File this under "something we never knew we should be caring about:"
If a woman's flying a plane, would you get off?
Make of this what you will, but U.K.-based online travel site sunshine.co.uk conducted a poll showing that 51% of air travelers (British ones, anyway), "don't trust" female pilots, citing their ability (or inability as they see it) to handle pressure.
But of the people polled, those who did not trust a male pilot cited their "hot headedness" and their ability to be easily distracted as reasons for their distrust.
No matter your gender preference in a pilot, as of 2010, there were roughly 8,175 female commercial pilots in America, according to the FAA. That's not a whole lot, if you consider that there were about 266,000 for-hire pilots running around at that time.
Over the years, a few hotheaded males themselves have caused flight delays over their clear preference. In 2011, a male IndiGo passenger freaked out when the pilot came on the plane's intercom and was a woman, saying "I don't want to die! She can't take care of the house, how will she take care of the plane?" For real. And in 2012, a female Brazilian pilot kicked a sexist passenger off a flight.
So what about you? Do you care? Leave it in comments.
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