Originally Posted by
Time Traveller
Moreover, the modern day company policy of openly "positive" discrimination towards applicants of a certain characteristic, and thereafter, a disinclination to remove substandard pilots of said characteristic from the line for fear of blowback, may be the cause of the confidential data I saw which showed they account for a vastly greater proportion of severe handling incidents, (notably, landings). Of course, woke PC will no doubt prevent such data from ever seeing the light of day.
It would greatly concern me if such information were held to be 'secret', given that it could have the potential to make a positive impact on risk assessment, training and so forth.
Unfiltered raw data on incidents/accidents correlated to age, hours, gender, position etc should be accessible so that *if* there's anything to this then trainers, regulators, employers, (and the public who get on a flying machine) may all be able to complete due diligence and reach conclusions on whether there are any statistically significant issues and, if so, how one might address them.
If, once thorough investigation has been carried out, there is something to be addressed then that detail must also be available to everyone without 'spin'. Should different groups then wish to exercise various opinions as to why it's 'better' to have statistically risky people in such positions that's up to them, but from a logic perspective there's be no excuse IMO. After all we'd not use components with a known low MTBF during overhaul when there are better ones available, would we?
In saying this I'm quite aware that there could be many reasons why one group might initially appear to have a greater number of incidents than another - it may in fact be
nothing to do with biological factors - however without the necessary [unbiased] data it's extremely difficult to make any reasonable assessment. In the absence of traceable facts people are left to speculate, which can be quite corrosive.
Ultimately it's a complicated thing designing, building, and testing an aircraft, then getting it into the air, full of people, along to a destination and back without incident. Along that journey we try to use the highest quality components, the best people, the most proven systems, and we (hopefully thoroughly, scientifically without bias, and publically) regularly assess how that's going on so that any weaknesses or issues may be addressed. Factors relating to the drivers of these machines should not be exempted from such scrutiny, they are an important part of the process we presently utilise.