Page 70 - Appendix A

Bill: I had hoped to become a pilot in the Air Force, and it was just a coincidence that
they had that 36-hour flight training program at that time.

Ivan: OK. Do you happen to know when they did away with that? Did they do away

with that before you got out of the Air Force?

Bill: I have no idea.

Ivan: Ok. That's the first I'd ever heard of that. That's some good information.

Bill: OK.

Ivan: My last question has to do with… I don't know exactly how long you were a
commercial pilot. I was guessing over three decades.

Bill: Well, the difference between commercial pilot…

Ivan: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, an airline pilot…

Bill: I was an airline pilot three decades, yes.

Ivan: Yes. And my question was, in your observations did black student pilots do
better in training for the airlines than in the military, and if so, why do you think
that was? I mean, over that three decades, if you were looking at, you know,
stories, your personal experience, stories you heard from the military after you
got out, and in your observations as an airline pilot, do you think that African-
Americans did better, or fared better, I should say, in pilot training for the
airlines than in the military, and If so why or why not?

Bill: Once you get with the airlines you are already a pilot and then you train for the
airline, and the success was much better from my, you know, short and small

information. Success was a lot easier with airlines than in the military; because
once you get with the airlines, they want you to become a pilot. Now I think we
have lost a higher percentage of African-Americans both in the airlines and in
military aviation in the Air Force, compared to the whites.

Ivan: Would you say one is higher than the other?

Bill: I would probably say from my experience the military flunk-out rate; washout
rate was higher than the airlines.

Ivan: Do you have any reason why that might be or just your own speculation?

Bill: Well, when I worked with the airline, they want you to succeed, generally. OK.
When you get your flight training in the military, they only need so many pilots. I