Aviation stereotypes and a new observation

Country Flier

Country Flier

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So I'm a middle-aged, upper midwestern Asian-descent American male...I'm not sure if any of that info plays into my own aviation stereotypes or not...I'm sitting here trying to think if I may have caught myself feeling or expressing any of the typical aviation stereotypes I've heard before, such as those many of us may have heard like Cirrus pilots are bad (I don't think so) or women don't make good pilots (never thought this), or twin engines are automatically safer than single engines (nope, I've looked at the data) or all contact with the FAA is bad (I've seen good) or lets see, RV pilots are fighter pilot wanna-be's (I might believe this one a little through some experience lol). Then there's the stereotype about pilots of other-than-white/European descent...lol.

But several months ago I heard some young 20-something CFIs at an airport FBO I was visiting talking about Mooney owner/pilots. They were going on and on about how Ever.Single.One. was a complete idiot. I don't think they realized that I was there waiting on a small repair to my Mooney, and as a Mooney owner I was a bit surprised to hear this. So, I joined the conversation, and I asked them what they thought about Cirrus pilots...they all looked around at each other, shrugged, and said, "Nothing. They seem alright." I asked them about RV pilots, again, just a shrug. But then when I asked what it was about Mooney pilots, they told me story after story about what a bunch of idiots those owners were.

So, for the past few months, whenever I'm around fellow pilots, I've decided to start my own little impromptu survey about different planes/pilots/etc and aviation stereotypes... what I found was interesting. And BTW, if something I say below sounds like you/your plane, please don't get offended, I asked in fun...not to mention, my sample size at this point can't be more than 50 people or so...but anyway...

Amongst the younger crowd, at least in my area, Mooney pilots are considered "idiots". Older pilots will typically bash Cirrus, some bash RV pilots. Here was a weird one: I only met/asked 3 women pilots, but ALL 3 bashed...you ready for this? OTHER WOMEN PILOTS! As much as I was surprised by the younger crowd almost uniformly bashing Mooney owners, I was downright SHOCKED by the women pilots. (Now granted, my sample was very small, but still).

So I guess the point I'm making is: Cirrus pilots move over, there's a new idiot in town! And perhaps, we can all be our own worst enemy at times.
 
To paraphrase George Carlin: Everyone with a better plane that me is a moron, and everyone with a worse plane than me is crazy.
 
I think you'll find good and bad, nice and brash, humble and arrogant, ignorant (about how the aircraft actually works) and learned, both men and women of all sizes shapes and colors - in ALL types of air frames.

I have my own opinions but they don't mean any more than someone else's.
 
Timbeck2 said:
I think you'll find good and bad, nice and brash, humble and arrogant, ignorant (about how the aircraft actually works) and learned, both men and women of all sizes shapes and colors - in ALL types of air frames.

I have my own opinions but they don't mean any more than someone else's.
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Well sure, and you could probably say the same thing to some degree about the US prison population (except for the air frame part lol). I wasn't asking to see what was out there, I was asking to see what they thought was out there.
 
Country Flier said:
Well sure, and you could probably say the same thing to some degree about the US prison population (except for the air frame part lol). I wasn't asking to see what was out there, I was asking to see what they thought was out there.
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Okay, I'll rephrase:

A large percentage of those who own high dollar aircraft don't know chit about how it works or what is involved in maintaining it.

Better?
 
Generally speaking, a woman's worst critic is another female. That said, the two female pilots I've personally met have been great pilots, so maybe I just haven't met all these terrible women pilots. :p
 
SkyChaser said:
Generally speaking, a woman's worst critic is another female. That said, the two female pilots I've personally met have been great pilots, so maybe I just haven't met all these terrible women pilots. :p
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But....are they pretty? :)
 
Stereotypes are everywhere though.

When I'm not in aviation, I'm in firefighting. There are stereotypes of Fire vs EMS, Fire vs Law, Volunteer vs Paid, heck even down to the type of fire truck you drive, type of helmet, or color of turnout gear.

The key is to not take life so seriously that these things get to you.
 
SkyChaser said:
Generally speaking, a woman's worst critic is another female. That said, the two female pilots I've personally met have been great pilots, so maybe I just haven't met all these terrible women pilots. :p
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Ain't that the truth. There's another layer beneath 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned' and that's scorned by another woman.
 
midwestpa24 said:
Stereotypes are everywhere though.

When I'm not in aviation, I'm in firefighting. There are stereotypes of Fire vs EMS, Fire vs Law, Volunteer vs Paid, heck even down to the type of fire truck you drive, type of helmet, or color of turnout gear.

The key is to not take life so seriously that these things get to you.
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I did industrial and volunteer municipal firefighting in the 1990s. There was a generational gap where the newer folks were wussies and the older folks idiots, because of differences of opinion on SCBA or bunker pants. In industrial it was less so, just because HAZCOM training had you recognizing the real dangers of chemical overexposure, but still there.
 
Timbeck2 said:
But....are they pretty? :)
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Ouch, Tim... :)

I may be prejudiced...I married the 1st woman pilot I met....and yes, she is ^^^^^ :)

My lady has been hiring pilots for over 30 years...guessing 1/3 of them women thru the time period. Her current co-Captain is another 'girl'...ex-AF IP with dual given to Eileen Collins (look it up if you have to). Those girls have a blast together, both in the Citation and my wife's Citabria.

Dunno about the Mooney pilots! :)

Jim
 
Timbeck2 said:
But....are they pretty? :)
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I don't know if I understand the "undertone" of this question, but one was very pretty in a "traditional" sense, and the other was pretty as well, though her Norwegian lumberjack genes were definitely on display! :)
 
As a female pilot, it doesn't matter to me what someone flies, their nationality, or Sex. I've found some airline pilots to be arrogant *@×%&*^:€ but not nearly all. EV or hybrid car owners can occasionally be worse than any pilot, but then 90% are delightful people. Good, and bad come in all walks of life. I try to humbly teach what I know, but mostly listen, and then sift through the bull vs correct.
 
Stereotypes are idiotic.
 
EdFred said:
Hell, the owners group even published an article in the magazine about how to deal with people who rag on Cirrus pilots.
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Bwahahaha…
Made my day
 
I've never heard that about Mooney pilots being idiots, but I have met a few who are extra arrogant.

One thing is for certain, every single Skymaster owner I've ever met is weird.
 
I drive an battery EV but I'm about as polar opposite politically as you can be from those "green movement" types that are pushing EV's...and I'd venture to guess opposite of about 97% of those that drive them too.... (I made that number up...)

Motorcycle riders (esp Harley types) are a group that most often in my experience do not at all align with their stereotypes
 
SkyChaser said:
Generally speaking, a woman's worst critic is another female. That said, the two female pilots I've personally met have been great pilots, so maybe I just haven't met all these terrible women pilots. :p
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Good pilots have some universal traits. Hard work and professional attitudes toward the art of aviating. I’ve met crappy pilots and amazing pilots from around the world and both genders. Not sure how people get the idea that gender matters.
 
The human brain is not a computer but is very good at pattern recognition which helps it to learn even if the reason for the pattern is not obvious. Stereotypes are just apparent patterns of human behavior; even if they're not completely (or even partly) valid they aid the brain in classifying and processing things. But there's usually at least some basis in fact.
 
Clearly there are trends that one can observe, but it's also true that every trend has exceptions.
 
SkyChaser said:
I don't know if I understand the "undertone" of this question, but one was very pretty in a "traditional" sense, and the other was pretty as well, though her Norwegian lumberjack genes were definitely on display! :)
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What is the first question asked among women when a new girl shows up? No undertones intended.
 
EdFred said:
It does for some things and interaction. I used to interact with a lot of attractive female wait staff. They said that female tippers especially a group were the worst by far when they were tipping. Single (by seating not status) female patrons slightly better but still worse than hetero couples, gay couples, single guys (seating not status) or group of guys.

Professional/service F F interaction is different (and usually less friendly) than F M or M M.
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Yeah it matters if you’re bring me a drink. I’m talking about flying. Apples and oranges. You are correct though… pretty people get better tips.
 
Weird. All the mooney pilots I've met have been great guys whom I'd guess were well above average intelligence. Actually that's been my experience with the vast majority of pilots I've met. There's been a couple who were socially awkward and not my favorite to hang out with, but I had no doubts as to their intelligence.

The one I've always heard about mooney pilots is they're cheap and pinch pennies until they squeal.
 
Jim K said:
The one I've always heard about mooney pilots is they're cheap and pinch pennies until they squeal.
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I've heard that about pilots in general!
 
Let’s try this one, which I consider a universal truth:

ALL groups are certain the OTHER group is all effed up.

just sayin
 
I used to think pilots in general were smarter than the average person. I’ve been proven wrong, just as many idiots fly.
But, I have heard that Wagon pilots are more well endowed!
 
Tarheelpilot said:
Good pilots have some universal traits. Hard work and professional attitudes toward the art of aviating. I’ve met crappy pilots and amazing pilots from around the world and both genders. Not sure how people get the idea that gender matters.
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Again, dealing with a small sample size, but my experience is that the percentage of really good pilots is about the same for men and women, and the percentage of crappy pilots is about the same for men and women.

I just can’t say as I’ve ever worked with a woman who was an “average” pilot.
 
Palmpilot said:
Stereotypes are idiotic.
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EdFred said:
Some are pretty damn accurate and do apply to the majority of people in said stereotype though. Not all, some.

.
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Stereotypes, both positive and negative, exist for a reason, because they are representative of the most visible and noticable segment of a group, but not necessarily the majority the group. Pop culture often accentuates such stereotypes, reinforcing then whether correct or not.
 
Some stereotypes are, of course, completely true. For example, when it comes to Beechcraft pilots, all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all their children are above average.
 
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