"Claiborne called this type of messaging "damaging," saying women and people of color bring valuable skills to aviation."
""No airline is going to hire people just because; there's too much responsibility," Claiborne said."
""I don't like the chatter we're seeing; I'm qualified and so is every other person in the flight deck - every last one of them.""
A TikTok video about Captain Theresa Claiborne's career drew millions of views, increasing her visibility among a generation largely unfamiliar with her achievements. Claiborne, a Sacramento-raised aviator from a military family, was commissioned as an Air Force second lieutenant in 1981 and became the service's first Black woman pilot. She primarily flew the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker and later built a decadeslong career at United Airlines, breaking the white-male mold for airline pilots. Diversity initiatives in aviation have faced political attacks, with some officials suggesting without evidence that DEI affected safety after a January crash. Claiborne called that messaging damaging, said women and people of color bring valuable skills to aviation, and stressed that airlines hire based on qualification and responsibility. Federal records compiled by Zippia report a 7% figure related to the U.S. airline pilot workforce, illustrating low representation.
Read at Business Insider
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