Diversifly Program - How it Works

    The race barrier is a big issue in our society, especially in the United States. It is an even bigger issue when you get into industries such as Aviation where everything is so costly. The first part to combating this racial barrier is to acknowledging that it is there. According to The Hill, only 4.1% of Airline Transport Pilots are women. An even smaller 2.7% of these pilots are African American or Black, only 2.5% are Asian, and 5% are Hispanic or Latino. So, the problem is definitely here, but acknowledging the racial barrier, although it may be difficult for some, is just the start to solving this complex issue. 

    The next step to combatting this issue in the industry, is by figuring out what is causing it. For this, we will need to do some critical thinking and cause and effect thinking. So, let's start with the effect. We know that the majority of pilots in the industry are white, so why may this be? Due to accumulated wealth, a majority of the rich are white, especially in America. We also know that pilot's lessons and pilot academies, as well as the ability to access aircraft is incredibly expensive. Therefore, the rich, and therefore the white, will have a much easier time becoming pilots than other, less rich races. So, now we have identified a problem and identified a cause of the problem. Next, we will brainstorm ways to solve the problem. 

    We now will need to brainstorm some ways that we could solve this problem. So, the root cause of the problem is accumulated wealth, but that affects more than the aviation industry and may be too big of an undertaking at this early stage. So, where does this problem branch off to specifically the aviation industry? Flight school is incredibly expensive, and therefore may not be a reachable goal for people who are not wealthy. So, flight school is what is stopping aviation from getting more diverse. So, if the wealthy are all white, we need to bring in some less wealthy, and in order to do that, we need to brainstorm some ideas. We could start with Scholarships. We could give out scholarships to less wealthy people to join the flight school. Also, we could work flight into public education. Both of these would make it much easier for non-white, less wealthy people to become pilots, and therefore, we would be diversiflying the community.

    The next step is to pick one of the ideas to focus on. We are choosing between scholarships and public education. Let's look at some pros and cons of both of these options. Scholarships could be costly, and advertising would be needed to promote the flight school. And, it would be more individually targeted, which could lead to corruption or criticism, but could also be a bonus. If we worked flight school into public education, a lot more people would have access to flight school. That would mean that there would be little room for corruption. So, after reviewing the pros and cons, I think that working flight school into public education would be the best bet for us. 

    Now, we must explain in more depth our solution to the problem. So, if we're choosing public education, we will need to work with (a) school district(s). For the sake of explanation, let's say we choose Montgomery County Public Schools(who already has a flight program at Magruder High). We could expand their program to every high school, and we could offer all students who participate in the flying classes a job as a pilot. If more students of different backgrounds have access to flight, undoubtedly, the aviation community will become more diverse. 

    This is how our diversity division will be thinking and planning for the future of a diverse aviation industry. 

Wilson Faucette

President & CEO,

Flyers Airline & Co.