Latest near-miss: DEI at FAA means ATC is fubar

You may remember the near miss at ATL last year, where a DEI controller instructed a FedEx plane to land on top of a Southwest jet that was taking off from the same runway. They blamed that one on fog, which seems a little like saying “it was muh dark outside.” Although ground controllers do rely on visuals, which is why airports have towers.

The latest stunt occurred last Saturday at PHX, and you will be shocked by how obvious it was. This was between two aircraft on approach.

Sky Harbor has parallel east-west runways, with enough separation that two planes can land at the same time (on 08/26 and 07L/25R… the runway numbers correspond to the heading, with the trailing zero left off).

Runway Diagram
Planes always take off and land into the wind, and the prevailing morning winds here are out of the east. So there is always a steady diet of flights coming from eastern cities that fly an approach north of the field, then turn around and land back toward the east; that is the pattern this Delta A330 from Detroit was flying, to land on 08. This will get you set up for the video below. A United B737 from SFO was on final for 07L at the same time, which is the normal pattern for flights originating from the west. This shouldn’t be an issue, except she gets distracted with other aircraft farther out in the sequencing, and forgets to instruct Delta to turn left onto a final for 08, so it continues south and directly toward the United. By the time she issues the final (02:24), the Delta has already crossed the approach:

TCAS (Traffic Collision Avoidance System) onboard both aircraft saved the day. This system generates an “RA” (resolution advisory) instructing one aircraft to climb and the other to descend in order to avoid a mid-air.

I’m no expert, I just fly a lot, and have always been an airplane nerd. But I have two observations. First, the controller almost seems unaware of what just happened, and that she caused it. She was 20-30 seconds late issuing the left turn and landing clearance to the Delta. She never issues corrective action, and after both aircraft respond to their TCAS RAs, she asks them what they want to do next. Is that SOP? Second, the pilots seem as if all this is utterly routine, as in here we go again with these dopey DEI hires.

Thoughts?

https://www.azfamily.com/2025/01/14/close-call-delta-united-flights-nearly-collide-over-phoenix/

4 thoughts on “Latest near-miss: DEI at FAA means ATC is fubar”

  1. Even if controllers were more adept these incidents would continue to happen. Why? Because controllers are assigned more flights than they can handle safely. Why? Simply because there aren’t enough controllers. Why? Sadly because there aren’t enough people smart enough to become one.

    1. Apply this to every job that requires dedication, skill, and intelligence. That’s the terrifying reality of our world.

  2. I dont think there’s abundance of good workers anywhere. Local store can’t find many to hire who pass drug test.

  3. My thoughts…

    SOP? Nope. Not really. But one still needs to be professional on the radio, and that’s about as good as you’re going to get with some people today. That ATC needs to be fired (They won’t be).

    DEI is going to kill people, if it hasn’t already, and we don’t even know what’s happened yet, and what accidents are the result of such demonic hiring practices.

    Not just in aviation, but everywhere. (DEI is the sort of policy I’d push on a nation I wanted to see burn to the ground from the inside out)

    I remember Nelson Mandela’s funeral, and the sign language “interpreter” at that event. A fake sign language interpreter at a terrorist’s funeral is hilarious, SNL did a skit about it I think. A fake airline mechanic is terrifying. Heck, a fake auto mechanic working on your breaks is terrifying.

    DEI needs to be called out and ended. Harshly. Such policies need to be ended, Federal Contracts need to be suspended over them. Companies need to be held up in courts. Fines need to be enforced.

    People who complain need to be told to shut up, stop complaining, and publicly shamed.

    The last few years the damage is already done, and a lot of under-qualified, and outright unqualified people are in dangerous positions that will get a lot of innocent people killed.

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