I actually think we agree on most of this, starting with the fact that more pilot candidates are needed. Having a quota, where you are filling pilot jobs with a certain number of women or minorities, makes no sense (and I feel like many people are interpreting the UA announcement as such). However, setting a goal of recruiting 50% of the entrants into a bottom up flight academy seems much more reasonable. By having a goal (not a quota), you then have reason to put resources towards achieving that goal. I agree on high school career days and the like as well, all are important.

So in your opinion, the reason that women are pilots at a 1:10 ratio to men is because there is some sort of biology that limits a woman's desire/interest in becoming a pilot, and not at all related to any societal forces at play?

Obviously you've never been in a real emergency.. Hopefully you don't actually fly passengers!

I disagree, It takes certain personality traits, skills and abilities to safely and proficiently fly an airplane. Some technical skills, some social, and a certain amount of eye hand coordination, the ability to problem solve, multi task and work under pressure are paramount. I’ve definitely seen people who are not capable of flying an airplane for multiple reasons. Mostly in primary flight training and unfortunately at least one ex flight attendant POC who got pushed through and was a notoriously incompetent F/O. Neither having been a POC or a flight attendant have anything to do with her lack of ability. But the fact that she was rushed into being an airline pilot because of her racial status without professional vetting are a huge and dangerous problem.

Not just “anyone” can be trained to be a pilot. But people of the right skills, mindset and ability can. Your example of idiots who turn on Netflix’s in cruise is scary, I’d have to ask why you aren’t calling them out on it? I won’t put up with that. People who do stuff like that should be called out and fired if they don’t immediately straighten up. And obviously “cruise” is not a high workload phase of flight.

And with that in mind I’ll say not mentally playing the “where am I going if” game in your head while in cruise wand you’re not fully engaged. I guess it takes a few what if’s to happen to you to make you start you start paying attention. If you don’t always have a plan you are out of the loop. You can’t possibly be in the loop if you’re watching Netflix’s. That means you aren’t doing your job and you need to be straightened out.

Be honest with yourself, right now this instant if your were to lose an engine at cruise do you know how to put yourself in a drift down and either class I or II know what you’ll do next? If you need to look it up you are already behind the power curve.

Automation creates a false sense of security. You have to have the mindset, training and ability to handle going from extreme boredom to holy Shizxzle instantly. Because automation lulls you into a sense of safety and comfort that is a false and dangerous place to be.

You posted while I was typing. You said what I said perfectly in two sentences.

I'm trying to think of well paying profession *anywhere* that welcomed women initially with open arms and without questions on competency, suitability, etc. Medicine. Law, C-suite, Science, Academia. Really much of the same goes for people of color, though we've of course come a long way. The hardest step is getting your foot in the door which is what this program seems to be offering.

If you've convinced it's just the nature of the "unique lifestyle" of the job, there's an ongoing discussion in the LUV section about a pilot who allegedly whipped out his c#ck in the pit bearing the same name and there were I believe a few commenters disappointed that he was turned in for what they were convinced must have been a practical joke.

The short answer is yes, although we all know it's far more complicated. There is not one single thing standing in the way of women becoming pilots other than personal choice. Men are naturally drawn to jobs such as this and there are jobs that tend to be more attractive to women. Lots of science and research to back this up.

Why is no one concerned about male equity in female dominated fields? Just curious...

I’ve had flight control failures and a pitch trim runway..a landing gear issue but nothing life threatening but all with passengers onboard. Thank goodness the airline trained us for emergencies and how to follow a QRH. Can you imagine if the airline didn’t have SOP and emergency procedures?

Thank goodness for all of the prior pilot training from private to ATP and the standards.

I would strongly disagree with that premise and would be happy to see the research, but that would be a whole different lengthy conversation.

As far as concern around male equity in female dominated fields, I don't personally look at this from an equity lens (although I'm sure many do, and United's PR blitz has chosen to frame it that way). I'm looking at it from a business perspective, there is going to be massive demand for pilots over the next 10 years, and the current pool does not meet that demand. Making inroads with under-represented groups in the pilot field (we've started steering the discussion to women, but minorities are a big part of this as well) will help improve the supply pool of pilots down the line.

But yes, if hospitals for example wanted to improve their overall nurse candidate pool, outreach to men would make a lot of sense.

My observations, first, I do not believe that we can train anyone to be a pilot. And, standards MAY fall because they have fallen in the past.

The guys below knew a lot more about flying airplanes than just pushing GD buttons and following the magenta line.

1. Captain Dave Cronin on UA 811.
2. Captain Al Haynes on UA 232.
3. Captain Christopher Behnam on UA 328.
4. Captain Scott Stopes on UA 1015.


Etc.