Girls flying airplanes! 👩✈️
This accident has NOTHING to do with DEI or women pilot qualifications. Many pilots obtain their first airline job at the regionals and have little to no large aircraft experience. It’s to be expected that they are learning while on the job. We pilots have all been in that position at some point in our careers.
The fact that this was a female pilot flying the leg is pointless. The fact that the she may not have been experienced enough to handle the situation should be the point. That decision rests on the Captain. The Captain decides who flies the leg. Was it bad judgment that he let a relatively inexperienced FO fly a leg that was above her present skill level? Time will tell.
Regionals hire low time, low experienced first officers. Always have, always will. That a fact of life.
In my opinion, airlines should be encouraging women to become pilots. There are very few women who pursue careers in aviation. I have a daughter and granddaughter, if they wanted to be pilots, I would certainly encourage it. I have flown with men and women and many have been good and many have been bad. My PPL, IR and CPL instructor was a female…and she was probably the toughest instructor I’ve ever flown with. She was also an incredible pilot. Arlynn McMahon was her name and I still hear her voice in my head every time I fly. She is the reason that I am damn good at flying airplanes!
Where I draw the line, FOR ANYONE, is being adequately skilled to fly as Captain. I have seen pilots, both men and women, promoted to Captain when their skills and judgment were marginal. Seniority and other factors created those situations. It happens, but this particular CRJ accident had nothing to do with those factors.
Let’s stop the anti-female pilot rhetoric. The last thing this FO and aviation in general needs, is the world prejudging and blaming her gender for this accident.
@MorganLaidler Dear Canada. We voted for our president. Once you as a country start pulling your own weight it'll stop. Hope that clears it up for you.