Aviation Safety Teetering, Pilots Say, as Safety Summit Approaches

COVID-19 mandates, diversity emphasis are among key issues

Brett Vance, pictured in a glider during his time as a flight instructor at the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, in about 2012. Brett Vance

American aviation safety seems to be teetering on “a knife’s edge,” as one veteran airline pilot put it. Usually an unflappable bunch, a half-dozen pilots told The Epoch Times that they’re increasingly troubled over the state of aviation.

Although 14 years have passed since the last fatal U.S. commercial airliner accident, pilots point to a cluster of near-misses. Those are particularly disturbing considering the chaotic climate in which they occurred.