Blacks in Aviation

[Jaybird180]

On the heels of the movie Red Tails (& the article in AOPA mag), I'd like to find some statistics (relatively current) on how many Black pilots are on the rolls. Perhaps some percentages???

Any idea on where to even find this data as I have been asked this question many times and can only give a supposition based on my personal observation (approx single digit percentages) but that's suspect by my relatively recent aviation experience and exposure.

 

[Jim Logajan]

Perhaps someone at the Black Pilots of America web site might know:

http://www.bpapilots.org/

 

[Jim Logajan]

Re: Race in America

I don't get the big deal here. We're supposed to be aiming for a color blind society and then this?

It need not have anything to do with color per se and everything to do with root cause analysis. Let me try to explain by example:

What if you were a farmer and one year one of the crops you planted failed to even sprout? All your other crops came up fine. You'd start investigating - any other farmers experience problems with that crop? Are any of your other crops at risk? You'd start looking for causes, to insure not only that crop did better next year, but that nothing else was at risk.

With respect to blacks, just because you and I are non-discriminatory (while we adjust our halos for best visibility,) it is pretty clear it still exists. Other factors, such as the large difference in median family income for white (~$50k) versus black (~$30k) families are also likely causal.

Even if one has zero interest in increasing the number of pilots, it may prove worthwhile to determine what causes the difference in interests among social groups.

So threads like should not be dismissed, IMHO.