Aviation This Is the Sound

Aviation

This is the Sound of Safety.

Aviation Biases and Stereotypes:

How Passengers Rate the Competence of Pilot and Crew

Based on the "Quality" of their Voices

The male doctor. The female nurse. The Irish cop. And the Italian gangster. Our lives are filled with stereotyped images. With amazing frequency, we make snap judgments regarding who a person is, or what he or she should be. Stereotypes make it easier for us to categorize and analyze the world around us. By fitting things - and people - into pre-distinguished compartments, we can more easily understand those things, and those individuals, of which, and of whom, we have no direct, personal experience. Yet as everyone knows, stereotypes can also be harmful. Very often, because we believe that we already know the merits - and the faults - of other persons, we place them into unyielding categories before we even have any real information about them. Their intelligence, personality, temperament, and so forth matter little. We know only that they conform to a "type," and that that type tells us much about these individuals - perhaps all that we need to know. Such biases can be helpful, reassuring, especially in times of crisis, or potential danger. We fly on a plane and wish to know before we take off that everything will turn out all right. The stewardess' voice reassures us. The Pilot's self-assured baritone lets us know that there is a competent man in the cockpit. The Aviation Industry is a prime example of the importance of stereotypes and biases. Our "snap" judgments put us at ease during what would otherwise be a trying, and possibly, terrifying experience. But are these soothing stereotypes really helpful? Are they genuinely accurate? or, are we allowing our own deep-seated prejudices and fears to injure those around us? Maybe not physically (at least hopefully not), but we are potentially depriving other human beings of achieving their full worth; of working in careers that they find fulfilling, and not allowing these individuals free and unfettered access to the same paths to advancement and opportunity as are open to those men and women who luckily happen fit our pre-conceived notions of right and wrong, suitable and unsuitable, and good and bad.

Even more fascinating is the way in which we as humans associate certain "parts" with a particular "whole." Specific characteristics are considered to be, for example, "Black," or "Female," or "Hispanic," or "American." We look at an individual's clothes, see what type of car a person drives, and observe the books they buy, and we "know" to which group this man or woman belongs. How many times has each one of us spoken to someone on the phone - someone whom we've never seen - and formed a mental image of that person? How many times have we been astonished by that individual's actual appearance when we finally actually meet them? Indeed, the sound of the human voice tells us many things. Its pitch, tone, relative harshness or softness, and even its speed all give clues to the identity of the speaker. The words that a person uses, his or her accent, or lack thereof, and many, many other qualities all create very definite impressions in our minds. When we wish to convey a certain attitude or position we use a corresponding voice that instantly informs the hearer of our stance.

How people talk to infants is as distinctive as what they say. They use an affectionate and exaggerated singsong intonation, and the pitch of their voice is raised, often into the falsetto range. It seems almost physically impossible to speak to a baby in a deep voice. (Zebrowitz, 1997, p. 66)

Such "baby talk" seems to be recognized all over the world, its use bridging the gaps in language, culture, education, race, ethnicity, and so on. On the other hand, not all vocal clues carry so easily across national divides. One person's language might sound harsh and grating to the speaker of another. In one country a raised voice might signify excitement, in another, aggression or anger. (Grant, 1999, pp. 103-158) a voice wield particular power on an aircraft. Often, we may never actually see the crew in the cockpit. We know them only by voice. And again, we like the voice of the stewardess to be kind and reassuring. In the former case, we want the pilot's voice to correspond to our pre-conceived notions of "capability." And by being sounding so obviously reassuring, the stewardess is letting us no that, yes, she has confidence in the pilot too. Still, these vocal clues can be as misleading on a commercial airline as they are in other areas of life. The pilot's baritone, or the stewardess' alto, cannot guarantee that we will be safe, nor can we conclude that we are flying straight into some inevitable disaster simply because these voices seem angry or disconcerting.

Nevertheless, the sounds of the voices of a plane's pilot and crew provide us with far more information than we may realize, and it is important to recognize the effects that these "voices" have on our flight. Whether we feel safe or not depends to a large degree on mere perception. But the precise meaning of this perception can determine whether an airline prospers or goes out of business, or whether we fly that airline one more time, or get off the plane swearing, "Never again!" This paper will examine the significance of biases and stereotypes in regard to the sense of safety - or lack of safety - that the voice of the pilot and his or her crew convey on board a commercial aircraft because, like it or not... you are in their hands.

Literature Review

From the beginning, the Aviation Industry has been stocked with biases and stereotypes. In the early days of commercial flight, pilots and their associated cockpit crew were virtually always male. There were no such things as "stewards," and air traffic controllers and other ground positions were again filled almost universally by men. Interestingly enough, the original on-board attendants were actually male - it was only wartime labor shortages that encouraged the employment of women. However, the stewardess quickly became ubiquitous, her presence so common that the public eventually forgot all about her male predecessor. The reasons for this lay in the thinking of the time. Pre-1960's views of a male/female dichotomy were so firmly entrenched that the airline passenger of that era was already conditioned to expect a "different kind" of service from female attendants. Early airlines even employed women designers to "to give the appropriate 'feminine' touch to the designs of uniforms, fashion accessories and interior decor." (Jackson, 1991, p. 171) Women on board provided just the right combination of "motherliness" and "glamour" -- two seemingly opposite qualities that in the thinking of the time were both subsumed under the heading of "femininity."

In the air, the air stewardess became a crucial figure both for passenger service and comfort, and also as an ambassador in publicity terms for the quality of the airline indicated by her semi-military uniform styling. [Even] When restyled in... [the 1940's and 1950's]... The uniform of the stewardess still retained a 'services' image; navy-blue barathea tailored uniforms... endow[ing] the wearer with height and authority..., standard stockings, and one and three-quarter inch standard heels.... [Designers] co-ordinated womens' uniform, dress and shoes, also... badges and flashes. (Jackson, 1991, p. 180)

The military characteristics of the stewardess' uniform helped supply the passengers' craving for order; a quality that might have seemed lacking if the attendants appeared too "feminine." In the wake of the allied victory in World War II, there could hardly be a better symbol of the caring, and protecting angel than that of the woman in military uniform. Such imagery appeared to embody everything that was good about modern technology. As the WACS and the WAVES had taken care of their fellow citizens during the War, so too would they take care of you.

Naturally, the aircraft pilot was also meant to convey a certain impression to his passengers. If the stewardess was meant to represent orderliness and warmth, the pilot too exuded self-confidence and a take-charge attitude. His entire mystique was filled with fictionalized expectations regarding just what sort of character such an individual should be: