'Women airline pilots are best'
 

Really? Well, the argument is presented here: 'Women pilots are best for modern airlines' - Learmount

Apparently they are better at teamwork which, in the latest generation aircraft, is what it's all about (assuming basic aptitudes, of course).

I think it's dangerous to generalise. I've worked with good pilots and indifferent ones, and the pilot's sex doesn't seem to have much to do with it. But why are there so few women who want to do the job?

exactly, nothing to do with sex or race. Just good skills, a bright mind, and experience I think.

One cannot answer a question or discuss a topic like this without generalising!! And, ipso facto, any women responding on this forum will most likely already have an interest in aviation and therefore will not be representative. Most of my female friends may admire me for flying helicopters but most cannot understand any earthly reason why I should want to!

Women's brains are, generally, wired differently to men's (although some women can have "male" brains and some men have female "brains" - and this has nothing to do with sexual orientation). Women are, generally, better at language skills whilst men are better at spatial skills. Although there is plenty of research to back it up, it is general and there will always be exceptions.

OK, from my point of view - why don't I want to be an airline pilot (and I don't)?

For the same reason as I don't want to become a dentist; because I have no interest in it. :}

Cheers

Whirls

The problem with women pilots is simple: they go and get pregnant, then their line is covered by their colleagues, then the girls usually come back after mat leave and do a new rating or refresher sim, then they get pregnant again.

I'm amazed airlines take on any girls of breeding age. They cost a fortune.

And these are the comments of one who has no axe to grind, as I have a goodly family of my own.

V1!

I'd lOVE to be an airline pilot, which is what i'm working VERY VERY VERY hard towards :ugh: . I think that it is perhaps not an automatic career choice for females, either because it is seen as a 'male' career, or because there aren't many female-pilot role models who young girls can relate to. As a secondary school teacher many staff and some of my pupils (girls and boys) think that it's cool that I fly.

Personally, I've always been in awe of aircraft, and although the dream is still MANY moons away i'll have to settle with watching aircraft at Manchester (Shhh ... enough about that!). I hope that people don't read this and laugh, but I find even sitting in a flight deck exciting ... ok i'll stop there. I'm not sure if you can compare driving with flying, but I would say that i'm also a better than average driver, even than most men, and get really frustrated by women drivers who dither/faff about/have no idea of spatial orientation. I would also say that i'm technically minded, can handle several challenges at once, and maintain a level head.

Being married to an airline pilot I have heard of stories of 'bad' piloting skills/aptitude, of both male and female pilots. I don't think that women who choose to fly make worse pilots, but I do feel as though there is a lot of pressure on females to fly A1 because if they don't men might say "Oh it's because she's female". I also think that men give each other more 'slack' if things go wrong.

Whyisitsohard

Unfortunately, most airline Flight Ops Managers are still living in an era where they cannot get their head round maternity leave. When there are 101 outstanding projects which desperately need sorting and which need pilot input(sorting out manuals, performance data sim training scenarios planning etc), the best offer of ground job these morons can come up with is 9 months of photocopying and filing duties. Give them the right ground jobs to do and they could more than justify their salary.

Regarding the recent article about Female Space Shuttle Comanders in the Log. I wonder if NASA got them to do the photocopying when they were on maternity leave. Probalby not.

At some point in life woman has to have a child, a lot wants to. So what? You're away for a while but then your back, maybe in the next few years you'll be gone again for few months, what matters is that you know how to get the job done right, and the fact that you love flying. Isn't that all about?

I love flying, and yes. I'm a girl :E You don't have an idea of how much I get 'slagged' from a lot of people I know, at college and at work.

'Oh my God. You want to be a pilot? Hahaha. I would never fly with a woman because she can't do the job right'

Flying isn't only for guys. Maybe not a lot of females like it, but it's the same with males. My male friends think that I'm 'stupid' and 'crazy' and I keep wasting my life. But I think exactly the opposite. I have keen interest in Aviation, and always wanted to become a pilot, since a really young age ( it was since I went on the plane first time in my life, holidays in 98' :E

This is sex discrimination. Females and males have their own pluses and minuses. Most of guys think that a woman should sit at home, cook and clean, but it's not everyones dream. Is it?

That may seem like a rational reason but, I do believe, on the face of it, most women are just not interested in flying. Simple as. Nothing to do with role models and gender stereotyping (and women themselves can be just as guilty of this as men). After all, Pilot-Chick and Daria-Ox, did you you need a role model to arrive at your career choice? I'm guessing not!

The "issue" of pregnancy and children is something that affects many employment sectors, not just aviation. For example, a veterinary student and employer will invest a lot of time and money into training and qualification; however, veterinary practices don't use "potential pregnancy" as an excuse not to employ women (aside from it being illegal to use it as a reason!) as there is an equal mix of male and female vets. Plus there are also paternity leave rights now!!!

And Daria? Not all women want or can have children!!

Cheers

Whirls

Lol god some of those comments are hilarous. Not every woman wants a child, personally not my cup of tea...so no thanks!
It's all relative really, I wouldnt say woman are better pilots. You get good and bad in both.
We are better at everything else though! :P




....jk...before I get shot.

Thanks for the link, Shortfinals, but I see no arguments there. Everything I see is OAA's sales pitch. Seemingly they're running out of wannabees to train so they're trying to get more girls into aviation. They must be desperate if they're using such a nonsensical statements as "In an Airbus cockpit, there is a much shallower authority gradient".

I'm with Whirls on this one. Most of us girls just aren't interested, just as I am totally uninterested in golf or train spotting.

I actually LIKE being a flying instructor, am just not interested in airline flying... Shift work, marginally less boring than sitting in cattle class, away from home a lot, and having to put up with company politics doesn't float my boat.

Similarly I am just not interested in having screaming kids living in my house and taking over my life. God forbid, they might turn out like me. Quite happy as Auntie/Godmother, thanks!

I have had male and female students that are rubbish at flying, and male and female that are brilliant, and all stages in between. One the whole the way males and females learn, retain knowledge and problem solve is very different, which is what makes the job interesting, but the outcome is generally the same.

I'm with Whirls on this one...
 

...Yep, gals can be much better at language stuff. (In fact, one time I got home late after a 4-week long-haul jolly, Mrs BM let go with such colourful and vindictive language that it took 3 weeks prescribed meds from my AME for me to recover.) Cheers bm:\

Might be worth looking up the programme about orientation where the subject of research, and presenter, was John Barryman.

Not sure about the question of are women / girls / lady Pilots better than men! That's a debate I don't want to join into, not whilst I still want to use my meat and 2 veg!

However, I am definately of the opinion that female Pilots are much better looking than male Pilots!! Much better!!!

I said a lot of woman wants to have a child, should have changed the 'has' to 'will'.:E Personally, I don't want screaming kids running around my house too.

I dont see any reason why women pilots shouldn't be better or that they should either especially when your suposed to have a team on the flightdeck not just one person.

If they perform just as well as a man does as a team on the flight deck then i would see it as an asset to have their point of veiw, as women tend to be more logic than men in the way that they work i would say.

Also it would be intimidating for a girl to walk into this male industry, so i think thats another reason why we sadly dont see more.

It would be interesting to see what women thought about working with men and men working with women and women working with women when flying.

But overall I dont think it should matter what the other person sex is.

However i am with jaimz1982 on Women pilots being much better looking, :ok:

And I'd say that's a load of tosh. However I do realise generalisations can only really come from one's own experience, quite obviously we've been exposed to different women :E

With a handle like 'Port Strobe' and

you sound like a real little flasher!:}:}

HWB

dont know about the flying part, but if a womans car parking is anything to go by, were going to have alot of wingtips that need to be resprayed!! either that or were going to have loads of traffic on taxiways from missed turns!!!:E

wonder what parallel parking in a 747 would be like...!:}

love you guys realy!:ok:

You can't do this in a 'bus!

http://jethros.eu/fun/fun_pages/female_pilots.htm