On Tuesday night, Fox News host Tucker Carlson drew attention to the dark side of the left's prioritization of equity over merit in corporate hiring decisions. And nowhere is this growing trend more frightening -- and potentially deadly -- than in the airline industry.

In the video below, he pointed out that airlines are "dramatically lowering hiring standards for pilots and for air traffic controllers" and warned that "at some point, many people are going to die" as a result.

Carlson described several "near disasters" that have occurred in just the past few months that should have all Americans concerned about the aviation industry's adoption of these new standards.

Last Wednesday, for example, a United Airlines flight was just about to touch down at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas, when a second plane began taxiing right into its path. The United pilot then "aborted the landing so dramatically that people on board were terrified."

Carlson read an account of the situation written by a veteran United Airlines pilot in December. He provided some chilling details about the consequences of the airlines' walk on the woke side.

"[Name redacted] just told me about a B-triple-seven off Maui that almost crashed two nights ago. Both pilots became disoriented and pulled out of a dive 300 feet above the water, pulling two and a half G's. ..."

"I'm just home from Denver training center. There are some real horror stories out there about United, but management is hell-bent on just ignoring what is going on. The investigation is still on-going. ... but the Captain of the Maui flight was brand new. There was a new-hire First Officer, and my understanding is that we almost lost an airplane for no good reason. Both have been sent back to go through the 4-week course.

"The new-hire first officer on my fleet is a nightmare. It took him 50 hours to get through Initial Operating Experience. Worse yet, talking to his instructor, out of his 25 landings in the simulator, 15 ended up in the dirt. Not one of them was on the centerline of the runway. They said his radio work is like that of a private pilot. He has no situational awareness.

[firefly_poll]

"I'm jump-seating to SFO right now. A United B-triple-seven first officer is next to me. She said the training is totally inadequate for new hires. Her husband helps train them at [United's in-house training academy] Aviate. He's constantly asking these kids who come in, 'has anyone told you what this is?' Many have no idea what they're getting into. They're hiring people straight out of high school now. Zero aviation knowledge or desire. It's just about the money and adhering to ESG."

Airlines are dramatically lower hiring standards for pilots in the name of equity. At some point, many people are going to die because of this. pic.twitter.com/1lBMU5D0LG

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) February 15, 2023

The situation is not unique to United Airlines -- it's happening industry wide.

Carlson cited Southwest Airlines, which has also lowered its hiring standards. Many graduates of their in-house training program, Destination 225, go on to work for Swift Air, "which is under contract from the Biden administration to fly illegal aliens around the country without the American population knowing about it."

He told viewers that last year, a newly hired Southwest pilot "hit the runway so hard on landing that a crew member was gravely injured."

Although it's never a good idea to put equity ahead of merit in any hiring decisions, few would argue this practice makes sense in the airline industry where a minor pilot error could result in the deaths of hundreds of passengers.

Unfortunately, these incidents -- the "near misses" -- aren't being reported by the media. I'm pretty sure even liberals are more interested in making it to their destination safely than they are in the race or the gender of the pilot.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.