I have to agree that if indeed this rumour is true it is both sad and worrying. Affirmative action does nobody any good. Firstly the country will lose all it's valuable skilled professionals and secondly those previously disadvantaged okes that genuinely make the grade on merit will always have to carry the burden of never quite knowing whether they are truely there on merit.
When I think of the shambles that politicians have created in Rugby and Cricket, I try to console myself with the fact that it can't happen in aviation - surely not?
I'm sat here thinking about what could be done about it. I'm sure that 99% of pilots must agree that the policy of affirmative action is wrong. What would happen if senior pilots i.e. training captains refused to co-operate with this policy and didn't train pilots whom they thought had no been fairly selected? I'm sure acusations of racism would fly and the people concerned would lose their jobs but in theory at any rate it would render the governments policy unworkable as it will have to be through the senior white captains that they implement such a policy.
Is it possible that with strong organised opposition the industry can not go the same way as other parts of the country?