
Loading summary
Sherry
Your data is like gold to hackers. They'll sell it to the highest bidder. Are you protected? McAfee helps shield you blocking suspicious texts, malicious emails and fraudulent websites. McAfee Secure VPN lets you browse safely and its AI powered tech scam detector spots threats instantly. You'll also get up to $2 million of award winning antivirus and identity theft protection, all for just $39.99 for your first year. Visit mcafee.com/incancel anytime terms apply.
Tucker Carlson
So you've been flying for a living since 1991. So that's almost 35 years, which is amazing for the rest of us, we're about the same age. It seems like commercial air travel in the United States has declined in like, at a shocking level rate. It's just much worse. A lot of things have gotten better. We have the Internet and iPhones. Why is commercial air travel in this country and not around the world, but in this country specifically, like, much worse than it was? What is that?
Sherry
Well, I think legitimately there's been a corporate change in this country. ESG started to take over. You've got the Larry Finks of the world that are driving corporations or CEOs toward issues that not necessarily are customer oriented.
Tucker Carlson
Oh, ESG doesn't help the customer.
Sherry
Well, not the internal customer anyway. So as we go through this process, this slow creep, those needs need to set an investment score. People with differing ideas of customer service and what's important are able to drive forward their message. So we get away from customer service. Airlines run on three things, right? They run on fuel, planes and people. When we start taking the people out of the mix, right, because it's all about buying more airplanes. It's about driving that score so we can drive the share prices so that we can then get the lower financing rate to get airplanes. We go away from that time when a Gordon Bethune or Herb Kelleher said, you take care of your internal people, they'll take care of your customer. So everything's bottom line now, Tucker.
Tucker Carlson
And yet ESG is not really, strictly speaking, bottom line. It pleases Larry Fink, who's probably done more than any person to really hurt this country. But sidebar. But for your average customer, you're like, well, you get the feeling that incompetent people are in air traffic control. Incompetent people are in the cockpit. I don't know if that's true or not, but it shakes people's faith, scares the crap out of people. And then planes start crashing. You're like, that's why that seems like against the core interests of the business.
Sherry
I would agree, but because people at the corporate level want to drive the interest rates down, to be able to grow, because it's all about expanding who is the biggest. Right. And so they have to follow some of those mandates.
Tucker Carlson
Yes.
Sherry
And so then we start looking at a particular CEO who said in 21, 50% of my incoming pilots will be women or people of color. First of all, that number is impossible. They don't exist. But when you take merit out of it and you start hiring people based on an attribute that has nothing to do with flying airplanes or controlling them, you start moving down a path of incompetence and it breeds itself all the way down throughout every department in the airline.
Tucker Carlson
Nicely put. I should note the obvious, which is that you are a woman and you started flying, you said commercially in 1991, the year I left college. So there can't have been too many female pilots flying commercially in 1991.
Sherry
The original 21 female airline pilots broke the glass ceiling. I didn't break it, but I kind of crawled through because of them. And, you know, on we go. But in all of my career, I've always been one of the guys. I'm an airman. I'm proud to be an airman. You can't call me an air person. I've earned it because I've done exactly what everyone else has done. And so when a passenger comes on and they look in the cockpit now today, they look a little sideways that there's a woman up here.
Tucker Carlson
Definitely.
Sherry
And especially if I might be sitting next to a Hispanic or an African American, they're wondering how we got our jobs.
Tucker Carlson
Yes, that is absolutely right.
Sherry
DEI hurts those that weren't a product of it as well. And that's unfair to me and to my co workers.
Tucker Carlson
So have you noticed this internally? You said a CEO of an airline announced four years ago that we're going to hire 50% female or non white pilots. But do you feel that as a pilot, do you notice the standards changing?
Sherry
I don't know that I noticed the standard changing, but I know what's expected of me has changed. Quarterly we have a computer based training and it was kind of insidious the way they crept it in here. First it's a little, don't discriminate against people. The next thing is a little more. At my airline last year, I was asked in the DEI training to certify that Tom says, who is now Kathy, that he's a woman, therefore he's always been a woman. Now wait a minute. I'm a faithful person. He's a dude in a dress. And I am not going to agree that I will believe that he's always been a woman. So I said no. Several people said no. We had to apply for religious accommodations. And then we were asked to do what we always do, which is just treat people with dignity and respect. I've done that forever. You know, I don't care what, who, who you love. Right? But I do. I will always treat you with dignity and respect, but only because of the pushback. Now, this year's training, they've dialed it back, but they're trying to creep the things in that don't matter, Tucker. What matters is how to fly an approach. Do you know the regulations? Are you safe? Right. This other stuff is distracting, and it's distracting at the FAA as well.
Tucker Carlson
So how has anyone explained why it's relevant the color of a pilot?
Sherry
No, I have no idea.
Tucker Carlson
So it started with, like, we have, you know, you're probably racist. We have to make you non racist.
Sherry
Sure.
Tucker Carlson
And then it goes from there to, it's really important. The skin color of a pilot is really important somehow. But no one ever says why no.
Sherry
Or, you know, whether they wear a dress or pants.
Tucker Carlson
Right.
Sherry
My case. So, you know, in the US 96.4% of all pilots are male.
Tucker Carlson
Yeah.
Sherry
Right. So there's like less than 4% female airline transport pilots. We can do everything, and I'm an advocate for doing everything we can to get people interested in the job. But, Tucker, there are some people who just don't need to be doing the job either. And you can't fit a square peg in a round hole. I can teach anyone to fly, sure. But there's some that I would not want. My family.
Tucker Carlson
Have you seen those people?
Sherry
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
Tucker Carlson
Like, give me an example.
Sherry
One of my first students, female, I tried to teach her how to fly. She could fly, but she just couldn't put it back together. You know, when you go around, it's pushed the power up and it was dainty. It was just. Just some skill sets that they just don't have. An aggression and, you know, a willingness to get out there and learn it.
Tucker Carlson
You know, to manhandle the machine. Right?
Sherry
Yeah. You have to be in control. Especially at a Cessna. Right?
Tucker Carlson
Yeah.
Sherry
You know, it's not like my auto throttle, big 67, autopilot, et cetera. But the bigger problem we're having today is because it's a lucrative career, a lot of people want. They've been talked into getting involved. And so they see the money, they might not be quite fit for it. I'm also a college professor. I teach human factors for Indiana Wesleyan. So I deal with a lot of the undergraduates and the people coming up. People quit their jobs midlife. I'm going to chase the money. I don't realize what they're doing. And it's a different generation, and my son is of that generation, so I don't want to speak badly of them, but the priorities are different. Right. And so to get them to understand the commitment that it takes to succeed in this career and to get all the way through it, and then to have them, you know, it's kind of entitlement, if I can say that, you know, and they grow up, and I don't want people to think I'm saying, you know, I walked a mile in the snow to school. Therefore, you're not qualified. Right?
Tucker Carlson
Right.
Sherry
But airplane technology has changed. We learned to manhandle those Cessna 172s, and from that, we learned how to manhandle the next biggest airplane. These kids are growing up in glass cockpits with computers. They're learning to fly with their fingers. When they get to the airlines, it's not an aviator that's coming there, it's an operator. And so when they take off, put the autopilot on, fly the autopilot with auto throttles to landing, Ask Al Haines in Sioux City, Iowa, how to fly an airplane without an autopilot. He saved a lot of lives. That skill is not there. And it takes time to build that skill. We could even take those young 1500 hours, and we're doing it. But it takes a long time to mentor. So we've got pilots now that are coming in at minimum, skills having learned on glass cockpits, and in a year, upgrading to captain. I had 12 years of watching the good and the bad of the airline world, and I took the good from them and I left the bad behind. And I think I'm a pretty decent captain now. But those kids are jumping so fast, and then they're running the unions because they're young and they're eager. And so us old people are saying, hey, you know what? We're at a critical moment where we don't have qualified pilots. We'd like to keep them a little longer. We'd be willing to work an extra couple years. But they vote and they say, no, get out of my seat, old man or old woman? Excuse me. They don't want to raise the pilot age. So the Airline Pilots association is complicit in the problem.
Tucker Carlson
It feels like everything is fine until there's a problem. So you read about, even now you read about planes stalling. Something happens and the plane just falls out of the sky. And I've read a number of times of trained pilots who know apply the throttle and point upwards as it's stalling, which I don't think is the right. I think it's the opposite of what you're supposed to do. But they panic under pressure. So that seems like a huge problem. If you're not screening carefully for temperament, ability to think clearly under duress, and you're not allowing people to accumulate relevant experience before turning over the cockpit to them.
Sherry
No, I would agree.
Tucker Carlson
Describe, if you don't mind, since you've flown for so long, a scenario where something goes wrong unexpectedly and you have to think independently from the autopilot.
Sherry
Well, the most dangerous part of your flight, most people don't know it, is takeoff in a jet.
Tucker Carlson
Right. Why? Why is it most dangerous?
Sherry
As we get to the end of the Runway at critical speed, V1, we call it V1 liftoff. The airplane is at full power and you have an engine failure. Now you have asymmetrical thrust. And so it's very critical to lower the nose, do the proper steps. And a lot of times there's critical terrain. So we have a path we have to fly. And a lot of things are happening very quickly. And so doing it by the book, it's what we train for over and over and over again.
Tucker Carlson
Losing an engine on takeoff, on takeoff.
Sherry
It is the most critical point of your entire flight. And so that's what we train for. That's what they pay me for. They don't pay me for the simple stuff, the landings and cruise at altitude and all that. They pay me for that. V1 cut.
Tucker Carlson
Really? V1 cut.
Sherry
Yes. Right. At the speed, we call it V1 velocity 1. So at that critical speed is when we V1 rotate the airplane off the Runway. Engine failure, asymmetrical thrust kicks in a whole bunch of rudder in a 7 6. It takes a lot. You stand on it, get it straight and fly it up to roughly 800ft. Lower the nose worth of checklists and it's a two man job. That's critical reason we can't go to single pilot.
Tucker Carlson
How is it a two man job?
Sherry
Because somebody's got to read the checklist and somebody's got to fly the airplane. I can't fly that Airplane.
Tucker Carlson
Looking down at that checklist, I mean, that does happen. Right?
Sherry
And everyone we've had that I can remember has been extremely successful.
Tucker Carlson
Really. So people survived them all.
Sherry
People survived the last actual death in the US transport category outside of the commuters 2005 Southwest. And it actually wasn't onboard the plane. It was at the gas station across the street of Midway. So we have an incredible safety record, but we have that safety record because of the people up front. Right. The system's kind of working against us though. I don't know if you've seen the preliminary results of the DCA midair. No, we have a serious problem.
Tucker Carlson
So describe what you think happened there.
Sherry
It's not what I think happened.
Tucker Carlson
So dca, the plane that hit the.
Sherry
Helicopter over the helicopter that hit the airplane.
Tucker Carlson
DCA being the in town airport in Washington, speaking, Washington, Reagan National.
Sherry
Thank you. No, I know what I know from watching the NTSB press conference and chairwoman was speaking. She explained several things. It's only preliminary. No blame was assigned at this point. I have my personal belief on blame. But the design of the system failed. Those passengers, okay? The way that route through there was designed. They looked back for 11 years. 945 plus thousand potential incursions in 11 years. My teeth hit the floor.
Tucker Carlson
I mean, I thought we had air traffic control to prevent that.
Sherry
We do. But the problem she detailed is the design of the system that approach. If the helicopter is in the right place, the perfect ideal place, the clearance between the approaching aircraft and the helicopter at one point is as low as 75ft. The rot.
Tucker Carlson
Come on.
Sherry
Watch her. Watch her debrief. I was astounded. The rotor blades on that helicopter are like 30ft radius. Holy cow. And now we know the helicopter was outside of the ideal place and obviously 75ft. Tucker, when I pre flight an airplane between my first officer and myself, the regulation says they have to be within 75ft. So right there we've taken out the protection. What in the world was the FAA doing?
Tucker Carlson
And this is in the nation's capital and these are military helicopters and commercial aircraft. All eyes are on that airport. That airport has all kinds of restrictions on it after 9, 11, you know better than anybody, you know, no private aviation, all this stuff, they really pay a lot of attention. It's like 10 seconds from the White House. So if they're that sloppy at DCA of all airports, right. What the hell are they doing in Santa Monica or wherever?
Sherry
You know, Wichita or you know, lax. Yeah. Who knows? Who knows? Where does the data go? The problem is the FA's twofold master, right? A regulatory body, a promotion of the industry. So what is.
Tucker Carlson
I'm sorry, I don't know what that means. Promotion of the industry.
Sherry
The charge to the FAA is to promote air travel in the United States and to regulate it.
Tucker Carlson
Huh?
Sherry
That's been their mandate from the beginning. Yeah.
Tucker Carlson
Really?
Sherry
Yes.
Tucker Carlson
So they're the policeman and the PR agent, I guess.
Sherry
Because how did Boeing get the right to self certify the max?
Tucker Carlson
What does it mean, self certify the max?
Sherry
So an inspector didn't have to go look at the 737 Max. Boeing had the right to certify itself.
Tucker Carlson
Really?
Sherry
That's been pulled back. Everything that happens in aviation, every regulation happens as the result of blood. Right. And so nobody's being proactive in this agency. Now, I love. I love Secretary Duffy and I love his attitude. And it looks like the new nominee for the FAA administrator is great. But the question is the next level, bureaucrats. These are people who have, for their entire careers, be it at. And a lot came from the military. They like sitting behind green government desks and drinking green government or, excuse me, drinking government coffee. And so, you know, to like have to get up and go over there and look at those reports or do something with them. That's. That's gotta change.
Tucker Carlson
So last year I got home and there are all these boxes in the kitchen. I wonder what these are. I open up one and they are tortilla chips made by a company I'd never heard of, of called Masa. Masa chips are not like other tortilla chips in that they are all natural. They're only three ingredients in the chips and there are no seed oils whatsoever. My wife had ordered these because she's a healthy person. And so I immediately hit them hard. And they're delicious. Not only they're delicious, they don't make you feel bad. You hit any kind of chip on the market in the United States, eat a whole bag of them, for example, and man, you do not feel good. I'm not going to get more specific, but you just. It's like a head injury. You eat a bag of Masa chips, and I can confirm this, because I did, and you feel great. You feel totally fine because it's real food. There's nothing weird in there. There are no weird chemicals in there. Once again, there are no seed oils, just three simple ingredients. And so I thought, well, this is a pretty amazing company making a snack food that's not going to kill you. And you don't feel bad about it. It's like basically what your grandparents ate. So we reached out to Masa and said, hey, if you ever do advertising, we'd love to advertise them because we love the chips. And they said, sure. And so that's what we're doing right now. We're telling the truth about something that we eat and love and we think is great and recommend it strongly on the basis of more personal experience than I want to admit in public. But they're really, really good. So you can go to masachips.com to start snacking. Well, you get 20% off your first order. We enjoy them.
Senator Roger Marshall
Hope Tucker says it best. The credit card companies are ripping Americans off, and enough is enough. This is Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas. Our legislation, the Credit Card Competition act, would help end the Grip Visa and MasterCard have on us. Every time you use your credit card, they. They charge you a hidden fee called a swipe fee, and they've been raising it without even telling you. This hurts consumers and every small business owner. In fact, American families are paying $1,100 in hidden swipe fees each year. The Fees Visa and MasterCard charge Americans are the highest in the world. Double Canada's and eight times more than Europe's. That's why I've taken action. But I need your help to help get this passed. I'm asking you to call your senator today and demand they pass the Credit Card Competition act, paid for by the.
Tucker Carlson
Merchants Payments Coalition, not authorized by any candidate or candidates committee.
Sherry
Www.merrestancespaymentscoalition.com this episode is brought to you by Enterprise Mobility. From fleet management to flexible truck rentals to technology solutions, Enterprise Mobility helps businesses find the right mobility solutions so they can find new opportunities. Because if your business is on the road, they want to make sure it's on the road to success. Enterprise Mobility moving you moves the world. Find your road. @enterprisemobility.com.
Tucker Carlson
We do, too. So here's what we know. Just to go back to the DCA crash for a minute, because it's.
Sherry
And all I know is what she said in her press conference. It is. It was astounding.
Tucker Carlson
Why don't we know who was flying the helicopter?
Sherry
I'm sure they do. Based on, I mean, the voices. One was a female, one was male, Right? So the flying pilot is never the talking pilot. So just listening to the tapes, you could tell if it's a female voice, then the male was flying. If it was a male voice, female's flying.
Tucker Carlson
So I don't know why the hesitance to assign blame. All these people died.
Sherry
Oh, no, no. It's not hesitance to sign blame. This is the initial. Right. This is just the fact piece. It takes up to a year. They go through all the, the flight data. We don't know if she was off her location because of mechanical failure. Right. You know, we all want the answer as to why, but we in the industry want the fix, of course. So. So was that. Were the altimeters off? Was it a training issue? Was somebody in the wrong place? Was it air traffic control, et cetera? So we've got to go through all of that and they'll recreate it and superimpose it and fly it in a simulator and check all these different pieces and parameters and then they'll start looking at blank.
Tucker Carlson
But your point is the structure itself was reckless and crazy.
Sherry
The system was broken and it should have never happened.
Tucker Carlson
There was a plane in. I know you saw this in Canada, I think in Toronto at Pearson, that came in really, really hard on landing and flipped over. Remarkably, everyone survived.
Sherry
Great job. By the flight attendants. Right.
Tucker Carlson
But I guess that's my point. Wherever you get the stage where you're relying on the flight attendants to save you.
Sherry
Yeah, but that's what they're trained to do. So that was absolutely perfect.
Tucker Carlson
And God bless them, of course. But like, how did we get to the point where, like, how did it flip over? How do you flip over a plane on a Runway? I don't understand that.
Sherry
They haven't given out the preliminary. I have my personal opinion. It's only opinion, of course. And you're obviously, I know the female was flying. Right. Because of the radio calls. I'm a human factors expert. Part of that involves vision. So I'm thinking that they were coming down and you've seen the snow kind of swirl across the road a little bit.
Tucker Carlson
For sure.
Sherry
I think she was looking at the point and she was ready to transition her eyes and land and she got a swirl and I think she lost a little bit of, you know, essay situational awareness with the Runway. That's what I think because she flew it right into the Runway hard.
Tucker Carlson
So that that was the core problem. She hit too hard.
Sherry
She hit too hard and it collapsed. It broke the gear and one wing went up. High wing is flying, low wing is not. And it flipped right over.
Tucker Carlson
Damn remarkable.
Sherry
Some people think it is involving, you know, August, a last minute shear, but I don't see the ailerons moving on the wings to counteract that. So I. I still think it has something to do with just a little bit of situational awareness at the end. We'll know.
Tucker Carlson
So if you're moving people through the process at accelerated speed, both for ideological reasons and for practical reasons.
Sherry
Right. You got to fill the seats.
Tucker Carlson
Yep. And you're hiring on the basis of irrelevant criteria, then inevitably you're going to get a reduced skill level. Like, how could you not?
Sherry
Especially when the pilots are more worried about their rock videos and they're part of a clique. If you've seen it. The girls at Endeavor embarrassed me.
Tucker Carlson
Who I'm. I missed.
Sherry
You didn't see the video?
Tucker Carlson
No, but I could tell. I'll be.
Sherry
Yeah. There was some promo video done by a bunch of young ladies, and they were talking about, you know, all female crew, and I think it was a recruit recruiting video. But it was embarrassing to those of us who worked hard.
Tucker Carlson
What airline was this?
Sherry
That was the airline Endeavor. I think it was Endeavor, the one that flipped in Toronto.
Tucker Carlson
Oh, seriously?
Sherry
It was all over and they put.
Tucker Carlson
Out a TikTok, but it was before that. Girl power TikTok.
Sherry
Yeah, girl power TikTok came out and of course it broke the Internet after the accident. And so I want to fly with professional adults, not children. And that was kind of embarrassing.
Tucker Carlson
Have you personally ever flown with someone who you thought wasn't quite up to the job?
Sherry
Yeah.
Tucker Carlson
Oh, wow.
Sherry
Oh, yeah.
Tucker Carlson
How can you tell?
Sherry
You can tell if their head's in the game. I had one young man who had a broken heart. We solved that problem. I had him replaced on the next trip. He was a little distracted. Some guys kind of all over the place with a stick. It's interesting to watch your military single seat guys transition to transport category because they want to do this, you know, but they settle down. Most recently, and the most scary one I've had, I was flying and I was flying a visual approach into Houston, and we're at 1500ft and runways in sight. We're all set. And he'd watched me fly for a little bit, and he says, can I ask a question? Of course. It's a sterile cockpit. You're not supposed to. But I go, yeah. He goes, what are you looking looking at when you fly a visual approach? I was astounded. The ground, we get on the ground, we'll talk about this. No, you're cross checking your instruments. You're double checking the ils. There's some outside light indicators. There's all the inside outside to aviate an airplane. Right. And you're Checking your speed. And he really didn't understand. And I said, why do you not understand? He said, because in the simulator they told me fly the autopilot to 50ft, click it off, look up and land. I almost fell over. Clever. And I, I've talked to a lot of people about this and I don't really think that that's what they were training. I think they, what they were trying to train was how to do a visual approach in a simulator that doesn't allow it and they just need to check the block. So you'll learn this out on the line. You know, this is how we're going to teach you to fly the simulator only. But he understood that to be how you would operate in an airplane. So the disconnect is there because the experience level wasn't there. So if I have a pilot approaching me saying what are you looking at? When you land an airplane, that's a problem.
Tucker Carlson
So I think for non pilot civilians like me, the expectation is that all your pilots either come for the military or Embry Riddle or school like school like sure. Or school like Emerald being the most famous.
Sherry
My alma mater.
Tucker Carlson
Your alma mater. But that they're all kind of like aviation nuts and they like bug their dad for lessons at the local airport.
Sherry
The airplane for.
Tucker Carlson
Exactly. And that they have a lot of experience in small incest and that that's really relevant because the basics of aviation are just so obvious in a little plane. Right. Do you ever get pilots who don't have that experience?
Sherry
No, most have that experience or at least come up through the civilian world. Military is getting harder to find. Right. We're not the military shorthanded as it is. People aren't leaving. You know, we haven't had a war recently. So they're not leaving the military. They've all left the military. Right. Because of the policies. And they're here already. There's no one in the pipeline. And so that's the problem. It's who's out there, you know. And so people that weren't necessarily the creme de la creme. Now we're stuck with what's left and we're trying to fill seats. I will say, well, the economic demise of something like a spirit is a bad thing for those people. We're now starting to get them coming to the big airlines. And so that's good for the passengers. It's good for them. They do have experience. But that rapid desire to grow post pandemic we. My airline went from 10,000 pilots to as of last week 18,000 in two and a half, three years. Damn, that changes.
Tucker Carlson
Where'd those new pilots come from?
Sherry
Everywhere. The Internet, mostly. Microsoft. Flight similar. No, mostly the, you know, the regionals. We'd already drained the military, so they're coming up as fast as they can. And they out of College restricted ATP at 1250 hours, flight of 1500 interview and right in the door, right in the right seat of a 75 57. And two years later you're a captain and you're talking about 26, 25.
Tucker Carlson
Oof.
Sherry
So that slow down judgment isn't there either. The hardest thing I have to do at work, Tucker, is explain to my new first officers that when you see on your, your, your papers that the van leaves at 8 o'clock, that's go, not show, don't show up, then pay your credit card bill and all these things. They're young. I don't want to generationalize this and say that whole entire. Because my son's of that generation and he's responsible. They're just irresponsible, want to do it their own way.
Tucker Carlson
Right.
Sherry
They're just green at life. Not just a piloting, they're green at life. They haven't dealt with responsibilities and things and you know, they don't want to fly. They call fatigued a half hour before the flight and it's like, dude, you had better be where you need to be. That's what they pay us for. Right?
Tucker Carlson
You've had people crap out a half.
Sherry
An hour before Saturday night in Newark and I was a passenger. Yeah.
Tucker Carlson
No way. Like just too hungover to fly.
Sherry
No, he'd flown, he'd flown from one airport into Newark. It started at 9:00 at night. Flew a 30 minute flight. They were going to reassign him to cover the, the late flight and he just said, no, I'm fatigued.
Tucker Carlson
Oh, wow.
Sherry
So that becomes a problem too. So. So all of these reasons that we need to maybe hold on to our senior pilots, to mentor our junior pilots a little longer, they add up.
Tucker Carlson
What just to, to finish it up. What happened to the kid who asked you what you're looking at while you're landing?
Sherry
We talked about it. He's good, he'll be just fine. And I've talked to the training department and explained to them that we have some questions out there. So I'll see him again shortly on another trip and we'll talk about it again. But I'm sure he's.
Tucker Carlson
In all these decades of flying, have you ever been afraid in a Plane never. Not one time.
Sherry
Don't have time to Tucker. Instinct takes over. Adrenaline takes over. If your pilot's afraid, they probably shouldn't be there.
Tucker Carlson
No, that's right.
Sherry
In fact, everything just slows down as fast as I go. And I am. You know, most people say, sugar, you talk too fast. No, I say you listen too slow. But, you know, when it comes down to the emergency, everything just stops. And that's what you want.
Tucker Carlson
Have you had emergencies?
Sherry
I've been blessed, no. My husband, however, has a black cloud over his head.
Tucker Carlson
Really? What happened to him? I'm looking at him out of the corner of my eye right now. He looks very calm, I must say.
Sherry
1998, on St. Patty's Day. Yesterday was the anniversary of his almost near death. It was a near midair at Newark. Let's see. Is that a rapid decompression, an explosive decompression, a full hydraulic system failure. And he took one of my flights because we were on the same airplane at the time. And he flew to Santiago, Chile, and he had a complete standby power system failure, which is something that should have never happened in a Boeing 767.
Tucker Carlson
So what, what. What does that mean?
Sherry
It means they armed the autopilot for the approach. An explosion came out of the dash. Everything goes crazy. The first officer flies. They have no auto brakes, they have no speed brakes, they have no number one radio. Everything is gone. And he landed the airplane and stuck his big cowboy boots on those brakes. It slid the airplane a little sideways, blew six trucks, I think, melted the wheels to the Runway or to the taxiway. And they shot him with water for two hours. And he called me up and he goes, you owe me. And I went, don't wake me up for another hour. Bye. Had no idea what had happened. He was on the news. It was crazy.
Tucker Carlson
But what was the cause of it? Did anyone figure it out?
Sherry
Some sort of an electrical short out the system, so.
Tucker Carlson
But do you ever worry about fire while you're flying?
Sherry
That's my biggest fear.
Tucker Carlson
Me too.
Sherry
Fire is the one thing you don't want to deal with.
Tucker Carlson
But does that ever happen?
Sherry
Haven't seen it in a while. You know, what was it Air Transat or was it Swiss Air up in the North Atlantic? Going in, they diverted into Gander or one of them, and they didn't quite make it.
Tucker Carlson
So because of fire.
Sherry
Fire, we take lithium batteries very seriously, right? Because we have containment bags if your laptop, lithium starts to go, because, you know, that's kind of an uncontrollable fire. We want to get that out. So, you know, again, everything that happens happens in blood and we change the rules.
Tucker Carlson
So what are the rules now in lithium batteries?
Sherry
Boy, you. I'm not familiar. It comes with dangerous goods report. But, you know, you can have whatever you have on the plane, but if you check something with a lithium battery and you don't disclose it, it's a big deal because you know, all of that, as long as we know about it, they package them properly, like a wheelchair or something like that, but they just want you to disclose it.
Tucker Carlson
So is there any way for them to know if you don't disclose it?
Sherry
I don't know.
Tucker Carlson
Damn.
Sherry
I don't know. I don't think there's a sense.
Tucker Carlson
So that's your number one fear?
Sherry
Yeah. Fire is it. But, you know, I also worry about the mental health of the person flying next to me.
Tucker Carlson
There have been a lot of pilot suicides. Well, I mean, relatively speaking. Turkish air.
Sherry
Yes.
Tucker Carlson
Maybe Malaysian Air.
Sherry
Yeah. You had German wings. That was a big one. And that was in 2016. And the pilot, captain left the flight deck and the first officer punched a hole in the Alps and took everybody with him. And that's a bad thing. But the worst thing now, or the fear of mine is as we're moving through this whole. Kathy says she's a man, a woman, but she's really not CFA certification process. And I'm concerned.
Tucker Carlson
Aren't you by definition unstable if you castrate yourself?
Sherry
Well, we can go back and see what the FAA says about it.
Tucker Carlson
No, I mean, I'm not. I'm not being mean. I. I feel deep sympathy. I feel sad to that level of hurting yourself is like. Is a tragedy.
Sherry
It's a tragedy. Right.
Tucker Carlson
And you're the victim of that evil. However, that seems like prima facie. Like, I don't want to use the word crazy because I don't want to be mean, but that you're not a stable person if you're cutting your genitals off. Right.
Sherry
Yeah. Or taking gender affirming hormones.
Tucker Carlson
Yeah. Like, it all seems like the clearest possible sign of mental instability. Like, what could be clearer than that?
Sherry
But you have to look at the FAA certification process and how we got here. I still question how those people with the new executive orders that says, you know, birth gender has to be on your medical certificate, it has to be on your pilot's license. I don't know if that's been done yet, but I question how these people got certified to begin with. So we go back and we do a little history 2012, some lobbying. They lighten the requirements for the psychological testing if you're transgender from massive amounts of reports down to one or two.
Tucker Carlson
Seriously?
Sherry
Yeah, down.
Tucker Carlson
Lobbying. Do you know who lobbied for that?
Sherry
There is a particular female pilot, or, excuse me, transgender pilot, who was able to get some folks in Congress. But it gets worse. In 16, when the federal air surgeon, Dr. Michael Berry, was distracted about pilot mental health, dealing with the outcome of the German wings, the several transgender organizations and another pilot really pushed and they got Barney Frank and congressman out of California to take up their, their charge. And the way they did it was pretty brilliant. The Diagnostics and Statistics manual of the ape, the American Psychiatric association, the DSM had changed from revision 4 to 5, the definition from gender dysphoric disorder to gender dysphoria. Now, they did it for a reason. They wanted to take the stigma off for the poor transgender people. Right. But they couldn't fully pull it out because then there wouldn't be a diagnosis code and they could not then use their insurance to cover their surgeries or their home. Real replacements. There's articles all over the Internet about it. Right, that's fascinating. They were playing the game because the American Psychiatric association, of course, supports all that.
Tucker Carlson
So they're absurd. I mean, and I, and I mean this with the full pejorative connotations. They're crazy, actually. The psychiatrists are nuts.
Sherry
Yeah, exactly. The inmates are running the asylum. So, so they did this move on and Barry was kind of looking one way, or maybe he was in on it, but this was under the Obama administration, so we're just starting to see this push. Right. And so the FAA changed the rules and they said, well, you've got to have a little bit of testing, but if you're five years transitioned or five years on hormones, you can just go back to your regular aviation medical examiner and just get your six month check, no special issuance required. Wait a second. At the time that was going on, there were studies out there that showed exactly what you indicated. In fact, the statistics from the National Transgender something, their own statistics, they had surveyed over 27,000 of their members, and I believe it was 39% said they had suffered serious mental health issues. In the month prior to the survey, 40% said they had attempted suicide in their lifetime, and 7% in the month prior to the survey data was available.
Tucker Carlson
7%. I shouldn't laugh, it's tragic. But 7% tried to kill themselves in the last month.
Sherry
In the last month of 27,000 people do the math, I mean, somewhere in there there's got to be an airline pilot applicant, Right. So why did the federal air surgeon not like, look at some of the data that was available?
Tucker Carlson
You don't want suicidal people flying commercial airplanes.
Sherry
Suicidal people flying airplanes. But even more importantly, studies have been done since then that are even worse now. We look at the medical side of it and hormone replacement therapy.
Tucker Carlson
Yes.
Sherry
Right. Do you know what it the number one thing the FAA aeromedical department is pilot incapacitation. Right. That's heart attacks. That's deep vein thrombosis. It's strokes. Everything that we go through as pilots, aside from our ability to hear and see, is to ensure that we will not become incapacitated in our seat. Right. I'm not going to fall over because I have diabetes or something like that. So I think it was 2020 and it was updated in 23. They conducted a study of males transitioning to females on hormone replacement theory. Now they're not just pilots, just in general. 80 to 90% increase for DVT, heart attack and stroke. FAA is a risk averse agency.
Tucker Carlson
Seriously?
Sherry
Seriously.
Tucker Carlson
There are physical threats, not just like a person becomes suicidal.
Sherry
But that's a big one. That scares me the most.
Tucker Carlson
But I agree. If the FAA is a risk advice the cardiovascular effects. Yeah, I didn't know that.
Sherry
If you're a risk adverse agency and you won't even consider a drug I might be taking because it might possibly indicate that I might have a heart attack.
Tucker Carlson
Yes.
Sherry
Why are you allowing these people who have an 80 to 90% increased chance for that to be in an airplane because they're taking hormone replacement therapy.
Tucker Carlson
Well, it's so wrong to do that to the public.
Sherry
But there's no research arm that I fund at FAA because they're enjoying their coffee in their green desk. Nobody's reading peer reviewed stud. Nobody's looking at this going, you know, we might want to walk that back. I didn't. And that's scary.
Tucker Carlson
So what drugs are you not allowed to take as a commercial airline pilot? There's a bunch of them, right?
Sherry
Yeah. But you know what? They don't publish the list. So you don't even know. Only your aviation medical examiner knows.
Tucker Carlson
But you could. But I, I know from knowing there.
Sherry
Are many that you can't take many.
Tucker Carlson
So like, you probably think about, you think about your health. You think about the drugs that you take.
Sherry
I take anything you, I'm, I, you know, I use holistic stuff for colds and things.
Tucker Carlson
Good for you. I'm with you 100%. But. But you could take like radical doses of male hormones and that would be cool.
Sherry
Well, you have to disclose it.
Tucker Carlson
Yeah.
Sherry
On your medical. But it appears after five years of taking radical doses, they don't make you. I mean, you disclose it, they don't really care if you can go five. That was the key of the 2016 change. If you can go five years, welcome to the club. It's like, so you have to report it, you know, and you have to have exams for that. But even then, all of that was just about their mental health. Nobody is considering what these hormones do long term. But it's even more criminal. That's just a transgender issue. FAA are medical. When it comes to the COVID vaccine, the FDA approved Comitatree at what, 6:00 at night on December 18th. The next morning, same federal air surgeon approves it. Worldwide use in airline pilots.
Tucker Carlson
Who is the federal air surgeon at that time?
Sherry
It was Dr. Michael Berry. He retired a week later and went to work for a pilot insurance company. But the criminal actions happening, that sounds like a crime.
Tucker Carlson
I mean, isn't he supposed to assess its effects on the millions of Americans.
Sherry
Who fly well, at least take a look at, maybe do a longitudinal study on the transgender issue. But when it comes to the COVID situation, the effects of altitude pressurization, and we work in a very dry humidity. We don't. This is an EUA product. It's never had an EUA product ever, ever certified for use in pilots. And he'd written many articles on the drug certification.
Tucker Carlson
Can I just ask, because I'm interested, like, what are the effects on your health as a pilot of spending 35 years in a cockpit?
Sherry
Because it is a weird wrinkles. It's dry, right? Yes, it's dry. So hydration, cosmic radiation. I've had skin cancer coming through the. Well, it's cosmic radiation. Would you fly above the tropopause or up in that area? Right. So there's. There's radiation all the time. It's not just when the sun's shining. Right. It's in. It's exactly what the astronauts suffer up on the space station. You know, it's. It's radiation that's up there. So a lot of your pilots. High levels of prostate cancer among male pilots, breast cancer among female pilots. Through the roof, really. You know, we're not in a shielded environment. The higher you fly, the stronger it is. So when we look at those sorts of things. Yeah, take care of yourself, folks. But. But we don't know what those what those drugs were doing to people. And we don't know pressurization, humidity and altitude effects on them.
Tucker Carlson
Only three things are absolutely certain in this life and you know two of them. First is death. Second is taxes. And the third on unfortunately is getting ripped off by your cell phone company. If you're a Verizon, ATT or T Mobile customer, you know exactly what we're talking about. But there is an option. You could save a ton every month by switching to the service that we use. It's called PureTalk. PureTalk is an earnest friend of the show and they are the answer. If you become a customer of PureTalk, you get unlimited text, talk and 5 gigs of data, which is enough for most people on the country's most dependable 5G network. And here's the punchline. It costs $25 a month. So the average family of where we did the Math saves over $1,000 a year when they switch to PureTalk. Thousand dollars a year plus it's a great service. Their customer service team is based in the United States. You can switch hassle free in as little as 10 minutes. You even get to keep your phone and your phone number. To find out More, go to PureTalk.com Tucker to make a switch and you'll save an additional 50% off your very first month. PureTalk Wireless by Americans for Americans.
Sherry
This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Upgrade your business with Shopify. Home of the number one checkout on the planet. Shoppay boosts conversions up to 50%, meaning fewer carts going abandoned and more sales going Cha ching. So if you're into growing your business, get a commerce platform that's ready to sell wherever your customers are. Visit shopify.com to upgrade your selling today. The new KFC dunk it bucket with juicy Original recipe tenders. New mashed potato poppers, crispy fries, plus three sauces that fit right on top of the lid so you can dunk anywhere. You can dunk at the game. Dunk while security points to the no outside food sign and dunk as 20,000 people watch you and your Dunkin Bucket get removed from the stadium. Dunk almost anywhere with the new $7 KFC Dunkin Bucket or get the double Dunkin Bucket for 25. Prices and participation vary while supplies last, taxes, tips and fees extra.
Tucker Carlson
Yeah, because it is a. It's a totally different environment from the one the rest of us live in day to day. So explain what happened with COVID So Covid. So just if you don't mind telling that Story. Because I think it's interesting from.
Sherry
From the mandate perspective or.
Tucker Carlson
Yeah, from a mandate perspective.
Sherry
Okay.
Tucker Carlson
Not from the Wuhan lab.
Sherry
Yeah. No.
Tucker Carlson
Fauci funded.
Sherry
No. Well, I mean, it's interesting, Tucker, because I really never thought I'd ever get into any of this fight. I'm just a mom. I'm cruising along through life. And New year's Eve of 2018, I looked in the rearview mirror and the lights were going off and I pulled over. I got busted for dui.
Tucker Carlson
Oh, yeah.
Sherry
Greatest thing that ever happened to me. And, God, I questioned him, and my darling husband said, he never gives you more than you can handle, Sherry. And I didn't know at the time, but he was preparing me for the fight of my life. I had to fight to get my job back. The FAA wasn't. Was straightforward because of my former union work, I believe. You know, maybe it was a little more difficult than normal at my airline, but I succeeded, and I got all my back pay and everything I needed, but it taught me how to navigate against a corporate conglomerate. So I'm back to work, and on August 6th, the CEO of my airline announces that there will be a vaccine mandate or you'll be fired in a month. And I'm sorry.
Tucker Carlson
2021.
Sherry
2021. August 6th. Craziest day of my life. Called my best friend. She's also a captain, and she's known around the airline as kind of the mom type, and she's the head of vaccine. Injured family member. So. So Laura Cox and myself, along with the wife of one of the pilots who's an attorney, Danielle. The three of us got our heads together and we said, how are we going to get through this? Because I'm not going to violate my faith and take a product that derived from aborted fetal tissue cells, et cetera, et cetera. And that was.
Tucker Carlson
I think that's just a conspiracy theory. That's not true.
Sherry
Shall I throw the glass of water?
Tucker Carlson
No, no, no, no. It's just so funny. It's like for that whole period, I try not to think about COVID and that whole chapter in our country's history and in my life. But you would hear people say, well, I'm getting a religious exemption. And then no one ever asked why.
Sherry
No.
Tucker Carlson
And if you ask why, they'd be like, well, there's some connection between the vaccines, the COVID vaccines and abortion. And then you'd hear someone in the background say, that's a lie, and then just sort of move on. And no one ever talked about it, but Those vaccines were derived from aborted babies.
Sherry
For the fetal tissue cells were used in either the development or the manufacture of all three of the US approved drug.
Tucker Carlson
So I think I haven't checked because I'm trying to read Wikipedia because it's just CIA controlled lies. But. Which it is. But I bet you to this day they deny that. But that's just a fact.
Sherry
It's a fact. I mean, it's a fact. Ask the Secretary of Health and Human Services, he'll tell you the facts. Yeah, so.
Tucker Carlson
So that was a no go for you right there.
Sherry
That was a no go for me, it was a no go for my husband. It was also a no go for Laura and about eight. Well, at the beginning there's probably 20,000 people at United. It was no go. And so as it progressed, 8,000. The pressure got put on us. They sent postcards to our house so that in our case, we're married, didn't matter. But they would send a postcard to your house and that would say, you know, you only have 22 days left to get the vaccine or be terminated. Well, the wife won't open your mail, but she'll read your postcard. Right? So she reads it, she goes, honey, we're going to lose everything. People would acquiesce. They told people that you would lose your 401k if you didn't leave the company or get the shot. I mean the mid level managers, you know, that are.
Tucker Carlson
You said you lose your 401k.
Sherry
Yeah, I have a recording of a pilot being told that you can't have your retirement, you can't have your own money. Right. It gets better. But these pressure was just intense. Right. And so people would fall off and the whole reasonable accommodation process was onerous and corrupt in itself. And there's thousands of pages of discovery documents on our organization's website. So if anybody wants to read about. But they wanted to put like scarlet letters on our ID badges for the unvaccinated so that other people would point and pick on us. It was crazy. But the three of us got together, put our heads together. We hired the best law firm we could find, Sheri Jaffe out of D.C. and we filed for an injunction and we still didn't quite get there. In November of 21, every one of us were put on unpaid, indefinite leave, basically fired.
Tucker Carlson
What did they say to you?
Sherry
They didn't. They just said, you're done.
Tucker Carlson
And how long had you worked at the airline at that point?
Sherry
Got hired in 1998. It was 2021 that's crazy town.
Tucker Carlson
So you spent your, like, most of your adult life there? Never had a problem? No.
Sherry
Well, I was a union rep. I've had my share, but fights with fights. But yeah, in general, no. I've never crashed a plane. Gosh, no. Never failed a check ride. Never have done anything like that, you.
Tucker Carlson
Know, and they just can you without.
Sherry
Sayonara. See ya. But we kept moving.
Tucker Carlson
I want to attack your CEO. I don't want. I used to work there, so I don't want to make your life.
Sherry
Well, I mean, it's in the press. We all know there were three airlines that mandated the vaccine. Hawaiian, Coletta Air Cargo, and United. So that's it. That was it. The rest were mandated eventually because nobody would follow along, right? They knew better.
Tucker Carlson
United was the only domestic.
Sherry
Well, Hawaiians domestic, technically.
Tucker Carlson
Not rats. Let's be honest. Contiguous United States, Continental United States. You know, the big carriers, right? Delta, American.
Sherry
No, United. When nobody followed, then the president, Joe Biden, instituted the OSHA mandate, right? For contract, if you have more than 100 employees, you have to mandate this or the government contractor mandate. If you do work and everybody flies the mail, right. $4.6 billion business every year to the airlines and flying U.S. mail. So it was a contract. You had to mandate it. But the guys at SW Freedom Flyers North Me up in Dallas, they, you know, they did a little pushback, the American boys, the Delta folks. And so the exemption process for them was just kind of a paper mill. Their bosses were cool about it. They were just like, whatever. And eventually both those mandates were overturned in court.
Tucker Carlson
But that was the way to play it, by the way.
Sherry
Yeah, be kind to your employees.
Tucker Carlson
100%. Firing longtime employees because they don't want a vaccine. I mean, it's like, so cruel.
Sherry
But it played into a marketing campaign.
Tucker Carlson
Who did that? Who made that decision?
Sherry
Well, it was made by the CEO. I mean, it's in the court testimony. And the judge ruled that it was a pretextual situation whereby there was a marketing campaign at the bottom line. So there was a desire for that CEO to be able to come out publicly and say, in my opinion, at least, that they were the first fully vaccinated airline. If they could do it by the holidays of December, maybe people would come.
Tucker Carlson
Back who fly on the first fully vaccinated airline. I don't. Yeah, I don't want to fly an airline with vaccinated pilots because it's dangerous. So that's. That's my view. But I guess a lot of people disagree. So this Was a.
Sherry
To his credit. His argument has always been, it's been about safety. Safety for my employees. Look, I'm an adult. I can make my own medical decision, so I don't need my CEO deciding my safety situation. But that was his argument. I want to just get that on record.
Tucker Carlson
Get the experimental COVID vaccine. You can't get or transmit Covid. Like we know that, right? Did that turn out to be true?
Sherry
I've never had Covid.
Tucker Carlson
Does this CEO. You have to name him if you don't want. But is he still running the airline?
Sherry
Yep.
Tucker Carlson
It doesn't have a board, I guess the company. I'm sorry, there's no board.
Sherry
Oh, yes, the board of directors.
Tucker Carlson
But, you know, this is all so crazy. No one's.
Sherry
But everybody. After the pandemic, remember, after this went away, and then we got. We went in court and we get called back, oh, we're on to the next big thing, which is, you know, pilots. Male pilots, you know, or, excuse me, male flight attendants with beards, wearing lipstick or whatever the issue of the day is. So, you know, that's. That's over. That's over. Don't worry.
Tucker Carlson
So what? I keep stepping on your story. Tell me. Okay, so this comes down, you go to court, try to get an injunction.
Sherry
We don't get the injunction.
Tucker Carlson
Don't get it. And then you're laid off.
Sherry
We're out.
Tucker Carlson
Bam. Your husband, too, everybody? No, but in your case, my house, too.
Sherry
Yes. Two of us. And my son, God bless him. You know, he was going to school and dealing with two pilots being home, which is unusual for him, but, you know, we.
Tucker Carlson
Your whole family's unemployed in one day because of this.
Sherry
Instantly. Overnight.
Tucker Carlson
That's kind of heavy, actually. How did you.
Sherry
I mean, it was very heavy. You know what happened? 2000 people came together. Rampers, mechanics, flight attendants, pilots. We became a family overnight. I mean, over the last three years. I consider them my dearest, most wonderful friends. And I want to say thank you to every one of them for the support.
Tucker Carlson
Oh, what a blessing.
Sherry
I mean, to me, servant leadership. It's the real deal.
Tucker Carlson
I agree.
Sherry
I led them. They blessed me to the ability to lead them right. With my. With my friend Laura and Danielle. You know, these people are incredible. But we've been to birth together. We've been through marriages, we've been through death. And I will tell you, those 2,000 people are more important to me than anything in this world. And they're there for each other. We had battle buddies. Somebody was feeling bad, you'd Call a friend. We kept chat groups, and most of the time they're pretty prayerful. We've debated books of the Bible. I mean, we are just like this amazing.
Tucker Carlson
So how many. So it was 2,000 people, in the end, got fired.
Sherry
Yep.
Tucker Carlson
And that was down from the initial number of people who said, I'm not.
Sherry
Taking it, and 20,000 down to 8,000 down to this, you know, and.
Tucker Carlson
But in the end, it was 2,000 people who stood strong, plus or minus.
Sherry
Yeah, 2,000.
Tucker Carlson
Did anyone fake getting a vaccine?
Sherry
I have no knowledge of that. I know a lot of people who have in my community. Not. Not at my. My company. My husband's PA says, you know, her mom and dad walked in and they. Somebody said it on the counter and there's the trash when you're done. I mean, you know, we have doctor friends that are saying that, so.
Tucker Carlson
Oh, and everyone had faked. I had a fake vax card proudly. And I would do it again the next time. There's tyranny. I'm not.
Sherry
There's only one way to get fired from my airline. It's the lie. Other than that, you can.
Tucker Carlson
Right. No.
Sherry
So I'm not going to do it.
Tucker Carlson
Well, but you also make it. But it's also wrong to lie. And. And I lied in using a fake vax card.
Sherry
No, that's. Okay. So you were able to live your life and Good. Yeah.
Tucker Carlson
But no, you're right. That's a moral compromise. And I. And I probably should have done that. I don't know. Trying to think about it too much, but. No, but I think you're taking a really principled position and saying. I'm going to say clearly what I believe. I don't think I should be punished for it. When I am punished for it, I'm going to take my lumps and fight back. So. I admire what you do.
Sherry
Yeah. We went through the EEOC process and then on through the courts, and right now we sit in the fifth Circuit on appeals, so.
Tucker Carlson
And I couldn't be rooting for you more fervently, but thank you. So what. Okay, so what happened then? So 2000 are fired with no support like you?
Sherry
They're not. In fact, you should have been able to tap your 401k in an emergency situation. Right. It locked us out.
Tucker Carlson
What, like you're a criminal?
Sherry
I could not access my 401k. They said, well, you could apply for another job in the company. I'm 57 years old. I'm gonna go throw bags. Well, okay, if you want to Pay me myself. Oh, no, no. You're gonna do it for a baggage rate. I'm gonna have to drive to the airport every day and go through the CEO.
Tucker Carlson
Sounds like a pig, actually. Sorry. That's my view.
Sherry
You're not saying you're welcome to this, right?
Tucker Carlson
That's my opinion. I just want to be clear. But he sounds like a pig.
Sherry
If you know Michael Barry in Houston, he has some. He's a radio man, and he just.
Tucker Carlson
Sounds like an awful man. And I hope he's punished. He will be. But anyway, so.
Sherry
But we get called back because we won in the fifth circuit.
Tucker Carlson
And how long was that?
Sherry
It was. I think it was around February 17th. That. So we were out November, December, January. Four months.
Tucker Carlson
Did you get into money trouble?
Sherry
No.
Tucker Carlson
You got no income coming in.
Sherry
Yeah, but, you know, we're old enough to have had some savings.
Tucker Carlson
Savings, right. But you're. You're burning reserves.
Sherry
Yeah, we are burning reserves. I mean, but you know who. We don't live a grandiose lifestyle. So, you know, cars were paid for and things like that, and, you know, we were able to peak.
Tucker Carlson
But there had to be people.
Sherry
Oh, there were people that were selling everything. Laura, her husband, sold his dream, which was a small fishing boat. I mean, it was not like a. Anything big, but that was his dream. Because they needed to pay their bills. You know, people were selling everything, and some were taking other jobs, making me emotional mental health. Side of it was. Was scary. You don't understand the number of people Brett or myself talked out of suicide. And it was tough, but we made it.
Tucker Carlson
So of those 2,000, can you just roughly break it down what they did? How many pilots?
Sherry
360, plus or minus pilots. Okay, there's about seven. Let's see. So that's 350. There was about 50 to 100, what we call agents, you know, ticket agents. And the balance would have been flight attendants, the mechanics, the stores people. The majority of the agents that worked in larger cities, avionics, technicians, management, they were able to work with a masking and testing regime. But it was punitive. It wasn't masking. It was N95 respirators. From the moment you pulled on property till the moment you left, you ate outside. Didn't matter if it was snowing, raining, cold. You put it back between every bite.
Tucker Carlson
And sip, wearing a yellow star the whole time.
Sherry
That mask was the yellow star. And then you had to be tested on a rolling every seven days. And it didn't matter if you were out on family medical leave. If you got hurt at work or were on vacation, you missed one test, you were terminated. So.
Tucker Carlson
And this is the one where they stick the stuff up your nose.
Sherry
And I. That's a whole nother issue.
Tucker Carlson
I never did that.
Sherry
I would never do it.
Tucker Carlson
No.
Sherry
So. So it was all punitive and it was all punishment, but they justified it in that those people didn't work on board the airplane. So for safety reasons, they were away from.
Tucker Carlson
Of those 2,000, of course, you can't really know, but what's your sense of the percentage of Christians among.
Sherry
Well, in our organization, I know I have seven Jewish members. Yes. I have a handful religious very much.
Tucker Carlson
So the seven Jewish people are religious people.
Sherry
Yeah, very much religious, very faithful.
Tucker Carlson
Good for them.
Sherry
One is actually fighting a battle to get an accommodation for wearing a very tight beard. So we have those seven or so. We have at least one or two Muslims that I know of. One of our lead plaintiffs was a Buddhist majority, Christians.
Tucker Carlson
But, I mean, observant.
Sherry
Like, every one of these people are observant.
Tucker Carlson
So all 2,000 were religious people.
Sherry
Very well, I take that back. We had a handful of people who are very observant, but that had a medical issue and their doctor told them, don't get it. And so they applied for a medical accommodation backed up with a religious. Because of their faith. But I would say 99.9% are.
Tucker Carlson
So what you're saying is that when you bring down a vaccine mandate like this, like, hey, let me inject you with some imported baby cells, you really are getting rid of the religious people. Yeah, because, I mean, this was done at a national scale. So I think it's fair to, you know, if the outcome is the point of the exercise, it seems like they drove religious people out of government service. That's what it looks like to me. The military, the airline is kind of crypto, since you fly the mail. But it's not really government. But.
Sherry
But, yes, you know, anywhere where.
Tucker Carlson
But they're punishing religious people anywhere There's.
Sherry
A large group, you know, of employees, places. Yes, I would agree. They're. They're. But it's also. Religious people also happen to believe in the Constitution. They also happen to be three free thinkers.
Tucker Carlson
Oh, I've noticed.
Sherry
And, you know, I think. I think there's even more insidious things than. They were after the religious people. Sure. But they were also after anybody who would not stand, would comply. Right. I think to them it was a test to see how they could trample people's rights.
Tucker Carlson
There's absolutely no Question about it. That's my personal belief. But I do think we've spent too little time celebrating the people who are willing to really have their lives reordered, willing to be punished and suffer for what they believed. Those people are heroes.
Sherry
I think I know 2000 heroes.
Tucker Carlson
Yeah, well, that's totally. They're not. Yeah. So. So then what happens? You go back to work and we're.
Sherry
Invited back to work eventually because of the court ruling. But then we're told, but you can't fly anywhere. You have to be careful.
Tucker Carlson
You can't fly anywhere.
Sherry
They wouldn't let us. We had restricted cities. Right. Because countries might require a vaccine. Well, of those restricted cities, there weren't any countries that wouldn't let pilots in. But it was a big battle. We had to, we had to fight through this until Canada dropped the mandate for passengers. And so there were just things that were done. The constant retaliation pieces, getting called in the office because of a Facebook avatar or just dumb things called the office.
Tucker Carlson
Because of a Facebook avatar. What does that mean?
Sherry
So Laura and I had changed our Facebook, you know, symbol.
Tucker Carlson
Yeah.
Sherry
To the Star of David. It said unvaxed on it. Right. Because we felt like we were being abused. You know, I didn't want to make any light of previous situations, but you know, it was out there and some pilot who disagreed with us anonymously reported us to the corporation and we had to go to the office and do the carpet dance and explain why that wasn't discrimination.
Tucker Carlson
But why would it be discrimination?
Sherry
Because we offended the Jewish people because we co opted their star. So first thing I did is call my seven Jewish members and say, does this offend you? They're like, no, we stand with you. Okay, fine.
Tucker Carlson
But it wouldn't. I mean, it's not mocking Jews, isn't it? Standing in solidarity with anyone who's been singled out and oppressed.
Sherry
Exactly.
Tucker Carlson
So it was like about as positive an identification as you could have.
Sherry
But it was one more reason. Four times, five times in one year, I had to go sit in there and explain myself. It just goes on. I got one coming up.
Tucker Carlson
What is it? What'd you do wrong this time?
Sherry
This time two years ago, I was trying to be kind to a very famous elderly person. We were going to do an engine run and I couldn't leave them on the jetway with the engines running and doors open. And so we got the person up to the top and unfortunately then she wrote a nasty letter. So I have to go do the carpet dance and explain why you can't sit unattended on a jetway with the door open and the engine running, and mechanic with an arm and an engine. So we'll get through it, but it's just constant.
Tucker Carlson
One of the greatest changes of the past six months is you can finally say, loud and proud, without the threat of going to jail for it, that you're for babies, you're for the unborn. And that's great news for preborn, our partner, which operates a clinic network across the United States. Preborn is the single greatest threat to the abortion industry. It's rescued over 67,000 babies last year alone. These abortions still claim thousands of lives every year. It's one of the great tragedies unspoken most of the time. It's not a right. It is a tragedy. So the goal is to rescue all these babies that need your help to do that. Assisting in providing ultrasounds is a great place to start. More knowledge, more information. For expecting mothers, it really makes a huge difference. Once a mother realizes that the lump in her belly is a baby, as a child, she becomes twice as likely to choose life to let that child live. One ultrasound costs only 28 bucks, meaning that five are just $140. So $5,000 is good for enough devices to cover Preborn's entire network for a full day. It really, really helps. We hope you'll join this cause. Dial pound250, say the keyword baby. That's pound250, the word baby. Or you can visit preborn.comtucker to make a secure donation. Preborn.comtucker how did the other pilots who, like obedient sheep, took the needle, how did they treat you?
Sherry
I've never had anyone come up and say, you guys are causing a problem. Now, there's keyboard warriors on certain social media sites, but at work, nine out of 10 have said, I wish I could have stood with you. I'm sick. My friend is sick or something. I will never do it again, ever, ever, ever. And I'm sorry I didn't stand with you.
Tucker Carlson
Those poor people. I know a million vaccinated people. I've never heard anybody say, I'm glad I got the vax. Not a single one.
Sherry
No.
Tucker Carlson
And I feel so sad for a lot of them I love. So I feel so sad for them. I'm sorry to make fun of them. I shouldn't. They were the victims, too.
Sherry
They're victims, too. Some are just stronger than others.
Tucker Carlson
But the COVID vaccine turned out to be so dangerous. It killed so many people. It's a fact. I mean it's in the virus program. These are not conspiracy theories. It's like that's a fact that it does make you wonder, like what would you want? I don't want to fly in a plane with vaccinated pilots because I think it's too dangerous. But are there numbers on this?
Sherry
Oh yeah.
Tucker Carlson
So tell me what they are.
Sherry
So I had a lot of free time there while I was off of work and I'd been working on my doctoral dissertation. And when this started to go down, I shifted gears. So my organization, Airline Employees for Health Freedom, we started getting phone calls. I know somebody that's sick or I know this or I know that. So we just put a data collection link up and it got so intense that I said, you know what, I'm gonna stop everything, I'm gonna write my dissertation and I'm going to study the vaccine injury amongst commercial airline pilots. And so almost about seven months of data collection, 1600 plus respondents across the industry and understand the population is about 80, 20 vaxxed. Right. My study actually came out about 5050 because a whole bunch of my unvaccinated friends wanted to help, which watered down my numbers, but it actually makes them that much more powerful because at 50, 50, if I found this, what would I have found at 80 20? And what I found is commercial airline pilots in the United States are suffering pericarditis and myocarditis at rates exceeding the CDC's national average. And I proved it to a 98% plus or minus 4 in that regards.
Tucker Carlson
What are the implications for myocarditis in an airline pilot?
Sherry
Goes back to that incapacitation thing, right? Pilots gotta have a healthy heart. But what it really means for the short term, we're losing pilots. It's anecdotal, it's in my dissertation, but I have the charts from American Southwest and from the union at United. The disability rates Post December of 21 Shoot through the ceiling. They're off the charts and they're getting worse by the day. So pilots are going on long term disability. It's one more way to get rid of those high dollar workers, I guess, I don't know. And we just, that way we have to have more young people come in. And so where it goes I don't know. But I found things from kidney stones to serious, you know, mental, excuse me, neurological problems, cardiac. It's really scary and nobody wants to know about it. And the problem is I went to the union and I said to the national president in an email and I have it in My dissertation, it's published online. I found this. We need to address this. And he says, oh, no, no, you know what? That's in the past. We don't. That might be disruptive to unity.
Tucker Carlson
Wait, what is the point of unions again? I totally forgot. Isn't it to take care of their members?
Sherry
I have a former rep. I've seen the sausage making from the inside. We were, quote, a professional organization that focuses on safety. That's their number one point. Secondly is collective bargaining. I paid a lot of money for them to abuse me.
Tucker Carlson
But if your job is to take care of your people, that's what a union is, right? It's we collectively bargain. We're in this together, and we're looking out for people who have not enough power, which is the workers against management. And they're not interested in people dying or being disabled.
Sherry
They weren't interested in them putting us on the street. They stepped back and said, company can do what they want.
Tucker Carlson
What?
Sherry
No, it's not in the collective bargaining agreement. That is a term and condition. That is an EEOC problem between you and the airline.
Tucker Carlson
That's disgusting. What's the name of this union?
Sherry
The Airline Pilots Association. Alpa. And Alpa is working against helping the pilot shortage by upping the age. ALPA worked against all of us in any of the airlines. I can't say that, because actually, you know, the Alpha people at Delta, they worked with at Bastion, and they actually came up with a pretty good system during this mandate piece, but ours washed our hands of us.
Tucker Carlson
Are you required to be a member of this union?
Sherry
Unfortunately, yes.
Tucker Carlson
So they take your money and they do nothing for you, and they collaborate with your creepy CEO to oppress the workers there. And the unions, like, all on board with them.
Sherry
Oh, and it even gets better. They take my money and they have a DEI committee. It's staffed by a transgender pilot who then sends me emails explaining what my language should be.
Tucker Carlson
I'm trying not to use the F word. This is my Lenten challenge, but it's almost sneaking out.
Sherry
Oh, yeah. So we don't.
Tucker Carlson
The union sends you that. So your union exam exists to lecture and torment you and steal your money.
Sherry
Let's just say they. We have people in the union, in the legal department who are not the best and brightest. You'd obviously work at somewhere other than a union. But the rumor is. I've been told that I'm the fifth rail. They don't even know the saying. It's the third rail. Right. So trust me, the union and I don't get along really well, Tucker.
Tucker Carlson
And you were a union rep.
Sherry
I was. I was.
Tucker Carlson
So it's not like you have some ideological problem with unions as a theory.
Sherry
No, I, I, I had a desire to go in there and help people and clean up the mess. That was.
Tucker Carlson
Yeah. I mean, I speak for myself. I'm totally in favor of unions. I have a friend who's a labor leader, and I, I like the idea of unions. I do. I like the solidarity. And someone needs to push back against power. I'm all for that. It's just that in practice, in this specific case, but also in others, it seems like they're collaborating against their members.
Sherry
Unions are. In this case, at least, I use the phrase. Unions are like the tick on the dog. Right. They suck from the dog, but they can't kill it because that's the way they live. So in the case of the Airline Pilots association, they collaborate a lot with management. They get what they need, they get the dues from it, and they'll do a little bit, but they can't do too much. Right. Because they need the, the company to stay profitable or they'll be gone.
Tucker Carlson
Okay, well, that's, I mean, I don't think that's unreasonable, but they shouldn't be.
Sherry
The disciplinary arm of the airline. And a lot of cases they are.
Tucker Carlson
Everyone hates the teachers unions. And I, of course, I do, too. I think they've helped wreck education. However, at least in New York City, like, they stick up for their members.
Sherry
Sure.
Tucker Carlson
In a very unreasonable way. Even when their members are, like child molesters, they'll defend them.
Sherry
Yeah.
Tucker Carlson
Which is bad.
Sherry
Yeah.
Tucker Carlson
But the idea that you stand up for the people in your charge, that leadership means laying down your life for the people beneath you. I believe in that. And there's nothing worse than a collaborator. Wow, that's really disgusting.
Sherry
Yeah. Wash their hands of all of us. And it didn't happen just at the Airline Pilots Association. It happened at the AFA association of Fly Zones. Right. It happened the Teamsters, I think. No, it wasn't the teams. The dispatch union leader was the only one that fought back against the mandates. Right. All the rest of them just rolled over.
Tucker Carlson
So what, I mean, are airline people political? And how does it break down politically?
Sherry
Airline people. Okay, so we have a few of the hardcore union people, of course, that are going to lean left. Right. Airline people are of the ilk of where they live. Okay. Houston base is very conservative, very Texas, very red. I see in the San Francisco base a much more liberal opinion. So I think they're just people. I don't think it's. We're not in the days of fighting, Lorenzo. Right. So I don't think it's really a political thing with the airline people. I think they're just part of their community.
Tucker Carlson
But there's something about aviation because it's, I mean, science based, it's engineering that every airline pilot, I've known a million airline pilots and they're all, they have the same kind of logical, Cooley, analytical temperament and they believe in like the facts because they have to. Or the plane crashes.
Sherry
Bernoulli is a fact. Right. We can't change that.
Tucker Carlson
Exactly. And like a thunderstorm will pull your wings off. So don't fly into it. These are just facts. We're not in control. We acknowledge them and we, and we're risk averse.
Sherry
Right. So we're going to be conservative and take the most conservative way.
Tucker Carlson
So I don't that also there still.
Sherry
Are some liberal ones.
Tucker Carlson
Are there really?
Sherry
Oh yeah. They're usually the big union dogs, you know, the high power ones.
Tucker Carlson
But I can't, I can't get my head around someone whose job it is to obey the laws of physics, like unflinchingly. You know, it's like that's a fact. We have to obey that law because it's, we can't change it. That person believing that you can change your sex, which is the most irrational thing you could say most of them.
Sherry
Are not faithful at all to.
Tucker Carlson
To what?
Sherry
As well. I mean, they're not faithful as well. They're not religious people either.
Tucker Carlson
Oh, of course not. Right, of course. The whole idea is to give a finger to God and proclaim yourself master of the universe. I can change my sex. Okay, can you control the weather now too, like John Kerry? But no, it's not even that. Which I do have a problem with, to be clear. That's irrational. That's what freaks me out. That's irrational. So if you believe in something that irrational. I don't want you flying my airplane. No, I mean I don't want you.
Sherry
Flying next to me in that airplane because I have to get up on a 10 hour flight and go take a break or go in the bathroom. How are you going to behave when I'm not here? We got pilots that are asking those questions right now. They're saying I'm not comfortable leaving the flight deck.
Tucker Carlson
Oh, come on.
Sherry
When we're flying with somebody of that.
Tucker Carlson
Nature, can you go to the company and say not. No, I'm on a ten hour Flight because. So you're a veteran, obviously a veteran pilot. You've got to be one of the. Have some of the most hours of.
Sherry
I'm in the top 10%.
Tucker Carlson
Yeah, right.
Sherry
Okay.
Tucker Carlson
So that means traditionally you're flying the longer, better, more fun routes to the prettier capitals. Like that's what I have noticed. So. But you're flying on long flights, so you have to get up at some point.
Sherry
Well, I'm required legally to go take a break. I mean, I have to go to bed for over eight hours. You have to take a nap. We rotate. We have three pilots and we rotate three.
Tucker Carlson
Yeah, but can't you call the company and say, hey, I'm not comfortable leaving my co pilot unattended? Like that seems like a big thing for me.
Sherry
It's anecdotal because I haven't flown with one yet back, except for when I was on the 737 years ago and there was a captain who by the way, was a terrible pilot.
Tucker Carlson
A transgender captain.
Sherry
Yeah, he's a terrible pilot. He's more focused on other things.
Tucker Carlson
What kind of things?
Sherry
I want to be funny, but making sure his voice sounded right or, you know, there was a lot of distraction. He was just known as not a very great pilot. And so, you know, I did a lot of the flying, but that was years ago when I was really young. Former airline before the merger. So. But so I haven't in, in my world, there hasn't really been any in the 767, but a lot of dear friends in the more Jr airplane 737 and Airbus was just like, I'm not comfortable. You know, they don't fly the long haul, so they can usually get to where they're going.
Tucker Carlson
They can hold it.
Sherry
Yeah, thank you. But yeah, they just, they don't want to leave. We're not sure what could happen. They've read the same studies as I have.
Tucker Carlson
Damn.
Sherry
And it's not just here, it's across the industry. Right.
Tucker Carlson
Meaning in Europe as well.
Sherry
No, I'm meaning in domestic airlines. It's not just my carrier, it's pilots from a lot of different carriers concern.
Tucker Carlson
That's like. And what would happen if you called up airline HQ and said, this is just too nuts. I think it's a threat to safety. What would they say to you, come.
Sherry
Into the office, let's have another carpet dance for real? Oh, yeah. Now. So the thing is, you have to observe a safety concern. You must report it as a whistleblower. Then it might get changed. But I haven't actually officially observed it, but I can understand where we're going. I mean, it might not be as dramatic as somebody not wanting to fly with somebody, but one very real piece is you can be called in the office and get in trouble for say, misgendering somebody using the wrong pronoun. Actually, yes, unfortunately, I work in a safety sensitive world. I have a common safety language, right? If we're in the middle of a massive emergency at altitude and I pick up that and I call them back and I say, hey guys, prepare the cabin. Oh, wait a minute, was I supposed to remember was a guy or a girl or what? It's just a word I use in the heat of battle. I don't want to have an Abbott and Costello who's on first discussion with the person at the other of the phone. No, I'm he. No, she's at four door one. No, he's at door three. We have something to do and deal with and I don't want to have to stop and think in my job before I react the way I've been trained. Oh, did I say the wrong thing? Am I going to, if we survive this, have to go answer for it. And that's a very real piece. That one is one that pilots worry about probably more than actually flying with a transit.
Tucker Carlson
So I think big picture, it's very obvious that safety standards have fallen dramatically, maybe not literally. They're not rewriting the safety manual, but safety is.
Sherry
We're distracted. That's what I would say.
Tucker Carlson
That's not the top concern, clearly. It's not the top concern, clearly. So I mean, how long before hundreds of people die?
Sherry
I hope never again in my lifetime. Because the people at the front of the airplane, me, my partner, we're going to do what we know how to do. And it doesn't matter to me if I get called in because I misgendered somebody. There are still good people out there, but we're getting to that critical mass point where we need a little time. We need a pause. We need this new incoming FAA administrator whom I've read a lot about. I really like him, he looks like a very faithful person and he's going to fit in the administration and be confirmed rather quickly. We need to get the pilot age up. The standards do not need to be lowered for the incoming. And then we're going to need to take some time and mentor and I think we can get there, but the clock is ticking. So the Trump administration I think is on the right track to fix Four years of complete dismantling of the US Aviation industry. I hope, I pray they can get there, but I think they've got the right people in place.
Tucker Carlson
You said you've never been nervous flying. Have you ever been nervous as a passenger?
Sherry
I'm sure I have. I'm more nervous when I stand on like the edge of a tall building or I'm scared of heights. Tucker. Absolutely refuse to go to the Grand Canyon. I won't do it.
Tucker Carlson
What's your cruising altitude in 767 long haul flight?
Sherry
Depends. 28 to 38. Somewhere in there. You know, we. We climb. As we burn fuel, we get lighter, so we climb. But, you know, 36, 37, 38. What is that? Almost seven miles high in the air. And passengers. Think about it. You're sitting in a chair doing eight to nine tenths the speed of sound. That's a pretty awesome thought.
Tucker Carlson
That's incredible, isn't it, where we are?
Sherry
Yeah.
Tucker Carlson
No, I think the whole thing is. Is absolutely wonderful. What do you think of the new planes?
Sherry
Well, I fly the old planes. I'm a Boeing girl. My husband flies the 787 and he likes it. I mean, you know, technology is wonderful. It just goes further, faster and higher. So we'll see. I'm more worried about the coming technology with regards to single pilot or autonomous flight. I don't know about you. I'm not getting in an airplane without a pilot.
Tucker Carlson
Autonomous flight, it's coming. You're making me feel uninformed. So there are. This will solve the union problem. Just get rid of the people.
Sherry
Get rid of the people.
Tucker Carlson
There you go. So there are planes planned with no pilot?
Sherry
Well, we have them now.
Tucker Carlson
I mean, I guess they're called drones, right?
Sherry
They're called drones. I mean, they, they in. In Houston, we have pilots that are in the Garden Reserve. They get in their car in the morning, they drive down to Ellington, they walk into a trailer. They're flying a drone over in Afghanistan, bombing the bad guys, and they drive home. I mean, it happens all the time. It's not coming. This generation, we have cars, autonomous taxi cabs in Austin, Texas, right? They drive around and you just jump in one and it charges your credit card. First time I saw it, it was crazy, but they have it. So what's coming is, first of all is the move to reduce one pilot.
Tucker Carlson
In the cockpit on a commercial airliner.
Sherry
So way it'll work. Most likely. They've said Aviation and Space magazine had this about four or five years ago. They'll have a control Room drone operators, me, when I retire, all these people will be sitting in a control room and you'll take off. Remember that old v1 rotate engine failure we talked about? You'll just push the Boeing button and I'll. Come on. I'll say, hey, Captain, I've got the airplane. You get the checklist. So a room of eight people can work the whole thing.
Tucker Carlson
Wouldn't it be easier to put someone in the cockpit?
Sherry
Wouldn't it be, you know the old joke, we have a dog in the cockpit. Right. You know why the dog is there? To keep the pilot from touching anything. Bite him if he comes. So, yeah, that's the first step they're going to start. It'll start in cargo carriers and trying to push to eliminate one body. And then for cost reasons, because you can only control the price of the airplanes, the price of the people or the price of fuel. Right. Fuel's pretty set. Airplanes, you can get the better financing if you play the game. But we cost money.
Tucker Carlson
That's just absolutely crazy. I will pay a premium to fly in an airline with two pilots.
Sherry
Well, but it gets better. The next generation or two, it might go there. But at the same time, the drone world, and I think they call it vtol, vertical takeoff and landing, whereby you, Tucker Carlson, can have your own VTOL and you can fly yourself to the airport and then you can get on the big airplane. This stuff is all in the crazy works behind the scenes at the faa. You can read about it. It's there. They're establishing corridors and plans, and it'll start with pilots operating, but eventually they're looking for an autonomous situation where you just. The Jetsons, you walk out, get in your little hovercraft, go to the airport, getting the big hovercraft. It's coming.
Tucker Carlson
Yeah. I hope I'm gone when this all happens.
Sherry
I surely will be.
Tucker Carlson
Sherry, that was really. It was wonderful to get the benefit of your decades of experience and your honesty.
Sherry
So thank you for the opportunity and I really pray for the president, Secretary Duffy, the incoming FAA administrator, that we can get ahead of this before it gets out of control.
Tucker Carlson
Yeah. Before people die.
Sherry
Thank you.
Tucker Carlson
Thank you very much. We want to thank you for watching us on Spotify, a company that we use every day. We know the people who run it, good people. While you're here, do us a favor. Hit, follow and tap the bell. So you never miss an episode. We have real conversations, news things that actually matter. Telling the truth, always. You will not miss it if you follow us on Spotify. And hit the bell. We appreciate it. Thanks for watching.
Summary of "Captain Sherry Walker Reveals the Real Reason for All These Plane Crashes"
The Tucker Carlson Show hosted by the Tucker Carlson Network delves deep into the concerning decline of commercial air travel safety in the United States. In this episode, released on March 24, 2025, Tucker Carlson engages in a candid conversation with Captain Sherry Walker, an experienced pilot with nearly 35 years in the aviation industry. Together, they explore the multifaceted reasons behind recent plane crashes, touching upon corporate practices, regulatory changes, and societal shifts that have collectively undermined aviation safety.
Tucker Carlson opens the discussion by highlighting the unsettling trend of decreasing safety standards in U.S. commercial aviation. He juxtaposes advancements like the Internet and smartphones with the apparent regression in air travel safety, prompting the need for expert insights.
Key Quote:
Tucker Carlson [00:30]: "It seems like commercial air travel in the United States has declined in like at a shocking level rate. It's just much worse."
Captain Walker attributes the decline in aviation safety to significant corporate changes influenced by Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) priorities. She argues that CEOs are increasingly driven by factors that do not align with customer-centric service, leading to compromised operational standards.
Key Quotes:
Sherry Walker [01:21]: "There's been a corporate change in this country. ESG started to take over... We go away from customer service."
Sherry Walker [02:38]: "Everything's bottom line now, Tucker."
The conversation shifts to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives within airlines. Walker criticizes policies that prioritize demographic attributes over merit, suggesting that such practices have diluted the quality of pilots and, by extension, overall flight safety.
Key Quotes:
Sherry Walker [03:27]: "When you start hiring people based on an attribute that has nothing to do with flying airplanes... it breeds incompetence."
Sherry Walker [05:11]: "They're trying to creep the things in that don't matter... It’s distracting."
Walker recounts her personal ordeal during the COVID-19 pandemic, detailing how vaccine mandates led to her and thousands of fellow pilots being fired. She highlights the punitive measures airlines took against unvaccinated employees, framing it as an assault on personal freedoms and safety.
Key Quotes:
Sherry Walker [46:03]: "On August 6th, the CEO of my airline announces that there will be a vaccine mandate or you'll be fired in a month."
Sherry Walker [55:03]: "We were out... we're out of the company overnight."
Captain Walker critiques the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for its dual role in promoting and regulating the aviation industry. She points out failures in oversight, such as the self-certification of the Boeing 737 Max, and expresses concerns over reduced standards for pilot health and competency.
Key Quotes:
Sherry Walker [15:57]: "Because how did Boeing get the right to self certify the max?"
Sherry Walker [33:05]: "But there's no research arm that I fund at FAA because they're enjoying their coffee in their green desk."
The episode delves into the ongoing pilot shortage exacerbated by years of reduced recruitment and increased attrition due to stringent and sometimes arbitrary hiring practices. Walker emphasizes that the rush to fill pilot positions has led to underqualified individuals being thrust into critical roles.
Key Quotes:
Sherry Walker [07:03]: "Less than 4% female airline transport pilots."
Sherry Walker [09:00]: "We don't have qualified pilots. We'd like to keep them a little longer, but they vote and they say, no."
Walker discusses the mental health challenges faced by pilots, including stress, fatigue, and the pressures of adhering to demanding schedules. She links these issues to broader systemic problems within the aviation industry, such as inadequate support from unions and employers.
Key Quotes:
Sherry Walker [30:15]: "Mental health ... was scary. You don't understand the number of people Brett or myself talked out of suicide."
Sherry Walker [33:10]: "Fire is the one thing you don't want to deal with."
Concluding the episode, both hosts speculate on the future trajectory of aviation. Walker warns against the potential shift towards single-pilot operations and autonomous flights, arguing that such changes could further jeopardize flight safety.
Key Quotes:
Sherry Walker [82:54]: "They are looking for an autonomous situation where you just... It's coming."
Tucker Carlson [84:37]: "It's just absolutely crazy. I will pay a premium to fly in an airline with two pilots."
Captain Sherry Walker underscores the urgent need for systemic reforms in the aviation industry. She calls for reinstating stringent safety standards, prioritizing merit-based hiring, and enhancing regulatory oversight to prevent future tragedies.
Key Quotes:
Sherry Walker [85:29]: "I pray for the president, Secretary Duffy, the incoming FAA administrator, that we can get ahead of this before it gets out of control."
Tucker Carlson [85:45]: "Before people die."
This episode serves as a critical examination of the intersecting factors leading to compromised aviation safety in the United States. Through Captain Sherry Walker's firsthand experiences and insights, Tucker Carlson highlights the consequences of corporate mismanagement, regulatory failures, and societal pressures on the integrity of commercial air travel. The dialogue emphasizes the need for a return to foundational safety principles and the protection of professional standards within the aviation industry.