Citation

Weber RN. Transp. Res. Rec. 1995; 1480: 51-56.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1995, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Primarily on the basis of interviews, the treatment of gender is compared as a human factors consideration within military and civilian aviation. Defense and civilian cockpits have traditionally been built to specifications based on male anthropometry and may embody a physical bias against women and smaller-statured men. Defense and commercial divisions of airframe manufacturers rely on similar computer modeling techniques and anthropometric data to accommodate a targeted population of pilots. However, the design of defense aircraft tends to be highly regulated, and more efforts have been taken to ensure that a larger pool of otherwise eligible pilots is accommodated by future systems, such as in the Joint Primary Aircraft Training System. Within very loose FAA guidelines, commercial manufacturers are responsive to their customer airlines, most of which are not concerned with accommodating women pilots unless they fear liability for employment discrimination. Commercial manufacturers also do not possess adequate anthropometric data about the civilian female pilot population. Because of defense budget cutbacks, a changing social context, and a broader political mandate, the public sector has a responsibility both to facilitate the transfer of knowledge from military to civilian aviation and to concern itself with the equity issues involved in accommodating female pilots.

Language: en

Keywords

Aircraft; Design; Computer simulation; Aviators; Cockpits (aircraft); Aircraft manufacture; Airframes; Aviation; Human engineering