New story about the BioQ fiasco

[Homsar]

The Full Story of the FAA's Hiring Scandal

Inside a decade of struggle to bring a scandal to light

www.tracingwoodgrains.com

Haven’t seen this posted on here, was authored about a month ago. Lots of info about the whole thing that I never knew.

 

[AB19]

I haven't read it but tracingwoodgrains.com doesn't sound like the most trusted source

 

[Homsar]

I haven't read it but tracingwoodgrains.com doesn't sound like the most trusted source

Give it a chance. It’s a journalist who has spoken with lots of people involved with the lawsuits against the FAA, and they show lots of good documentation.

 

[Soul_Controller]

A decade ago like a dozen people got answers to a test. No one ever gave a shit about this story

Plus the CTI program is proven statistically and anecdotally to be worthless, which is why no actual controllers care

 

[32andBelow]

We screamed about it back then but everyone just said OTS is just as good and it doesn’t matter

 

[corn4ahead]

A decade ago like a dozen people got answers to a test. No one ever gave a shit about this story

There are thousands that this affected in a negative way, so yes, many people give a shit.

What a loser response.

 

[Soul_Controller]

There are thousands that this affected in a negative way, so yes, many people give a shit.

What a loser response.

No one that bitches about this ever wants to provide evidence that the BioQ didn't work. We KNOW CTI doesn't work.

 

[GulfCharlie]

No one that bitches about this ever wants to provide evidence that the BioQ didn't work. We KNOW CTI doesn't work.

Because it was ruled invalid due to the answers being leaked. Any and all data is compromised and therefore useless. Shelton Snow allowed reverse racism to cloud his judgement and thousands of potential careers stalled by it.

 

[Gauff]

No one that bitches about this ever wants to provide evidence that the BioQ didn't work. We KNOW CTI doesn't work.

You're right failing math and science is what makes a good controller obviously.

It's not even about CTI working or not. It was a pathway into the agency that bypassed the choke point of the academy. The bioq also likely resulted in many lower quality applicants getting through while better applicants didn't due to how the test answers were scored.

Trying to say the BioQ was better than CTI program is wild

 

[HighFrequency]

Personally got screwed by the BioQ at the start of my career, but this shit hasn't been around in nearly a decade.

Hearing about it in 2025 makes me think there's some bad faith connection to the anti-DEI stuff that's surrounding us now. Especially when the DOT is trying to act like this was somehow rampant during the Biden admin, when it wasn't.

Was the BioQ bullshit? Yeah, it was. But to quote Ton' again: "You gotta get over it."

 

[ClearanceClarence]

The BioQ was the main launching pad for the whole “DEI hires” argument. And to be fair, it did likely allow plenty of unqualified persons through the process while others got left on the sidelines, only to age out down the road. Anyone who argues the BioQ wasn’t a disaster is living in looneyville.

 

[HighFrequency]

The BioQ was the main launching pad for the whole “DEI hires” argument. And to be fair, it did likely allow plentu of unqualified persons through the process while others got left on the sidelines, only to age out down the road. Anyone who argues the BioQ wasn’t a disaster is living in looneyville.

Don't disagree with this at all. It's like the poster child of everything that's wrong with unchecked DEI hiring. Even my most MSNBC dyed-blue liberal friends hear it explained and know it was insanity that this ever happened.

 

[GroundClutter]

The BioQ was the main launching pad for the whole “DEI hires” argument. And to be fair, it did likely allow plentu of unqualified persons through the process while others got left on the sidelines, only to age out down the road. Anyone who argues the BioQ wasn’t a disaster is living in looneyville.

Soul Controller is probably Shelton himself

The BioQ cucked me a few times. I hit 31 the year the bid closed so it was my last chance. Damn test actually asked me if I had taken it before and if I passed it IIRC.

I'm convinced that's all that gave me the green light to proceed because my answers were still the same and not the bullshit they were looking for.

 

[ClearanceClarence]

On an aside, if DOGE really does want to look into government waste/inefficiency, they should look at the hiring and training processes before current controllers. The FAA has spent billions upon billions of dollars on a hiring process that fails to identify people who can be successful in training. That’s evident by the historical 30-50% failure rate at the Academy that never improves. You could even go a step further with it and say OKC itself is failing given how high the washout rates still are out in the field. CTI could be a remedy for a lot of this, but the execution has been fucked up since its inception as well. All in all, tons of time, money, and recourses are just thrown out the window hiring and training thousands of people with the hopes of getting a fraction of them to CPC. The system is broken.

 

[WavesAndClouds]

No one that bitches about this ever wants to provide evidence that the BioQ didn't work. We KNOW CTI doesn't work.

People bitch because it's racist......

 

[GulfBravoPapa]

On an aside, if DOGE really does want to look into government waste/inefficiency, they should look at the hiring and training processes before current controllers. The FAA has spent billions upon billions of dollars on a hiring process that fails to identify people who can be successful in training. That’s evident by the historical 30-50% failure rate at the Academy that never improves. You could even go a step further with it and say OKC itself is failing given how high the washout rates still are out in the field. CTI could be a remedy for a lot of this, but the execution has been fucked up since its inception as well. All in all, tons of time, money, and recourses are just thrown out the window hiring and training thousands of people with the hopes of getting a fraction of them to CPC. The system is broken.

What do you recommend as an alternative? Does anyone actually know what the FEAST test other countries use entail?

 

[Soul_Controller]

The BioQ's implementation was unfair, but you all are still just giving me a bunch of emotional bullshit about it's worth. The BioQ could have been a great predictor or it could have been full of shit, but the point is that there is no evidence one way or the other. Yall just in your feelings

 

[ClearanceClarence]

What do you recommend as an alternative? Does anyone actually know what the FEAST test other countries use entail?

I don’t know specifically, but there’s an entire staff of people at CAMI in OKC (many of them PhD’s making way more than controllers) whose sole job is to come up with the hiring test. My class met those nerds when I was there way back then. It’s pretty clear though that the ATSA is mostly a crap shoot in determining if people will be successful or not. There’s no reason you should have a hiring process as lengthy and “thorough” as the FAA’s only to lose half your new employees at the very first stage in training.

 

[Soul_Controller]

I don’t know specifically, but there’s an entire staff of people at CAMI in OKC (many of them PhD’s making way more than controllers) whose sole job is to come up with the hiring test. My class met those nerds when I was there way back then. It’s pretty clear though that the ATSA is mostly a crap shoot in determining if people will be successful or not. There’s no reason you should have a hiring process as lengthy and “thorough” as the FAA’s only to lose half your new employees at the very first stage in training.

Cami made the BioQ

 

[GulfCharlie]

The BioQ's implementation was unfair, but you all are still just giving me a bunch of emotional bullshit about it's worth. The BioQ could have been a great predictor or it could have been full of shit, but the point is that there is no evidence one way or the other. Yall just in your feelings

The data was compromised. Simple. Scientific methodology 101. Compromised data holds zero value in the scientific community.

There is no way yet known to mankind to figure out the kind of individuals capable of doing this job. You either have it or you do not, simple.