Free Republic

Things we once enjoyed have suddenly gotten so much worse. Not just a little worse, but way worse. You pay more, you get less, and it sucks. Social media was on fire this week in the wake of the Claudine Gay incompetence scandal at Harvard, the 737 IKEA MAX airplane scandal at Boeing, and the ongoing scandal of fanatic, destructive DEI hiring rules at airlines, air traffic control towers, colleges, corporate America, and everywhere else that matters. Things got so wild that Elon Musk replied positively to one of my anti-DEI screeds, and Matt Walsh credited me for some of...

Actor Rob Schneider put a wokeism-obsessed United Airlines CEO on notice after a dangerous incident occurred on his watch. Schneider called for United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby to be fired in a Jan. 21 X (formerly Twitter) post after a flight nearly crashed into the ocean. Schneider verbally mauled Kirby, writing: “I cannot tell you how many United Airlines employees have personally thanked me for my valid criticism of your careless and life-threatening leadership. I look forward to your swift dismissal by UA’s board of directors before your inane actions cause the deaths of hundreds of men, women and children.”...

A disgruntled passenger was removed for farting excessively on an American Airlines flight from Phoenix to Austin last week, it has been claimed. The early evening flight from the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Arizona to the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas was forced to return to its gate and delayed by 15 to 30 minutes, according to a passenger who was on the flight said. The Texas-based traveler wrote on Reddit: 'I was on a direct American flight from Phoenix to Austin and I was seated near the row where this situation occurred.' The Reddit poster described the...

The Federal Aviation Administration is recommending that airlines visually inspect the door plugs of more Boeing planes after a similar panel blew off a jet in midair earlier this month. The safety alert issued late Sunday recommends that airlines operating Boeing's 737-900ER jets inspect the door plugs "as soon as possible" to make sure they're properly secured after some airlines reported unspecified issues with the bolts. The 737-900ER is not part of Boeing's newer Max series, but it has the same optional door plug design as the Boeing 737 Max 9. More than 170 of the newer jets have been...

A New York-bound Virgin Atlantic flight was canceled just moments before takeoff last week when an alarmed passenger said he spotted several screws missing from the plane’s wing. British traveler Phil Hardy, 41, was onboard Flight VS127 at Manchester Airport in the UK on Jan. 15 when he noticed the four missing fasteners during a safety briefing for passengers and decided to alert the cabin crew. “I’m a good flyer, but my partner was not loving the information I was telling her and starting to panic, and I was trying to put her mind at rest as much as I...

The fictional John Wick, a retired assassin, got back into the business because bad guys killed his dog, a foolish decision resulting in almost 500 deaths at John Wick’s hands. That, of course, is the movies. Real life is Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) gunning politically for United Airlines (“UA”) because an airline executive, instead of apologizing after an employee manhandled Crenshaw’s dog, refused to acknowledge the airline’s error and, instead, attacked Crenshaw. I’m no Dan fan, but I can support him in his fight against an airline that is so committed to political correctness that it’s abandoned customer service and,...

The ZEROe demonstrator is also the first-ever A380, also known as MSN001, produced. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SUMMARY Airbus plans to install the hydrogen fuel cell system on its A380 test-bed for in-flight testing in 2026. The ZEROe project aims to produce a hydrogen-powered commercial plane by 2035 using innovative technologies and concepts. The demonstrator will be the first A380 to have taken the sky, with production number MSN001. After the recent success in testing the hydrogen fuel cell system, the 'iron pad,' Airbus is set to install the fuel cell propulsion system on its ZEROe test bed, an Airbus 380 registered F-WWOW,...

US citizens traveling domestically have to show a valid identification card or a passport to board a plane, but signs at certain airports say there are different rules for some newly arrived migrants. The signs claim the Transport Security Administration is working with Customs and Border Protection to “validate adult non-US citizen travel documentation when the traveler does not otherwise have an acceptable form of identification.” In practice, this means migrants who have entered the country using the CBP One app – some 45,000 people a month – can use it as their travel document and even choose whether to...

Long story short, then, we love Flight Simulator. There’s just one problem, though, and it’s a fairly big one. What happens when you run out of ideas? As a sandbox, the game is great. Choose where to start, choose where to end, and enjoy the flight. But not everybody is comfortable with setting their own parameters like that in a game. Some people play games for the satisfaction of completing challenges set for them. In other words, some players like being told what to do and seeing if they can successfully do it. The 2020 release has some of this...

As The Gateway Pundit’s Jordan Conradson reported, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby admitted in a recent interview that they are no longer seeking the most qualified candidates to transport their passengers on commercial flights safely. Instead, he is committed to ensuring that diversity wins out at the expense of safety and white males. “We have committed that 50% of the classes will be women or people of color,” he boasted. It turns out the woke, racist Kirby has a bizarre fetish as well. Videos of him performing in drag are going viral today thanks partly to Libs of Tiktok, who...

United Airlines is the “Bud Light” of the airline world. They’ve shifted gears, moving away from their core customer base, which prioritizes safety and security. Now, it’s all about drag queens and flamboyant celebrations. But is this the direction most air travelers want? Hardly. Flyers don’t want in-flight gay entertainment featuring CEOs in ladies’ pantyhose or a strong push on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). When passengers board a plane, their primary concern is a competent, professional pilot, not one who’s more interested in theatrics and show tunes. This trend in air travel is starting to mirror our “woke” military,...

When United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby talks, people should listen. This isn’t because he’s a man of wisdom, insight, or integrity. It’s because he’s in charge of one of America’s largest commercial airlines, so the changes he proposes could have disastrous outcomes for all of us. According to Wikipedia, which has information through the end of 2022, United Airlines transported 144,300,000 passengers over the year. According to another source, in just the first quarter of 2023, it transported 36.8 million people and offered 65.7 Available Seat Miles, making it the fastest-growing commercial airline in America over that time period. No...

A photo taken from Miami International Airport showed a notice from the Transportation Security Administration indicating that migrants entering the U.S. at the airport did not have to supply a photo or have their photo taken in order to enter the country. Political commentator Dave Rubin snapped the photo, tweeting, “This is the state of absolute insanity happening at our airports. I’m in the Pre-TSA line, where migrants don’t have to have an ID to get through security and it’s their choice whether they want their picture taken. There is a plan to destroy America.” The sign read, “U.S. airport...

Delta Airlines has revealed that the airline is now asking its employees to capitalize the words “Black” and “Brown” but not “White” when describing one’s race. Delta’s new “Inclusivity Language Guide” states, RACE AND ETHNICITY STYLE NOTE • Capitalize “Black” and “Brown” in Delta communications. Unlike Black or Brown, “white” should be lowercase. When referencing race, ethnicity, or nationality, be as specific as possible.] This follows the far-left Associated Press style guidelines for capitalizing all race-identifying words except for “White.” According to the Associated Press...

Doesn’t it feel like United Airlines is becoming the ‘Bud Light’ of air travel? Their recent drive towards Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) seems heavily focused on transvestites, cross-dressers, and other assorted freaks. But unlike Bud Light, which was “merely” cynically trying to sell beer, United Airlines is potentially putting people’s lives in danger with their Drag Queen Flying Hour. You may have heard by now, but the CEO of United Airlines enjoys cross-dressing as a woman. Revolver covered this disturbing story. ... Have you noticed? The US aviation industry is crashing, both literally and figuratively. It’s like we’re watching...

More evidence that the federal government has gone stark, raving mad:The Federal Aviation Administration is actively recruiting workers who suffer “severe intellectual” disabilities, psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the agency’s website.“Targeted disabilities are those disabilities that the Federal government, as a matter of policy, has identified for special emphasis in recruitment and hiring,” the FAA’s website states. “They include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism.”Why in the world would the FAA actively be seeking employees with “severe...

In order to meet its targets for Diversity Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility, (DEIA), the Federal Aviation Administration is recruiting for people with severe mental disabilities, psychiatric problems and physical disabilities. The recruiting campaign comes at an awkward time, as companies like Spirit AeroSystems, which built the malfunctioning fuselage for Boeing 737 MAX 9s, have crowed to their shareholders about hitting their DEI targets for hiring, and firing white men in order to met their diversity quotas. The FAA’s targeted disabilities for hiring are, in the agency’s own words: Hearing (total deafness in both ears) Vision (Blind) Missing Extremities Partial Paralysis...

The Federal Aviation Administration now says that the way to make the skies safer is to make their workforce more diverse, including hiring people with “severe” intellectual disabilities and psychiatric disabilities. No, this is not satire; see below, via Fox News: FAA’s diversity push includes focus on hiring people with ‘severe intellectual’ and ‘psychiatric’ disabilitiesThe FAA says people with ‘severe’ disabilities are the most under-represented segment of the federal workforce. The Federal Aviation Administration is actively recruiting workers who suffer "severe intellectual" disabilities, psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out...

A Boeing 737 plane in Japan was forced to return to its point of departure on Saturday after a crack appeared in the window of the plane’s cockpit. The All Nippon Airways (ANA) domestic flight had left the city of Sapporo en route to Toyama, before turning around for an emergency landing. No one onboard was injured, a spokesperson for the airline said. John Strickland, an expert aviation consultant said that although the crack was in the outermost of the four-layered window, cracks like it “can be pretty dangerous if not fixed,” according to the BBC. “The crack was not...

Competency is no longer the primary requirement considered for employment in the airline and commercial aircraft manufacturing industries. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As a commercial pilot, I had hoped the new year would usher in a wave of renewed sanity, safety, and a brighter future for my industry. Sadly, just a week or so into 2024, the industry is off to a horrific start. One year ago, LifeSiteNews published a commentary I penned expressing great concerns that I and other pilots share about the direction in which the Biden administration has taken our industry. In my article, I outlined the effects of forced...