Women in General Aviation

Reminds me of a saying:

How do you find the pilot in the room at a party?

You don't, he finds you!

I haven't seen too many loudmouths here ;)

You'll also find the posers at your local golf course, the local tennis club and right in the streets of London

There are also the pilots who are attracted to applying technology and technique as a means to get there faster, who have been involved with flying for many years and have kept on pushing ahead with the qualifications that are required to hone your skills and step to the next challenge despite many frustrations.

I'll accept that more money buys more airplane with bigger bragging rights but the bold pilots are not often the old pilots. I am quite happy with the population at the local airport bar :)

"There aren't many women, which is hardly surprising"

Why's it hardly surprising? I'm curious.

I wonder if all the stuff we have to go through ensures that only people of a certain character end up flying planes in the long term.

From my experience, I would say no. I don't see many common features in all the pilots and students that I have met over the years. The usual poser types (luckily) mosty cannot afford flying and pimp their cars instead so they can continue to endanger us on our way to the airport ;-) Regarding all that stuff on sale in the pilot shops I really have no idea who buys it. Not the pilots I know. Some have a "thing" with watches, but commercial pilots and instructors are not being paid enough these days that allows them to buy the real expensive ones any more.

Regarding women, we have seen a steady rise of ladies among the students of our ATPL courses, peaking at 7 girls in a group of 20 students three or four years ago. But somehow this has changed again and the current ATPL course has zero women among 20 students. What I notice however is that ATC is now women dominated in this part of the world, I would reckon that 2/3 of the controllers in Germany are now females.

"There aren't many women, which is hardly surprising"

Why's it hardly surprising? I'm curious.

So am I.

I do know though that in the UK there are only 6% of us amongst all of the UK GA pilots.

Another male/female argument? Hadn't we had a fair number already?

Well, as far as I can see: The more humble the style of aviation, the less women one sees. My own style of three-axis microlights, and from there up to the twin-piston full-IFR, see very few women aviators. If and when I meet one, she usually follows her partner. Gliding is no different: my home field sees a lot of glider students and there's always a couple of girls among them, but I can't remember any permanent female glider pilots.

In professional aviation, I still see males dominant (by numbers, at least...) but less outspoken: when I occasionally tune into Brussels tower, I hear perhaps 20 or 40% of female voices, both airside and groundside.

But back to the original subject of pilot personality: a few wealthies will go flying just to show off, most of them indulge in helicopters. Whatever they fly, few persist. Anyone investing serious amounts of time and money in non-lucrative private flying must be to some degree bitten by the idea.

The difference between a man and a boy is in the price of their toys, it is said. Indeed I see, in our culture and in others, men driven mostly by their frolics (including, for many, the other sex), where I see many women driven mostly by their perceived duty - meaning, to most, their family.

I think women in general have a smaller tolerance for hobbies that (a) have such a low social element and (b) require the tolerance of aircraft in poor condition.

Obviously there are exceptions...

On the wider topic, I think this is a major factor behind the gradual decline in GA. There is a huge number of men who have a high income - for sake of argument say above €80k - have no real committments, no family, and could easily get into flying. So this chap pops into a flying school and finds a mess, with shagged planes from the 1970s, etc. Most of these will politely smile and walk back out, with a few heading for the helicopter school which is an altogether more slick operation, and the rest heading for some other activity which has a nicer social element, and of course some women! You live only once and you have to spend your free time strategically. Of course many in the industry will say they don't want that type of customer anyway...

There is also a good number of women who have a high income but they will be doing exactly the same as the above men, plus be even less impressed with the other stuff one has to put up with. Hence...

I do know though that in the UK there are only 6% of us amongst all of the UK GA pilots.

With enough money, it is possible to sidestep a lot of the hassle, by buying one's own modern plane, but most people don't have that and anyway one can't short-circuit the years spent training, etc. The PPL is a year and an IR is realistically another two years after that by the time you have picked up some experience, ground through yet more exams, found a suitable plane, etc.

When I was doing my PPL/IMCR I got talking to the chief instructor at the school and he had quite progressive views on how to modernise things, but apart from buying some new C172s none of it ever happened, under financial pressure.

What I notice however is that ATC is now women dominated in this part of the world, I would reckon that 2/3 of the controllers in Germany are now females.

That's the fault of car navigation systems! In the last 10 years we've gotten used to receiving heading instructions from female voices. And it's not much different at home, is it?

for hobbies that (a) have such a low social element and (b) require the tolerance of aircraft in poor condition.

You should have come to Tannkosh, it was the opposite in both regards. And a lot of women there, too. Still a good choice of freaks there. Our tent neighbors from the UK did their first flight in a rented aeroclub C182 and were told that it consumes "about 45l/h". When they stopped in Luxemburg for refueling, they noticed that the fuel tanks contained 6l of fuel.

I think something we all have in common is patience and calmness. The former to deal with all the weather, tech issues and so on, and the latter to compliment patience and hopefully safely deal with any flying issues as they occur.

And as someone I know once asked "what makes planes fly?" The answer was not some spiel about the principles of lift - it is $$, no matter how great or small we can throw at this hobby.