Seasoned pilot Lauren Sanchez speaks out as Trump blames DEI for aviation disaster

Seasoned pilot Lauren Sanchez has shared a reel blasting racist, sexist rage-baiting – days after President Donald Trump blamed DEI for the fatal American Airlines crash.

The 55-year-old, who is soon to marry Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, re-posted a video by a NYU professor criticizing the marketing strategy of racking up clicks and views by stirring up division. 

‘There’s something that sells more than sex, and that’s rage. So trying to get people to start arguing with each other,’ Professor Scott Galloway said in the reel titled ‘Marketing in 2025’. 

‘They want you to fight, the algorithms love that. Because then it gets more comments, more Nissan ads, more shareholder value,’ Galloway added. 

Sanchez shared the video with her 860K Instagram followers three days after Trump blamed DEI for the deadly plane crash – a comment which gained traction partly by sparking widespread ire in Democrat circles online. 

While the video does not explicitly mention Trump, 78, and Sanchez has not publicly criticized the president or his policies before – the timing raises questions about what the Latina pilot thinks about the commentary from the Commander-in-Chief. 

She appeared beside Bezos, 61, and a cabal of other billionaires at his Washington DC inauguration, where her outfit choice raised eyebrows on January 20. 

Trump’s DEI comment came after 67 people died when a Black Hawk military helicopter struck an American Eagle passenger plane close to the runway at Ronald Reagan National Airport on Wednesday night. 

Speaking at the White House the next day, Trump said the tragedy was entirely preventable, while slamming the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration)’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) recruiting practice.

Although he did not provide any evidence that the disaster was related to DEI, he said had some ‘pretty good ideas’ of how it occurred and vowed to make sure it would never happen again.

Sanchez is a former news anchor originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico. The soon-to-be Mrs Bezos got her helicopter pilot’s license in 2016.

She founded Black Ops Aviation, the first female-owned aerial film and production company, in the same year, and she hopes to fly to space with an all-female crew. 

Sanchez previously revealed to The Wall Street Journal that she connected with Bezos over a shared love of flying when they met around a decade ago.

‘I had my job, I had a career, and then I found a calling,’ she told The Hollywood Reporter in 2017 while speaking about the hobby. 

‘I loved entertainment and I loved filming, and so I got to combine all of it.

‘Only six per cent of pilots are women, and there’s even less in the film industry. So I was like, I want to film movies, that’s what I want to do.’

‘[In the air] is one of the only places I feel entirely in control,’ she added. 

Sanchez also told Extra in 2018 that she was ‘living the dream’ by regularly getting to fly.  

‘Everyone says, follow your passion. I loved being on camera and now I still have a camera, it’s just 3,000 feet in the air,’ she said. 

Sanchez’s love for flying is believed to have been inspired by her father – a former commercial pilot, airplane mechanic and flight instructor – who still flies today. 

In 2024, she was honored at the Annual Living Legends of Aviation Awards, receiving the highest honor for vertical flight – the Elling Halvorson Vertical Flight Hall of Fame Award.

She was hailed by the awards as a ‘role model’ and ‘true inspiration’ for women in the aviation industry.

‘Lauren is a role model and true inspiration for so many women in aviation,’ Stacey Elsner, acting Executive Director of the Living Legends of Aviation, said at the show. 

‘She actively engages in many facets of the vertical flight industry, from licensed pilot to businesswoman, and uses her platform to encourage young women and girls to find their place within the industry.’