We've seen no difference in proficiency between men, women, and minority groups. I have no quota set by either the company or by the government. That's because we're fair. As long as we're fair, we won't have the government in here telling me what to do. We'll hire almost a thousand people this year and I see no end to the hiring in sight.
Somebody is in command.
That doesn't mean he or she has to be a jerk. We try to train our people to deal with other people, with the acklowledgement that there is a captain that will have the final authority on how the aircraft is operated. Human factors have also changed along with the automation of the cockpit. The captain must be able to select the level of automation that's best for the situation. There's a middle ground, and in our training we focus on different levels of automation.