how comes there are no women commercial airline pilots?

Question

This is something that i have been wanting to know for a long time and that is how comes there are no women commerical airline pilots.

I have done alot of travelling and have taken dozens of flights and on every single one of those flights both the pilots have been men.

After all women are equal to men and there isn't anything that they can't do that men can do.

There are many women which have skilled jobs such as doctors lawyers engineers physicists etc and there are women serving in the armed forces such as the military and navy and even the airfocre and there are women police officers women paramedics and women fire officers.

Those are all skilled jobs but for some reason there are no women working as commercial airline pilots, there have been women pilots i know but none of them have ever worked for a commercial airline.

So why is this ?

Answer 1

THERE ARE WOMEN AIRLINE PILOTS! I AM ONE.
In fact, I have flown many times as part of an ALL FEMALE cockpit crew!
There just aren't that many of us....yet

Why not?
Because generally pilot careers are not encouraged by society and schools as a job to which girls might aspire. Just look at kids clothing- the airplane decor is always on the boys outfits! Plus, in the past airlines recruited pilots from mostly the military. Now that 65% of new hires are from a civilian background, you will see the numbers of women increase (they already are)

Women Pilot Statistics*:
Of 120,614 Commercial pilots in the United States, only 7,315 or 6.06% are women.
Of 141,992 Airline Transport Pilots only 5,008 or 3.53% are women.
*you can be hired at an airline with only a commercial certificate but must have an ATP to become a captain.

While the Ninety-Nines (mentioned above) is an organization for women pilots, most members are not with the airlines but general aviation pilots. The International Society of Women Airline Pilots, aka "ISA+21", is an association just for licensed women airline pilots- http://www.iswap.org/

Help us increase our numbers and encourage a young girl to become a pilot! http://www.girlswithwings

Answer 2

It can be hard to juggle a normal home life with a pilot career. Like it was said in the other answer - you can be away from home a lot and you do not necessarily work conventional 9-5hours. Some short haul airlines (in the UK - I am not sure where you are from) can have their crew home every night, obviously in long haul you would not - you could expect to be away for a few days to a week at a time. So childcare can be hard, particularly if your partner also works unusual hours. You can get a fixed roster in many airlines however which means you can plan things well in advance.This is less likely to be the case in corporate flying as you will probably be on standby and get called away more at short notice. Certainly instructing would be a great alternative to airline flying - you can dictate your own hours and in fact a lot of people do this at weekends in addition to another permanent job as it satisfies their love of flying but does not require them to be away from home so much. With regards your age and experience -27 is not too late!!! In the airline I work for there are a large number of pilots who came to flying later on in their career. Other experience can be very beneficial to you in interviews and in the job because you need a wide variety of skills and most if not all jobs will have provided you with experience in many of these skills. In the States it is a bit harder to get an airline job because they have a minimum (I think) of 1500hrs requirement now before you can work for an airline. After finishing your training you would therefore need to work a few years as an instructor, or flying light aircraft (ordnance survey, air taxi etc etc) to build the hours before moving onto an airline. Some airlines do have a 40yrs maximum policy for new first officers because the cost of training someone needs to be balanced out by how many years useful service they can expect from them afterwards. At 27, with a maximum of 2 years to complete your training you would not even be 30... more than enough time! In the UK (if that is where you are from) it is a lot easier - there are many cadet courses you could look into for airlines which would guarantee you a job at the end of your training should you get on to one. Many airlines also take low hour pilots, particularly the likes of Ryanair and EasyJet. You could also start out on a turboprop operator and work your way up to larger aircraft. If you are in the UK then look at the GAPAN website - there is a huge amount of information on scholarships and bursaries on there. There is also the Amy Johnson Scholarship Fund which is specifically for females looking for flight training funding. On a more personal note - I am a female pilot and have so far maintained a good work life balance so it certainly is possible. There are some difficulties and having the support of your family will make raising children more easy while in this profession. Bear in mind you are not really able to fly whilst pregnant (some companies allow you to during the second trimester) so realistically you would probably have around 18months off work for a child, it is also probably a good idea to have been with an airline a year or so before taking maternity leave. Some airlines do also offer reduced work, flexible patterns and part time working for employees with young children which can help. Good luck and I hope you achieve what you want to!!

Answer 3

As a flight attendant, I have worked with a number of female captains and first officers. As someone else said, this is a skill that used to be mainly acquired in the military - thus there were fewer females out there on commercial liners. I suspect the numbers will start to rise significantly over the next couple of decades. Are you old enough to remember when all bus drivers were male? Now, it seems the women outnumber the men. My personal opinion is that women (generally speaking) are more meticulous and intuitive than most men, and make excellent pilots.

Answer 4

Yes, the overwhelming majority of commercial airline pilots are men, but a few women are now entering what is a very
competitive profession.

The British Women Pilots' Association was formed in 1955 in order to help women participate in aviation.

The "Ninety Nines" are licensed women pilots who have come together for the mutual support and the advancement of women in aviation.

Answer 5

What you need to do, is get your information from a reliable source, not just from personal observation. If you realize that at any given time in the US, there are over 2,000 aircraft in the air, all hours of the day and night, and you might have personally observed one or two in a given day, you knowledge base is severely limited.
Of course there are women pilots. Contact any airline in the industry, even the ones that you normally fly on and just ask them for the number of female pilots. Some places, might actually have them listed as a selling point.

Answer 6

there are many women pilots out there. Some are in a bigger rank than men. I have seen women captains, co-pilots, flight engineers. Well, they might be an airline transport pilot not a commercial pilot.

Answer 7

There are women. I know there are a few women flying Boeings around where I am. It is just that only a small percentage are female at this point in time, and the chances of getting a male flight crew is significantly higher.

Answer 8

There are lots of women pilots. In fact, I happened to be on a USAIR (now USAIRWAYS) flight a number of years back when they announced that it was the first all woman flight crew...(was probably a DC9/MD80 crew) in the company history. Just came back on a Northwest flight to CLT that had a woman in the left seat.

Answer 9

I just got off a NWA flight where both pilot and co-pilot were female pilots. Seniority does limit newer pilots from applying to the bigger and better aircraft...but there are female pilots even there

Answer 10

You are mistaken there are quite a few. Granted it's a newer development say within the last 20 years or so but female airline pilots do exist.

One reason that there are fewer may have to do with the fact that males are drawn to "big iron" more than women, i.e. cars, trains, planes, etc.