Do women pilots crash more than men? What the data shows

Along with sectors such as construction and engineering, aviation remains one of the most male-dominated industries in the US.

A 2022 report by Data USA showed that the US aviation workforce, including pilots and flight engineers, totaled 201,604 people. Of these, 12,257, or 6.1 percent, were women. This share has remained relatively stable for almost a decade, despite the fact that the global workforce has grown by more than 50,000 since 2014.

Most studies, including data from the National Transportation Safety Board, do not specifically focus on crashes by pilot gender, but previous studies by aviation safety organizations and research bodies have painted a picture, albeit a complex one, of the relationship between aircraft accidents. and the gender of the pilots.

A remarkable study, conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and published in 2001 a Airspace and Environmental Medicineexamined NTSB reports on general aviation accidents of airplanes and helicopters between 1983 and 1997.

The study, which adjusted for the gender disparity in the number of pilots, found that loss of control during takeoff or landing was the most common cause of accidents, accounting for 59 percent of accidents with female pilots and 36 percent for men.

Most crashes involved some type of pilot error: 95% for women and 88% for men. The most common error, mishandling the aircraft controls, was more common among female pilots (81%) than among male pilots (48%).

However, male pilots were more prone to risky behaviour, inattention and poor decision-making, such as flying in bad weather or with known mechanical problems. Although female pilots were more likely to lose control of an aircraft, they tended to be more cautious than their male counterparts.

Crashes involving male pilots were also more likely to be fatal. The study found that 19 percent of male pilot crashes resulted in at least one fatality, with an additional 12 percent resulting in serious injury, compared with 15 percent and 7 percent, respectively, of female women pilots

A 2011 paper published in Accident analysis and prevention focused specifically on aircraft accidents caused by pilot error and reached similar conclusions.

By examining crashes by pilot gender and controlling for the level of experience each pilot had, he found no statistically significant difference in the likelihood that male or female pilot errors would lead to a crash.

The study concluded that there was “no evidence” to support the idea that crashes caused by pilot error could be linked to the gender of the pilots.

In a 2018 article titled “Why There Are Not More Female Pilots,” Count Nast traveler interviewed dozens of female pilots who strongly refuted the idea that any gender-based differences would affect a pilot’s ability to navigate, steer or interact with a flight deck.

In its annual report, the Federal Aviation Administration’s Women in Aviation Advisory Council said the biggest barrier facing women in aviation was industry culture.

The board urged Congress to address gender biases affecting aviation, including the notion that women were less capable of flying commercial airliners.

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