Female pilot tosses passenger for sexist remarks

Assoc. Press ^ | 05/23/2012

[Responsibility2nd]

SAO PAULO (AP) — A Brazilian airline says one of its female pilots tossed a passenger off a flight because he was making sexist comments about women flying planes.

Trip Airlines says in a Tuesday statement the pilot ejected the man before takeoff as he made loud, sexist comments upon learning the pilot was a woman. The jet continued on to the state of Goias after a one-hour delay.

[Responsibility2nd]

I'm posting this story for no other reason except it reminded me of this joke

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As the airliner pushed back from the gate, the flight attendant gave the passengers the usual information regarding seat belts, etc. Finally, she said, "Now sit back and enjoy your trip while your captain, Judith Campbell, and crew take you safely to your destination."

Joe sitting in the eighth row thought to himself, "Did I hear her right? Is the captain a woman?"

When the attendants came by with the drink cart, he said, "Did I understand you right? Is the captain a woman?"

"Yes," said the attendant, "In fact, this entire crew is female."

"My God," said Joe, "I'd better have two scotch and sodas. I don't know what to think of all those women up there in the cockpit."

"That's another thing sir," said the attendant, "We no longer call it the cock pit. Now it's the box office."

[Da Coyote]

Good for her.

[Army Air Corps]

Alec Baldwin again?

[Revelation 911]

lol

Women are great - everyone should own one

[samtheman]

Whether or not it’s proper to kick someone off a plane for voicing an opinion, the passenger was an idiot who had to know he was, in essence, picking a fight with the authorities on an airline. That’s pretty darned stupid. I don’t have any sympathy for someone that stupid. He shouldn’t be allowed out of the house.

[mosaicwolf]

I’ve looked at all the links and I can’t find what the guy said? Maybe something like, “You’re the best looking Captain I’ve seen.” I’ll reserve judgment on this guy until I get more details.

[Cyman]

The correct way for the female pilot to handle the perceived insult was to fly a flawless, bump free flight and touch down as light as a feather.

A professional does not behave in a knee-jerk manner. While the man may have been a boor and a lout, the greater evil was the action of the pilot.

[Roccus]

Prolly that old schoolyard “Confucius says...” joke about “Woman who fly plane...”.

[OldPossum]

That one really is old. I remember it from the 8th grade. Gross, but funny.

[Roccus]

It’s old alright, but I’ll bet there are STILL grade schoolers guffawing over it just as we did. ;)

[blueunicorn6]

She tossed a passenger off a plane? Wow....a pilot and a black belt in that Brazilian martial arts stuff.

[Above My Pay Grade]

I tend to agree, though given how little information there is about the man’s behavior it is hard to judge.

Unless the man was truly disruptive, I think throwing him off the plane for sexist comments would only serve to reinforce the stereotype, some might have, that women are too “sensitive” or “emotional” to be airline pilots. Ignoring the jerk and flying the plane flawlessly would show a lot more from the pilot than kicking the guy off the plane.

Of course, if he was causing a real disruption, as opposed to merely hurting the pilot’s feelings, she did the right thing.

[HerrBlucher]

Problem is, the flight could be “flawless” and full of bumps. The pilot has no control over what turbulence is encountered and the passenger has no way to know if the pilot is handling the turbulence properly.

That said, I agree, the pilot acted in a knee jerk fashion and should have just ignored the idiot and done her job.

[Vinnie]

That one really is old

It sure is, Confucius lived 2500 yrs. ago. :^)

[10mm]

"Of course, if he was causing a real disruption, as opposed to merely hurting the pilot’s feelings, she did the right thing."

I wouldn't want some chick with hurt feelings anywhere near the controls of an aircraft. If tossing him out made her feel all warm and cuddly, I'm all for it. < /ducking >

[nathanbedford]

I think is more interesting to think about the situation as a matter of law rather than a matter of etiquette. The question is whether we want to invest in airline captains the power to be arbitrary to the point of PMS?

If we concede the necessity to invest an airline captain with certain powers analogous to those of a ship's captain because of the overriding necessity to maintain order at sea or in the air, to have one person only in control of the ship, and because of the impossibility of summoning the police or other representatives of administrators of justice, we must also consider that there must be some limits on the arbitrary application of that authority.

I for one am disinclined to invest in people trained to manipulate the controls of an airplane with authority to maintain political correctness. That is quite a different matter from authority to maintain physical order and public safety. I see the episode, as described, to be a regrettable example of the modern tendency to enshrine subjective reactions to imagined or real boorish behavior as somehow triggering the right to invoke the criminal law. In this case, the article asserts the man was ejected because "he made loud, sexist comments upon learning the pilot was a woman." There is no assertion that his behavior was disruptive to the other passengers and certainly no assertion that it posed a danger to the flight.

I would be very uncomfortable knowing that flight captains in America, as opposed to Brazil, are possessed of unappealable legal authority to behave arbitrarily. Airlines are common carriers who are licensed by the federal government to operate in public airways and as such they are not entirely private enterprises but at least quasi public enterprises engaged in interstate commerce. They are therefore constitutionally liable to be licensed and regulated by the federal government. We would not tolerate an airline captain who evicted a passenger because he was African-American. The law would promptly impose sanctions on airline pilot and the carrier. In other words, we impose limits on the authority of airline captains in these situations.

Based on the limited facts adduced in this article, I think the airline captain exceeded her reasonable powers.

[discostu]

List of people you should never be a dick to:
secretaries
HR people
IT people
people in charge of transporting you from point A to point B. This guy’s just lucky she didn’t make an “emergency” landing in BFE before kicking him off the plane.

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

Her thin-skinned response validated his sexism. She proved him right.

[CodeToad]

“Her thin-skinned response validated his sexism. She proved him right.”

Dittos! Her emotional and unprofessional response proved his point.

[Bratch]