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The purpose of this paper is to examine cultural sexism in the UK aviation industry through the experiences women commercial pilots have encountered with their male colleagues and management.

Interviews were carried out with 20 women commercial airline pilots: 17 women were currently airline pilots, or were previously airline pilots and resigned and three women were flying instructors. There were nine different UK airlines for which the women airline pilots worked.

Women pilots face cultural sexism where their male colleagues expect them to be different based on their assumptions about women in general but expect their female colleagues to adapt to the current social and cultural system in the UK industry.

Further research is needed to explore ways to combat cultural sexism. Limitations include a focus on UK airlines only, plus the methodology relied upon women who were open to discussing their experiences rather than a random sample of pilots.

Research in this paper highlights how change is needed to produce a more inclusive culture to improve the working culture for women pilots and to appreciate the diversity that women bring to organizations.

This paper provides insights into an under researched area of women's employment and the existence of cultural sexism.

Pilots of commercial airlines comprise generally ex‐military pilots and pilots with purely civil craft experience. There are four major configurations of a cockpit crew based on the composition of the pilots holding the two positions of captain and first officer. The hypotheses of this study are that the team composition will contribute to different teamwork characteristics in terms of teamwork harmony, teamwork conflict, and crisis handling. The hypotheses propose that these characteristics derive from the differences in background, work experience and the training conditions of these two distinct types of pilot. Scheffe’s post hoc statistical results support two of these three hypotheses, i.e. teamwork conflict and the handling of crises. The implications of these findings for management and training are discussed further.

The commercial airline is an extremely competitive, safety‐sensitive, high technology service industry. People, employees and customers, not products and machines, must be the arena of an organisation’s core competence. The implications are vast and pervasive affecting no less than the organisation’s structure, strategy, culture, and numerous operational activities. Completed by 13 respondents (executives), this audit presents a series of select findings of a human resource management audit carried out in 2001‐2 and contains extensive data on airlines from nine countries from around the globe. The conclusion drawn from these three bodies of work is that, with the exception of a handful of high performing airlines, the industry as awhole continues to function as per a traditional, top‐down, highly divisionalised, industrial model of operations and governance. This model is manifestly inappropriate in such a highly knowledge‐based service market as the airline industry. HRM expertise in general and recruitment and selection as well diversity and equal opportunity in particular are required now, more than ever, to spearhead the strategic development of a customer‐centric, learning‐oriented workforce that is capable of adapting quickly to the strategic goals and change imperatives facing the airline industry.

One of the main difficulties in operating a service for the public is that the public, though very much in evidence individually, may collectively be an unknown quantity. When the service is one offering business and commercial information the difficulties are compounded. The field is fluid, the literature extensive and its acquisition complex. Much of the material quickly becomes out of date. Furthermore, the seeker of business and commercial information has, or may have, many strings to his bow and the part played by any single formal information set up is not obvious.

This paper aims to present the analysis of introduction of single engine turbo-prop aeroplane class in terms of certification specifications and flight crew licensing regulations.

Following the results of flight testing and additional performance and sizing calculations, the proposed class was placed among the existing aeroplane taxonomy in terms of performance, flight loads, mass penalty, fuel economy and several other factors. Concerning small air transport initiative, the new class was tried to be placed as a starting point in commercial pilot career.

The paper points the potential market for single engine turbopropeller aeroplanes and lists today obstacles in wider introduction. Therefore, remarks about required change of regulations and requirements for design process, as well as for crew licensing, are underlined.

The results of the study would be helpful in preliminary design of a new low-power turboprop aeroplane, as well as during tailoring the certification specifications.

The approach presented in this paper is a detailed extension of an original idea presented by author for the first time during Clean Sky/small air transport workshop.

Describes a research project that explores differences in values between male and female flying instructors. Hazardous attitudes and practices in aviation have been attributed to masculine values associated with the flying culture. Data were collected from male and female flying instructors and their approaches to resolving instructional dilemmas were compared. Findings were used to predict whether female instructors were likely to shift the culture towards more feminine values, or whether the culture was likely to shift the values of the female instructors. Finds evidence of female instructors being less analytical in their view of instructing, and more achievement oriented than men. Suggests that female instructors are reacting to existing masculine culture rather than promoting feminine values.

The purpose of this paper is to address hierarchies in a large program of projects. It explores cultivation of communities of practice (CoP) within a hierarchical client organization that manages multi-billion-euro infrastructure programs and projects.

This paper is based on an exploratory longitudinal case study approach involving action research. In-depth semi-structured interviews, company records, industry reports and observation from a case study in the hierarchical bureaucracy were translated into the language of cognitive maps for software analysis and subsequent interpretation.

The findings highlight the importance of hierarchy constraints and program management practices in project-based firms. The involvement of senior management in CoP cultivation reinforced the community’s contribution to strategic value creation in the firm under scrutiny.

This paper mobilizes the concepts of boundary spanning and loose coupling as a way of analyzing the role of CoPs in bureaucratic hierarchies to promote learning and knowledge transfer. The results of the study suggest that application of those concepts can contribute to sustainability of CoPs in hierarchical organizations by giving them social space to span horizontal and vertical boundaries.

The authors practically contribute to the field by demonstrating the process and the impact of CoP sponsors’ engagement in their cultivation. This was enabled through the research-oriented action research component. The paper also concludes that cognitive mapping may provide a useful addition to engaged research, potentially simulating and influencing change in practice.

The academic contribution concerns understanding the roles of hierarchies, program management and CoP cultivation in project-based firms. It offers clear guidelines for managers of hierarchical bureaucracies to cultivate CoPs to address hierarchical constraints and how CoPs differ in organizational form.

Each decision-making involves risk; therefore, risk is a strategic element in management and organization. In terms of risk management, the transformation process in organizations should be aimed at optimizing and improving the most important performance criteria such as cost, quality, flexibility and speed, rather than just as required by legislation. Transformation process has sustainability risks for organizations. ATO transformation process should be well designed. Process also should include clear steps to implement them. Sound and well-designed process will be useful for organizational performance and quality management. The management of the risks of conversion processes is vital for the continuation of operations without interruption. In aviation universities’ approved training organizations (ATOs), each system must be handled and processed separately. Transformation plans should be prepared considering the risks of each system. The purpose of this study is to develop process flowcharts of all systems in sustainable ATO transformation process from risk management perspective.

Flowchart method is useful to identify process risks in organizational system transformation. Flowcharts simplify communication and provide effective analysis of the process. Flowchart enables designing plan which is suitable for aimed results. Flowcharts method provides efficient coding and system analysis and program development phase also serves as a guide while debugging errors. In this study, flowcharts including all stages have been developed for transition to an ATO authorization. With these flowcharts, all elements of the process and the risks, threats and opportunities that may be faced can be proactively identified together. Thus, improvements will be possible to achieve the corporate objectives of the transformation and reorganization process and increase the corporate performance with optimum resource usage.

Flowcharts may contribute to the reorganization and transformation of processes in all aviation academies. In this sense, it provides infrastructure for future studies. New studies can be carried out for the reorganization of all departments in aviation. It is believed that this research will contribute to the aviation management literature. Flowchart is also called as process flowchart or process flow diagram. Flowchart is effective methodology to manage transformation process risk. Owing to clarify each step in transformation process, risks may be managed with timely decision-making by managers. In this research, five fundamental flowcharts have been developed in ATO system. These include all processes in transformation as preparation of manuals, new authority application, competent authority inspections, corrective and preventive actions, revalidation and fees in transformation process and its parts. Presented flowcharts may be useful to identify and manage process risk in initial phase as consent with proactive management style.

This research presents designed flowcharts for ATO transformation risk management process. This research may extend at other departments in aviation universities such as air traffic control, maintenance and management.

As a methodology, flowcharts can be considered as schematic algorithms. The flowchart is a detailed representation of the process to carry out a specific task. In this research, flowcharts have been developed for transformation process stages at ATO authorization. These flowcharts are useful for proactive identification of process elements and their risks – threats and opportunities. Thus, improvements will be possible to achieve the corporate objectives of the transformation and reorganization process and increase the corporate performance with optimum resource usage. Flowcharts may contribute to the reorganization and transformation of processes in all aviation academies. In this sense, it provides infrastructure for future studies. New studies can be carried out for the reorganization of all departments in aviation. It is believed that this research will contribute to the management and strategy literature with engineering.

ATO transformation process risk management has not been studied much in literature. The operational manuals of ATO's management and strategy planning prepare according to both legal regulations and handbooks of aviation authorities which obliged for ATO. It is anticipated that this original study may be useful for determining the risks of transformation processes of flight training departments of civil aviation universities and for good process design. Flowcharts may contribute to the reorganization and transformation of processes in all aviation academies. In this sense, this study provides infrastructure for future studies. New studies can be carried out for the reorganization of all departments in aviation. It is believed that this research will contribute to the aviation management literature. Flowchart is also called as process flowchart or process flow diagram. Flowchart is effective methodology to manage transformation process risk. Owing to clarify each step in transformation process, risks may be managed with timely decision-making by managers. The aviation universities operate with authorization. This research may contribute to their process management and strategy to complete their transformation and transition via risk management. Developed flowcharts present all necessary steps to become authorized as an ATO. This research may serve as a kind of framework guide for other aviation organizations to be used in their transformation/transition process.

WILL ROGERS, the great American humorist used to say, ‘All I know is what I read in the papers’. It would not be true to say that the daily press will tell us all that the Institute Meeting brings forth in science and technology, but news‐papermen have a flair for the significant. Accordingly, when the New York Times devoted a half‐column editorial to the luncheon speech of Admiral Luis de Florez, it was because this engineer, with so many war‐time training devices and methods to his credit, had once again evolved a valuable idea, a Synthetic Aircraft to serve in the development and testing of new aeroplanes. During the war the Navy developed and used Synthetic Aircraft for training men in gunnery, bombing, radio work, meteorology, the handling of rockets and torpedoes. Moreover, with the aid of complex electronic devices, computers, electric analysers, it was possible to subject young pilots, in almost uncanny fashion, to simulated emergency conditions, the cutting out of an engine, combat damage. The Navy spent S100,000,000 on its synthetic trainers and saved millions of hours of training time and billions of dollars. In pioneer days, to build a new plane cost a few thousand dollars and in the test flight only one man risked his life. Today the first flight hazards millions of dollars and the lives of several men. Admiral De Florez suggested that the building of synthetic aircraft to reproduce the flight characteristics of a new machine in operating form rather than to rely on calculations, however learned they might be. Let us quote his own words:

In this study, a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach for evaluating airworthiness factors were presented. The purpose of this study is to develop an acceptable rationale for operational activities in civil and military aviation and for design, production and maintenance activities in the aviation industry that can be used in-flight safety programs and evaluations.

In aviation, while the initial and continuing airworthiness of aircraft is related to technical airworthiness, identifying and minimizing risks for avoiding losses and damages are related to operational airworthiness. Thus, the airworthiness factors in civil and military aviation were evaluated under these two categories as the technical and operational airworthiness factors by the analytic hierarchy process and analytic network process. Three technical and five operational airworthiness criteria for civil aviation, three technical and nine operational airworthiness criteria for military aviation were defined, evaluated, prioritized and compared in terms of flight safety.

The most important technical factor is the “airworthiness status of the aircraft” both in civil (81.9%) and military (77.6%) aviation, which means that aircraft should initially be designed for safety. The most significant operational factors are the “air traffic control system” in civil (30.9%) and “threat” in the military (26.6%) aviation. The differences within factor weights may stem from the design requirements and acceptable safety levels (frequency of occurrences 1 in 10⁷ in military and 1 in 10⁹ in civil aircraft design) of civil and military aircraft with the mission achievement requirements in civil and military aviation operations. The damage acceptance criteria for civil and military aircraft are different. The operation risks are accepted in the military and acceptance of specific tasks and the risk levels can vary with aircraft purpose and type.

This study provides an acceptable rationale for safety programs and evaluations in aviation activities. The results of this study can be used in real-world airworthiness applications and safety management by the aviation industry and furthermore, critical factor weights should be considered both in civil and military aviation operations and flights. The safety levels of airlines with respect to our airworthiness factor weights or the safety level of military operations can be computed.

This is the first study considering technical and operational airworthiness factors as an MCDM problem. Originality and value of this paper are defining critical airworthiness factors for civil and military aviation, ranking these factors, revealing the most important ones and using MCDM methods for the evaluations of airworthiness factors for the first time. In civil aviation flight safety is the basic tenet of airworthiness activities in risk analysis, on the other hand in military aviation high levels of risks are to be avoided in peace training or operational tasks. However, even high risks have to be accepted during the war, if the operational requirements impose, as mission achievement is vital. The paper is one of a kind on airworthiness evaluations for flight safety.