Originally Posted by
WHBM
That's actually quite reasonable. It avoids the cumbersome 'he/she'. And if you stick with gender-specific, and say 'she' when relevant, and there is only one female pilot in the group, it immediately identifies them. Which is not what is desired.
This is yet another example of sledgehammers used for nut cracking. If your "Which is not what is desired" is indeed valid there have always been alternative options; "the pilot", "the controller", etc, without having to call every individual a "they". Perhaps this strangulation of the English language is more fitting in the Wigston legacy thread than in a UK military aviation air accident report?