Another question, female pilots

[velvet_ice]

this is question is more specific towards female pilots. I am dead set upon going for a career into aviation, i already have my ppl and 200hrs of flight time I am applying for a sponsership with cathay pacific and i have a back up arrange if that does not go through.

basically my question is this, how do you find being a female pilot in the professional industry? is it is still a "boys club" . Or are attitudes changing? from what i see attitudes are changing towards female pilots and it is becoming more accepted, but we are still out numbered by far, i was the 1 of 3 female out of 45 students at a flight school in florida.

Have you thought about how it will work out when you get pregnant and how that will affect your career and raising children? If you have already been in this position how did you manage to cope? these questions were raised to me by girl friends who are not in the aviation industry and it was something i had never thought about until now.

I just thought this would be a good place to ask this question as i have never met many female pilots who are in airline jobs, most of the female pilots i know are in the beginning stages of achieving an airline job, it would be good to hear the opinion of a female pilots who has seniority and already has a job with an airline.

Nia

[saudipc-9]

velvet_ice,
I'm not a lady, but I can tell you that women are more than welcome into the pilot community.
There are people you might meet in the future who will have a very old fashioned attitude but you should ignore them. They do not represent the majority of pilots.
Best of luck with CP and getting on with your career.;)

[Smokie]

Velvet,

We have a fair amount of Female pilots in our airline and they all fit in admirably.

Good Luck.:)

[nana737NG]

Hello,
I've been employed now for 5 months and I'm the only girl in our base. I didn't have a problem with it yet, but I don't think my company would appreciate it, if I were pregnant. We only have a few women in the company, and none of them has been pregnant. So I don't know how they would react.
Being (the only) woman has both advantages and disadvantages. They will do an extra effort for you, carry the bag,... but they will also watch you more critically (especially some of the cabin crew).
Good luck

[Genghis the Engineer]

Okay I'm male, and I work in another bit of the aircraft industry, not the airlines. S, if you'll accept my apology for that...

I've seen occasional bias amongst the "old and bold" of my own sex towards women pilots, but it's pretty rare and I think you'll only get that from people passed over for real authority anyway so it's unlikely to do more than irritrate you occasionally. Women pilots are becoming more and more common, and I don't think you'll find that you stand out particularly. You'll certainly find few aviation professionals who regard it other than as a social and minor logisistic issue (such as not booking a twin room on landaway to save the company money). Occasionally I and others are guilty of the odd double-take because we weren't expecting to see a woman in the cockpit, but that's just - well mild surprise at not seeing what we expected.

What I cannot work out is why the proportion of women in aeronautical engineering is so tiny by proportion. It's nothing to do with physical strength - there is not that much required (maybe the perception of). I think in Engineering there is more bias against women, and that will probably linger for a while until more enter the profession and prove to the chauvanist diehards that there is no difference in ability. But, that wasn't what you asked, so I'll belt up now.

G

[mustafagander]

Go for it Velvet!!!
You may meet one or two guys with sexist attitudes, but they are becoming extinct.
My wife, a regional SAAB 340 capt, has had two babes during her time in the airline. The biggest problem by far is child care after you return to work. The airline was more than helpful and gave her some casual ground instructing, course preparation etc while she was grounded.
The law in Oz is very supportive, so we had an easy time, I guess, especially the requirements for when she returned to flying.
Give flying away as soon as you test positive. There are SOOOO many unknowns about pregnancy and flying. Don't chance it. At risk of severe flaming, she said herself that she was no where near at her best in decision making, concentration, workload management etc. while pregnant. Remember, SHE said it, not me. She flew in command of a Metro 23 for several months the first time - we now agree that it was not smart.

Good luck with your career!!