Well, I'll probably get accused of sexism, or being "obsessed with gender"; it's happened before. But never mind; I'll risk it.
Many of us women know we run into what might be considered rather strange attitudes when we fly, especially considering that it's 92 years since the first woman got her PPL. Here are some that either happened to me, or that I heard of:
1) After flying in to Pembrey, talking on the radio, screwing up on the radio and asking for practically everything to be repeated, landing, buying fuel, and booking in, I remark on the lovely beach you can see from downwind. "Oh", says the airfield manager, "do you fly?"
2) Two women I know flew to an airfield in Corsica. They were accused of hiding someone in the back, since everyone just knew they couldn't possibly have flown themselves there; a man must have helped them. They had a very hard time managing to leave. The fact that the aircraft was a two seater seemed to escape everyone's notice.
3) My favourite; told to me by a friend:
A man walked into a flying school.
Woman behind desk: Can I help you.
Man: Er..I'd like to know about learning to fly
Woman: OK, I can tell you about that
Man: Well...I think I should talk to a flying instructor
Woman: That's alright, I'm a flying instructor
Man: Oh...well. I really should talk to the Chief Flying Instructor
Woman: Fine, I'm the Chief Flying Instructor
Man: Oh, I see...well...I really think I need to talk to the owner of the school
Woman: No problem; I own this flying school...
It happened; I didn't make it up, honest!
OK, over to the rest of you.
BANNED from this thread - comments by men that they think women make good pilots, bad pilots, better/worse pilots than men, or whatever; we've heard it all before and it's irrelevant. I'm just curious to know what other women have run into. And I was bored today anyway, and just fancied starting a new thread.
And believe it or not, I mean this as a lighthearted thread, not a tirade against prejudice, so let's try and keep it that way.
If it degenerates I'll delete the whole thing. That's a promise!!!