It’s Myth # 5: It harder for women to become pilots.

It may have been in the past, viewed traditionally as more of a male job, however those days are gone for good, as female pilots are reaching Commands and management roles. (eg: The Chief Pilot of Jetstar the % of commercial female pilots is on the increase)

The number of women in flying roles worldwide is not a good representation of how good women are as pilots, I believe it is under 5%. But airlines are taking a stand on promoting this career path for women such as Qantas who have in fact committed to their next cadet intake being made up of 50% women. Good on them.

Here’s a good way to illustrate how wrong this myth is.

Did you know that as part of your flying training you will have to sit 7 ATPL exams, on things such as Human Factors, Air Law and Meteorology? Yep, everyone does, and a very high percentage of male pilots fail one in particular: Flight Planning. They just don’t seem to get it first time around (you can resit it). That’s based on my database records from the last 18 years coaching pilots.

Guess who passes all 7 first time? My database tells me, women! Yes female pilots nail those 7 ATPL’s first time every time at a much higher rate.

I’m not sure why but they seem to have a natural aptitude for it.

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