Barrier Analysis recommendation, designed so that 90% or more of applicants would "fail." The questionnaire was not monitored, and people could take it at home. Questions asked prospective air traffic controllers how many sports they played in high school, how long they'd been unemployed recently, whether they were more eager or considerate, and seventy-some other questions. Graduates of the CTI program, like everyone else, had to "pass" this or they would be disqualified from further consideration. This came alongside other changes de-prioritizing CTI graduates.
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