Zone1 My Undergraduate Alma Mater, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Releases It's Study on Gender, Racial Bias

[NewsVine_Mariyam]

I understand that a facet of white supremacy is the thought and erroneous belief in the superiority of an individual due simply to their membership in the white race. And that this belief creates an inability to understand and/or accept information that is contrary to this belief system, not just when the information is conveyed by a non-white, but even if the person conveying the information is white as well.

Embry-Riddle's bread & butter is their aeronautical science students who upon graduation have obtained not only their bachelor's degree but their commercial pilot's license with an instrument rating as well as having accumulated several hundred hours of logged flight time which allows them to eventually apply for employment with one of the major commercial airlines.

Who better than this educational institution who is the number one aeronautical university in the world, lovingly referred to as "the Harvard of the sky" by students and alumnus alike, to shine a light on both the implicit and explicit bias against its graduates. A few examples, some of which sound as if they could have been plucked straight from U.S. Messageboard:

The following are several recent examples of statements regarding female and minority pilots as found in various media outlets:​

​

“I hope you don't let her drive,” [41]; p. 213).​

“Huh, a woman pilot. Well, at least it keeps them off the roads” [42]; n.p.).​

“I didn't even know as a female you could be a pilot. I thought that was a man's job” [43]; n.p.).
​

Following a 2007 engine test incident involving an aircraft with Etihad livery and an Arab test crew, “That's why God gave them camels” [44]
​

“For much of his [pilot] training, he'd been tagged with the call sign ‘Radio,’ a reference to a movie about a mentally challenged black man” [45].
​

Recordings of discrimination towards women in aviation dates back to the beginnings of the industry almost a century ago. For example, Bessie Colman, the first woman pilot of African descent, was forced to learn to fly in France because of discrimination in the United States at the time [46]. More recently, bias in aviation -including sexism-has been documented by many research teams studying differing aspects of this issue [5,41,[47], [48], [49], [50], [51], [52], [53], [54]].​

ERAU RELEASES STUDY ON GENDER, RACIAL BIAS

February 10, 2021By AOPA Communications staff
​

A new study released by researchers at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University examined potential bias faced by aspiring female and minority commercial and student pilots in the United States.​

​

Photo by Mike Fizer.
​

In an experiment, participants were shown pictures of current female and male commercial pilots of various races, and were asked to rate their opinions on the quality of the pilot—professionalism, flight safety, smoothness of flight, and confidence in the pilot. Participants then viewed photos of student pilots and rated their likeliness to succeed in flight training. In both studies, results indicated that consumers and other pilots favored white males in all conditions, while females and minorities were viewed less favorably.​

​

ERAU Professor of Human Factors Stephen Rice said, “The aviation industry needs to be aware that this bias exists because they need to make sure their hiring process is fair to women and minorities. They need to do whatever it takes to help women and minorities overcome these societal problems.”

​

Nadine Ragbir, the lead author of the paper and an Embry-Riddle Ph.D. student, said, “Being in a school centered around aviation, we could not help but ask ourselves if these biases exist in airline passengers and pilots alike.” The research paper pointed out that bias could deprive the industry of the best job candidates.​

Despite the coronavirus pandemic and hiring at major airlines being at its lowest level since 2013, pilot demand is very strong for freight carriers and Part 135 charter operators, thus creating jobs. Additionally, such sectors as helicopter, general aviation, cargo, flight training, and corporate aviation remain strong; even some regional airlines anticipate hiring this year, according to experts who monitor the aviation job market.​

​

ERAU releases study on gender, racial bias​

 

[Dekster]

So you challenge perceptions by employing more minorities and women. You still have the problem of getting them to the minimum qualifications. Becoming an airline pilot is expensive. I just went through my commercial/instrument and to hell with sinking more money and years into this just to get a commuter job that paid what I could have been making working full time pretty much anywhere. There were several females in my private pilot group and only a couple went on to the commercial and only 1 to instrument (we did it backwards to a lot of places and did commercial before instrument which didn't make any sense to me).

 

[rampart]

Photo by Mike Fizer.​

​

In an experiment, participants were shown pictures of current female and male commercial pilots of various races, and were asked to rate their opinions on the quality of the pilot—professionalism, flight safety, smoothness of flight, and confidence in the pilot. Participants then viewed photos of student pilots and rated their likeliness to succeed in flight training. In both studies, results indicated that consumers and other pilots favored white males in all conditions, while females and minorities were viewed less favorably.​

​

ERAU Professor of Human Factors Stephen Rice said, “The aviation industry needs to be aware that this bias exists because they need to make sure their hiring process is fair to women and minorities. They need to do whatever it takes to help women and minorities overcome these societal problems.”

​

Nadine Ragbir, the lead author of the paper and an Embry-Riddle Ph.D. student, said, “Being in a school centered around aviation, we could not help but ask ourselves if these biases exist in airline passengers and pilots alike.” The research paper pointed out that bias could deprive the industry of the best job candidates.​

Despite the coronavirus pandemic and hiring at major airlines being at its lowest level since 2013, pilot demand is very strong for freight carriers and Part 135 charter operators, thus creating jobs. Additionally, such sectors as helicopter, general aviation, cargo, flight training, and corporate aviation remain strong; even some regional airlines anticipate hiring this year, according to experts who monitor the aviation job market.​

​

ERAU releases study on gender, racial bias​

great article, but we get that a lot from you. thanks

where is ERAU, anyway? its not in the SEC is it?

 

[NewsVine_Mariyam]

So you challenge perceptions by employing more minorities and women. You still have the problem of getting them to the minimum qualifications. Becoming an airline pilot is expensive. I just went through my commercial/instrument and to hell with sinking more money and years into this just to get a commuter job that paid what I could have been making working full time pretty much anywhere. There were several females in my private pilot group and only a couple went on to the commercial and only 1 to instrument (we did it backwards to a lot of places and did commercial before instrument which didn't make any sense to me).

Other people's ignorance is absolutely no reason to change course and do anything differently if the applied method has been working all of this time.

Why do you see getting "minorities and women" to the "minimum qualifications" as a "problem"? Embry-Riddle has been graduating pilots for the commercial airlines and doing this successfully since the 1920s. So have the airlines. While it may have always been a problem for the racists in society, it seems that the acronym DEI gives them something more tangible to point to and attack as the source of all that ails society. Embry-Riddle graduated its first African American female pilot in the 1980s so despite the only recent coining of the term "DEI", Riddle has been quietly in the background training females and minorities to become top-notch pilots with the training needed to go on to work for the commercial airlines industry.

So as you can see, this has been going on for at least the last 40 years. And yes, flying is an expensive hobby and in order to gain the hours needed to obtain your licenses required by the airlines, you have to log those flying hours in all of the specific categories which is one of the reason that Black people in American have had a more difficult time breaking into the industry, not lack of intelligence as one of the more low brow members here keeps insisting.
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I thought your comment about your instrument rating and your flight school doing things backwards was odd. There are two licenses at your level, the private pilot which used to be obtained after 40 hours and then your commercial pilot's license which I believe, at least when I was flying, was after 250 flight hours.

The instrument is a rating on your commercial license, it's not a stand-alone license. You could get a commercial license without an instrument rating but would only be licensed to fly VFR (visual flight rules) versus IFR (instrument flight rules).

VFR essentially exists to ensure that pilots flying visually don’t lose visibility up in the clouds and crash into each other. Since air traffic control is not responsible for keeping VFR airplanes separated, it’s up to the pilot-in-command to avoid a collision. This means that the pilot needs to be able to see in front of and around the aircraft while flying. Early on in flight school, a student pilot must master general areas of expertise as it pertains to the correct general operability of an aircraft under VFR.​

​

Often E-RAU students, after obtaining their commercial with instrument rating would then obtain their CFI (certified flight instructor) or CFII (certified flight instructor - instruments) in order to log hours towards obtaining their ATP license (airline transport pilot) of 1500 hours which will allow them to fly the left seat however most get theirs by flying as the first officer before moving over to the left as captain & pilot-in-command. I think they have made the requirements more rigorous in recent years.

Airline Transport Pilot​

to apply for an ATP certificate, you must have:​

• 1,500 flight hours
• 500 cross-country hours
• 100 night hours (25 PIC)
• 75 instrument hours
• 250 PIC hours

I may not have gotten every detail correct above because it's been decades since I was flying and pursuing a career as a commercial pilot. One of my friends from Embry-Riddle however will be at mandatory retirement age soon. He, like many of our group went on to pursue successful careers with the commercial airlines including being designated as federal flight deck officer, the pilots who are granted permission by the Department of Homeland Security to carry a firearm while flying. He additionally is a flight check officer who trains the new captains for his airline before they are allowed to fly as pilot-in-command.

These men, Black men, excel at their profession and have been rewarded accordingly. You all are out of your minds if you think that a major airline would allow any single individual to compromise the flying public's safety, endanger their lives, endanger the company's reputation and/or put them at liability risk of mega-million lawsuits simply because they want to promote DEI.

The pilots who fly the public around are trained when they first begin flight training and at every single step of the way along their journey. They are trained AGAIN to the specifics of their company's policies and to the aircraft manufacturer's specifications for flying their aircraft. And they have to retrain every time they change aircraft that they will be in command of. The captains have to pass a medical examination every six months, I can't recall how frequently they have to pass any other examinations or checks, including I would imagine, background check that can be conducted at any point in their employment that the airlines feel is needed.

Aviation | Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

 

[NewsVine_Mariyam]

great article, but we get that a lot from you. thanks

where is ERAU, anyway? its not in the SEC is it?

Thank you, I really do appreciate the acknowledgement.

Riddle's main campus is in Daytona Beach at the Daytona Beach International Airport. It also has a campus in Prescott, Arizona.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Aviation | Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

erau.edu

 

[Dekster]

Other people's ignorance is absolutely no reason to change course and do anything differently if the applied method has been working all of this time.

Why do you see getting "minorities and women" to the "minimum qualifications" as a "problem"? Embry-Riddle has been graduating pilots for the commercial airlines and doing this successfully since the 1920s. So have the airlines. While it may have always been a problem for the racists in society, it seems that the acronym DEI gives them something more tangible to point to and attack as the source of all that ails society. Embry-Riddle graduated its first African American female pilot in the 1980s so despite the only recent coining of the term "DEI", Riddle has been quietly in the background training females and minorities to become top-notch pilots with the training needed to go on to work for the commercial airlines industry.

So as you can see, this has been going on for at least the last 40 years. And yes, flying is an expensive hobby and in order to gain the hours needed to obtain your licenses required by the airlines, you have to log those flying hours in all of the specific categories which is one of the reason that Black people in American have had a more difficult time breaking into the industry, not lack of intelligence as one of the more low brow members here keeps insisting.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I thought your comment about your instrument rating and your flight school doing things backwards was odd. There are two licenses at your level, the private pilot which used to be obtained after 40 hours and then your commercial pilot's license which I believe, at least when I was flying, was after 250 flight hours.

The instrument is a rating on your commercial license, it's not a stand-alone license. You could get a commercial license without an instrument rating but would only be licensed to fly VFR (visual flight rules) versus IFR (instrument flight rules).

VFR essentially exists to ensure that pilots flying visually don’t lose visibility up in the clouds and crash into each other. Since air traffic control is not responsible for keeping VFR airplanes separated, it’s up to the pilot-in-command to avoid a collision. This means that the pilot needs to be able to see in front of and around the aircraft while flying. Early on in flight school, a student pilot must master general areas of expertise as it pertains to the correct general operability of an aircraft under VFR.​

​

Often E-RAU students, after obtaining their commercial with instrument rating would then obtain their CFI (certified flight instructor) or CFII (certified flight instructor - instruments) in order to log hours towards obtaining their ATP license (airline transport pilot) of 1500 hours which will allow them to fly the left seat however most get theirs by flying as the first officer before moving over to the left as captain & pilot-in-command. I think they have made the requirements more rigorous in recent years.

Airline Transport Pilot​

to apply for an ATP certificate, you must have:​

• 1,500 flight hours
• 500 cross-country hours
• 100 night hours (25 PIC)
• 75 instrument hours
• 250 PIC hours

I may not have gotten every detail correct above because it's been decades since I was flying and pursuing a career as a commercial pilot. One of my friends from Embry-Riddle however will be at mandatory retirement age soon. He, like many of our group went on to pursue successful careers with the commercial airlines including being designated as federal flight deck officer, the pilots who are granted permission by the Department of Homeland Security to carry a firearm while flying. He additionally is a flight check officer who trains the new captains for his airline before they are allowed to fly as pilot-in-command.

These men, Black men, excel at their profession and have been rewarded accordingly. You all are out of your minds if you think that a major airline would allow any single individual to compromise the flying public's safety, endanger their lives, endanger the company's reputation and/or put them at liability risk of mega-million lawsuits simply because they want to promote DEI.

The pilots who fly the public around are trained when they first begin flight training and at every single step of the way along their journey. They are trained AGAIN to the specifics of their company's policies and to the aircraft manufacturer's specifications for flying their aircraft. And they have to retrain every time they change aircraft that they will be in command of. The captains have to pass a medical examination every six months, I can't recall how frequently they have to pass any other examinations or checks, including I would imagine, background check that can be conducted at any point in their employment that the airlines feel is needed.

Aviation | Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

The logic of them having us do the commercial first was so students could do restricted commercial flights to gain hours. I personally thought it was about them generating more money quickly by sending you on a bunch of pointless solo cross-country flights. The route was SEL private pilot, commercial, instrument, multi engine, then flight instructor with most people getting their complex endorsement sometime during the commercial phase. Eventually after I left, they rearranged the program to do the instrument before commercial. A lot of graduates ended up sticking around for 3-5 years flight instructing just to build hours.

And I see getting minorities and women to their ATP as a problem just because there are so few of them pursuing it to begin with compared to white males. It is expensive, time consuming, boring as hell, and runs right into the ages when people are wanting to get married and have babies, particularly women.

 

[TNHarley]

So people want white males for pilots.
Just like people would want black males for sports. Where is the bias study on that?

 

[MarathonMike]

I may have missed it, but I did not see the "participants" in the study you cited described anywhere. If the participants in the study are all White, then your study supports your hypothesis.

If the participants are a cross section of races and genders, then it is possible that what the study shows is that most people regardless of race or gender have a stereotype in their mind of a pilot as a White male.

 

[NewsVine_Mariyam]

And I see getting minorities and women to their ATP as a problem just because there are so few of them pursuing it to begin with compared to white males. It is expensive, time consuming, boring as hell, and runs right into the ages when people are wanting to get married and have babies, particularly women.

In my profession, we are taught not to use the word "problem", instead we are instructed to use the word "challenge". When you say that you "see getting minorities and women to their ATP as a problem just because..." it casts a negative light upon the group and most people will interpret any perceived negativity as being inherent in the group members themselves when that certainly is not the case.

Flying for the commercial airlines is on an entirely different level than wanting to work for Google or Microsoft as a team leader or CEO for example. Any individual who is serious about pursuing this career path knows sacrifices will need to be made including delaying child bearing although not necessarily marriage. And even though unplanned pregnancies certainly can occur, modern day women are more equipped than at any other time in history, with the exception of the recent SCOTUS rulings on abortion, to arrange their lives in the manner necessary for them to pursue and obtain a career as a commercial airline pilot. When speaking of minority men, this aspect isn't even an issue.

The biggest barrier to more women & minorities entering the field is, as you rightly pointed out, the prohibitive cost of training and getting in your flight hours which I heard on the news lately is currently around $100,000.

Equally prohibitive until just more recent decades, is the bias with which both groups are viewed.

But the bottom line is that the training requirements are no different for women or minorities than they are for the white males who have dominated the field since it's inception. The requirements are set by our government and cannot be adjusted making them less stringent for Black people or women. If you want to become a pilot you find a way to meet the requirements or you won't be allowed to fly, grounded forever:

 

[NewsVine_Mariyam]

I may have missed it, but I did not see the "participants" in the study you cited described anywhere. If the participants in the study are all White, then your study supports your hypothesis.

If the participants are a cross section of races and genders, then it is possible that what the study shows is that most people regardless of race or gender have a stereotype in their mind of a pilot as a White male.

I'm not sure it can be considered a stereotype if it's true. The first African American pilot was not allowed to fly for the airlines until around 1963 and it was certainly not due to them not being well trained or good pilots as the Tuskegee Airmen experiment proved.

 

[MarathonMike]

I'm not sure it can be considered a stereotype if it's true. The first African American pilot was not allowed to fly for the airlines until around 1963 and it was certainly not due to them not being well trained or good pilots as the Tuskegee Airmen experiment proved.

I'm saying people will typically be more comfortable with what they are used to seeing and that is not necessarily gender/racial bias or White Supremacy.

For example, If you conducted a study on sprinters and showed pictures of sprinters of all races, most people would say the Black sprinters are the fastest because that is what they are used to seeing.