Totally agree. Don’t we have better things to do?
Maybe, maybe not, but the sexism of many male pilots (re: the ones who use the phrase “women aren’t allowed on the flight deck because it’s a cock-pit”, etc) is certainly off-putting. Changing the terminology won’t correct this (the sexist pilots will still just refer to the original terms), but there’s no sense compounding it either. Besides, changing things like “airman” to “aviator” makes more sense than changing “student” to “learner” or “biennial flight review” to just “flight review”, and those are changes that have already been made.
When are we going to realize the men and women ARE different. However, we all have the same opportunity… well, not any more. Women and minorities CLEARLY have the advantage and have so for the past 50 years. Can we just get back to neutral?
No wonder it’s taking SO long to get something going on MOSAIC !
I’m now going to rethink retaining my membership in AOPA.
Sadly, a majority of them will probably claim the excuse “I was just joking” when called out on it. I suspect they’re the same ones that get offended if they’re told they’re “acting like a girl” - suddenly gender-specific terminology offends them.
If “women and minorities have the advantage”, then why aren’t all fields supporting equality dominated by women and minorities by now? 50 years should have been enough for the fields to become dominated by them by now, no?
I have no issue changing terms that some reasonable amount of people find sexist.
I have big issues with what now seems to be a large amount of professional trouble makers demanding unneeded changes that cause more problems than they solve. Isn’t it supposed to be necessary to show a benefit to these policies? Changing “cockpit” will only create reactionary sexism, alienate older pilots, waste time, and waste resources. The jerks will have no problem finding other word games so what real value has been created?
The only value these demanding Twitterphiles provide is to signal where too much money is being spent on payroll. (I’m looking at you government, academia, and big corporations). The latest stupidity is “birthing person”. They’ve finally crossed the line with that one, and it’s hopefully going to end this trend. How fantastically stupid does someone have to be to think they can change a word that is defined by almost every newborn when they make one of the first syllables they can while looking at their ma, mama, mom…?
Unbelievable.
Let’s start at square one. What real evidence is there that this will make any difference? Where is the scientific data? Where are the studies that will justify this?
If there’s no data then this is all unreasonable.
“Airman” is a gender neutral term unless the PC crowd thinks “Woman” is a masculine term. Both Airman and Woman have the second syllable as “man”… .
“Aviator” is somewhat gender neutral but is more masculine than Airman. Aviator is not exactly a gender neutral term because “Aviatrix”…is specific to women. There are no male Aviatrix’s (with a few exceptions).
I grew up surrounded by women pilots . My mother earned her Private Pilot ticket in 1942. She used her auto gas ration-stamps to buy fuel for the Taylorcraft that she learned to fly in. My mother was a charter member of the Michigan 99’s. In October 1946, just 2 months after Hiroshima my mother moved from Detroit to Northern Michigan where she opened the first civilian airport in the community. All of the Michigan 99’s flew to Northern Michigan for gala event. My mothers favorite pilot was Jackie Cochran. In the 1950’s and 1960’s My brother and I attended countless 99er air races and functions where the flying was all about women. It was wonderful. Although I can not speak for these women pilots today, because most have passed, I can say with certainty that they were proud to be called Aviatrix’s and Airman.
God bless.
I’m all for this. There’s a reason that flying is a male-dominated hobby and profession, and if changing a few words here and there helps make aviation seem more inclusive (or more accurately, less exclusive) for half of the population, do it! It doesn’t hurt anyone (other than, apparently, the feeling of a lot of men).
Do you actually think that changing a few trigger words is going to cause a stampede of women to enter the world of aviation? Seriously? Wow.
Well, when your political power is dependent on having victims, you need to invent them where none exist.
Meanwhile, I’m still waiting for the really important stuff like MOSAIC. Why? My smart phone has more aviation navigation and safety features than all of my TSO’d avionics in my certificated aircraft combined and by a wide margin. I dropped AOPA membership a loooong time ago over other issues, and I see there still isn’t a good reason to come back. Hint: If you’re p*ssing off a large part of the community with your proposal, are you really trying to be inclusive? Because that’s the opposite of inclusive. But it makes sense in the context of 1984 with the Ministries of Truth, Love, Peace, and Plenty where the reality is the polar opposite.
Bryan, people who say that flying is “male dominated” show that they neither have a grasp of language nor actually care about offending one gender.
An yes, changing the verbiage in every regulation, AIM and training course does hurt people financially and for zero gain. Doing so hurts aviation.
Here’s a thought…instead of changing the term NOTAM, how about they actually, you know, fix the NOTAM system? I know very few male pilots who don’t want to see more women in aviation. There’s bubbas in every industry, but they’re getting fewer all the time. The women aviators I know don’t give a flying f#$^ about gender neutral terminology. It’s not terminology that’s keeping the female pilot population low. It’s parents and schools who, even in 2021 aren’t telling their girls that it’s an option.
My granddad’s first flight instructor in 1941 was a woman. My first flight instructor in 1989 was a woman. Women have always been making their mark in aviation. I fly with outstanding female FOs all the time. I have no doubt that there still is a boy’s club mentality in some sectors, but that is declining as time goes on. In the 121 world at least, there’s never been a better time to be a woman. The problem lies in parents and schools who don’t even tell girls that something like aviation is an option. Even in 2021, I still hear college girls who make no bones about the fact that they’re going to college for their MRS degree. And these are girls who have the intelligence and resources to pursue any field they want. Terminology isn’t keeping women from pursuing aviation.
No, we’re howling about people financially hurting aviation for zero tangible benefit. The FAA needs to stop their recent trend of high costs and imposing nonsense.
Who says they’re not? Economist Mark Perry thinks it’s a question of what you focus on. He recently published this chart, with data sources:
www.aei.org/carpe-diem/chart-of-the-day-for-every-100-young-women-in-october-2020/
There is plenty of solid evidence that men face substantial and multifaceted institutional and structural disadvantages in our society, few of which are discussed or even recognized. Instead, there is persistent focus on the advantages they have (or had, 50 or 100 years ago).
None of which means we should be disrespectful towards, dismissive of, or anything other than encouraging and welcoming to women who want to fly.
Only if you understand English grammar. Most people these days got a participation trophy and a self-esteem “A” in English.
The real problem is that they would have to spend any significant amount of money to do this. Finding replacement words should be quick and easy and cost nothing. Notice to Aviators is fine, so is Notice To Pilots. This isn’t hard. They can be phased in as publications are revised at little to no cost. Drone is a better term for what everyone except the FAA calls a drone anyway.
I look forward to the change away from the term Notice To Airmen as part of the complete overhaul of the NOTAM system. “They’re garbage, that’s what they are.” So lets fix them, and at the end to celebrate we can rename them while we’re at it.