Why aren't more women airline pilots?

MikeD said:
unless its a box office.
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Har-de-har-har. :laff:


Cockpit originated as a sailing term, as the "control" room of the boat was a small, cramped space that reminded sailors of pits where cockfights took place. The term cockpit migrated to aviation with small, cramped spaces where airplanes were controlled too.
 
Schilmoeller's goal was to fly for a major airline, but when she had enough experience to apply for a job at a legacy carrier in 2003, there weren't any openings. So she went to work as a pilot for FedEx instead.
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Poor girl. Couldn't cut it into a legacy, instead, had to "settle" being a Fedex pilot.
 
MQAAord said:
A bit 'o trivia: [Without googling] Where did the term "cockpit" originate and why is it called that? (Yes, I do know the answer.)
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1800's it was a berthing area in the rear of a ship (man of war/sloop of war) where officers slept, during battle it became the surgeons station.

Read a lot of Patrick O'brien novels.

I think we should be calling the cockpit the coxwain station but I lost that battle back in the mid 10's
 
jynxyjoe said:
1800's it was a berthing area in the rear of a ship (man of war/sloop of war) where officers slept, during battle it became the surgeons station.
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Not to be pedantic, but officers slept in the gunroom, midshipmen slept in the cockpit.
 
MQAAord said:
It was meant to be a lighthearted message. I'm glad it wasn't taken too seriously. :)

The statement is true though. One thing that really burns me is all those fine women ferry pilots who came home from the war (WWII) and were completely shut out of airline jobs. Certainly not all of them would have wanted to go airline, of course, but I bet some of them would.
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I agree completely
 
Murdoughnut said:
How did you get stuck in a small room with two women without them tossing your ass out?
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Easy. I was sitting way in the back, and they likely had no idea I was there. That was an easy question once I sidestepped your false assumption. ;)
To better answer your question would require a story involving a group trip to New Orleans that would never make it through the profanity filter. Cheers.

MikeD said:
But even here at JC there's some truth. One of the JC sub-websites is JetGirls.net, owned by Kristie, and billed as "....a website that would be of use to other spouses and families in times of need. We are open for current aviation or military spouses, future spouses, girlfriends, parents and even friends....."
Now even though it says "spouses", its still titled "jetgirls"; not that there's anything wrong with that, but it is indicitive of a normally accepted mindset of female spouses to male pilots. As there is no "jetguys.net" for the opposite situation, that might relate to the still-current public perception of gender percentages in the airlines.
Its nothing thats right or wrong, just seems like something that is.
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Cultural stereotypes still apply. The military has had to deal with this. Hence the term 'Family Resource Group' instead of 'Wives Club', etc. Just because it's what people expect doesn't mean that's what it is. This article is (as is most mainstream press about the airline industry) poorly researched. Women might not be in flight decks in exact proportion to men, but I really see a serious trend away from that.

But hey, I'll play your silly game. Why aren't there more female firefighters? (Do they have calendars?)

MQAAord said:
A bit 'o trivia: [Without googling] Where did the term "cockpit" originate and why is it called that? (Yes, I do know the answer.)
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It's a combat reference from WWI comparing the close quarters intensity of dogfighting to cock fighting. Yes, I mean the kind with roosters that gets PETA all riled, not the kind we do around here with rulers.
 
Firebird2XC said:
Cultural stereotypes still apply. The military has had to deal with this. Hence the term 'Family Resource Group' instead of 'Wives Club', etc. Just because it's what people expect doesn't mean that's what it is. This article is (as is most mainstream press about the airline industry) poorly researched. Women might not be in flight decks in exact proportion to men, but I really see a serious trend away from that.

But hey, I'll play your silly game. Why aren't there more female firefighters? (Do they have calendars?)

.
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Its not a silly game, remember that perception is reality; whether truly real or not. For whatever reason, to the vast majority of the public, the general picture of an airline captain is male; at least until someone is proven otherwise or a female appears. It's not a right or wrong, it just is what it is.

Insofar as female firefighters, I think they should have their own calender.
 
MikeD said:
Its not a silly game, remember that perception is reality; whether truly real or not. For whatever reason, to the vast majority of the public, the general picture of an airline captain is male; at least until someone is proven otherwise or a female appears. It's not a right or wrong, it just is what it is.

Insofar as female firefighters, I think they should have their own calender.
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You're stretching a figure of speech beyond credibility. Just because people might perceive heavier than air flight to be the product of magic and demons doesn't make it so.
The previous generation produced very few female airline captains at any level. The current generation is about to produce a whopping increase on that number. The statistics are skewed by a general population that gets almost any technical detail about the industry wrong anyhow.

Are we going to allow ourselves to be corralled by erroneous public opinion? The female aviators of the world are making their mark and climbing the ranks in increasing numbers. Unless something illegal or unsavory is being done to suppress them, do we really need to get our knickers in a bunch about the current number at the most senior positions? That's directly a product of a bygone era and mentality- the *current* mentality is proving to be very different.
 
Firebird2XC said:
You're stretching a figure of speech beyond credibility. Just because people might perceive heavier than air flight to be the product of magic and demons doesn't make it so.
The previous generation produced very few female airline captains at any level. The current generation is about to produce a whopping increase on that number. The statistics are skewed by a general population that gets almost any technical detail about the industry wrong anyhow.

Are we going to allow ourselves to be corralled by erroneous public opinion? The female aviators of the world are making their mark and climbing the ranks in increasing numbers. Unless something illegal or unsavory is being done to suppress them, do we really need to get our knickers in a bunch about the current number at the most senior positions? That's directly a product of a bygone era and mentality- the *current* mentality is proving to be very different.
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Am not skewing anything. Until sufficient numbers of the female pilots do make their mark and appear more and more in the arena, then the perception is going to be slow to change. No one is being oppressed or anything like that, and it doesn't even really have to be thought of as women in the senior ranks. As time goes on and the numbers get more and more for women, then the perceptions will slowly change. Its just something that takes time.

You're making it sound as if there's some sort of crime involved here.
 
Well. Completely anecdotal evidence here, but when I check on with Center on the way back down tonight, 3 female voices checked on before me, so... yeah.
 
MikeD said:
Am not skewing anything. Until sufficient numbers of the female pilots do make their mark and appear more and more in the arena, then the perception is going to be slow to change. No one is being oppressed or anything like that, and it doesn't even really have to be thought of as women in the senior ranks. As time goes on and the numbers get more and more for women, then the perceptions will slowly change. Its just something that takes time.

You're making it sound as if there's some sort of crime involved here.
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I wouldn't go so far as to call it a crime, but the media's stirring the pot about things they should have researched. Sensationalist journalism probably *should* be a crime. It's pathetic.
 
blah blah blah....this discussion still exists?.....

(and two guys hanging out together for hours in a locked room called a cockpit? seems kinda ghey to me....just sayin ;) )

Ayork62493 said:
....Granted I'm only 16 and....
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....ahhhh credibility.
 
Tld said:
blah blah blah....this discussion still exists?.....
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Follow-up question: Are you surprised?

Daisy Duke said:
(and two guys hanging out together for hours in a locked room called a cockpit? seems kinda ghey to me....just sayin ;) )
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"Flight deck" is both suitably nohomo and gender-neutral.
 
L-16B said:
Come fly Expressjet out of IAH (soon going to chicago), seems like every FO is a female.....
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CLE has a lot of ExpressJet female pilots as well! Holy cow, just walking through the airline operations level of concourse D, is a shock every time.
 
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