Latest news with #NailaAyala
Daily Mirror
4 days ago
- Science
- Daily Mirror
Female pilots 'better and more accurate than men in high-pressure flight situations'
While women hold just 10% of the pilot licences given out in the UK, they could actually be more adept than men at handling high-pressure situations in the cockpit Female pilots may be better than their male counterparts at handling pressure during flight situations, a new study has revealed. The researchers, from the University of Waterloo in Canada, used a flight simulator to study 20 experienced pilots as they went through different scenarios. The pilots wore eye-tracking glasses, which allowed the team of scientists to record where the participants were looking and how they responded. The flight tasks included unexpected engine failures and landing challenges, which were designed to test the pilots' reactions under pressure. 'These findings are exciting because they push us to rethink how we evaluate pilots,' Naila Ayala, the study's lead author, said. She added: 'We can't assume that because two pilots are looking at the same things, they will react the same way. Our study shows that women may be better at keeping control and making decisions in stressful flight scenarios.' The research found that female pilots tended to make fewer flight control errors when stress levels increased. This means that women were more consistent and accurate in how they responded to the information presented to them. Suzanne Kearns, associate professor and director of the Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Aeronautics, said: 'Understanding how different people perform under pressure helps us build better training programs for everyone, safer cockpits, and more inclusive aviation systems. "At a time when the industry is facing a pilot shortage, tapping into the full potential of all pilots, regardless of gender, is more important than ever.' The team hopes that the research, published in the Proceedings of the 2025 Symposium on Eye Tracking Research and Applications, will help shape future pilot training. According to the study, the women demonstrated more stable landing approaches, completed tasks faster in the emergency scenario, and had higher situation awareness ratings. It explains: 'These preliminary findings suggest that female pilots may manage task demands effectively under pressure and have important implications for addressing gender-based assumptions in training and recruitment.' Last July, it was announced that there had been a 26% increase in the number of pilot licenses issued to women between 2019 and 2023. Data from the UK Civil Aviation Authority showed that 239 pilot licences were issued to women in 2019, while this number rose to 301 four years later. However, licences for women are still comparatively low as they make up just 10% of the total number given out. Bronwyn Fraser, the secretary of the British Women Pilots' Association, said: 'Women pilots bring diverse perspectives and skills. But aviation is so much more than just flying. We have brilliant women engineers, air traffic controllers, and sustainability experts pushing the boundaries of innovation, developing new technologies and unlocking the full potential of our airspace.' Fraser explained that the UK needs 'more young women in aviation'.
Daily Mail
04-08-2025
- Science
- Daily Mail
Move aside, men! Female pilots perform better under pressure than males, study finds
If you're planning on jetting off for your holidays this summer, you might hope to find a woman behind the controls. Although 90 per cent of pilots are men, a new study has found that female pilots perform better under pressure than their male counterparts. The researchers say that women have 'unique strengths' that male pilots lack, which give them steadier hands and cooler heads in the cockpit. During testing, both genders performed similarly in some areas, but women made fewer errors under pressure. Women demonstrated more stable landing approaches, completed tasks faster in emergency scenarios, and showed greater situational awareness. Researchers from the University of Waterloo, Canada, tested how pilots of different genders responded to visual information while flying. Lead author Dr Naila Ayala says: 'These findings are exciting because they push us to rethink how we evaluate pilots. 'Our study shows that women may be better at keeping control and making decisions in stressful flight scenarios.' Previous studies have looked at how the different genders process visual information and perform tasks under pressure. However, little is known about how this actually affects performance in real-life scenarios such as piloting and aircraft. To study these gender differences, 20 pilots with less than 300 hours of flight time, 10 male and 10 female, completed flights in a cutting-edge flight simulator. The participants faced a mixture of typical flights and emergency situations, such as engine failures, that require quick thinking and fast reflexes. At the same time, each participant wore eye-tracking glasses to record where they were looking and how they responded to what they saw. The researchers found that both male and female pilots had nearly identical 'visual attention patterns', but female pilots still tended to make fewer mistakes. This means that, even though men and women paid attention to the same information during the flight, women responded to that information more consistently and with greater accuracy. Dr Naila says: 'We can't assume that because two pilots are looking at the same things, they will react the same way.' In their study, Dr Naila and her co-authors conclude that these findings 'suggest that female pilots may manage task demands effectively under pressure.' That could have big implications in a profession which is still massively dominated by men at all levels. Recent studies have shown that just 6.5 per cent of pilots working for UK companies are women. That number is even lower for higher-ranking captains in commercial airlines, with a pay gap of 50 per cent or more between male and female staff at some firms. The researchers hope that these findings can change the way pilots are assessed and encourage companies to recruit more women. Co-author Suzanne Kearns says: 'Understanding how different people perform under pressure helps us build better training programs for everyone, safer cockpits, and more inclusive aviation systems. 'At a time when the industry is facing a pilot shortage, tapping into the full potential of all pilots, regardless of gender, is more important than ever.'
CTV News
31-07-2025
- Science
- CTV News
University of Waterloo study finds female pilots outperform their male counterparts under pressure
Preksha Shah, an aviation student at the University of Waterloo, in a flight simulator with eye-tracking glasses. (Heather Senoran/CTV News) A new study from researchers at the University of Waterloo is challenging the gender biases in aviation. Using eye-tracking technology and a high-fidelity flight simulator, the study found that female pilots performed better under pressure when put in a mock-emergency situation. Ten men and ten women participated in the study, and all were general aviation pilots with the same experience. Researchers recorded where each participant looked and how they responded. 'We have data that challenges traditional assumptions in aviation these days, and that's kind of groundbreaking to have this evidence to support the fact that women belong in this industry,' said Naila Ayala, lead author of the UW study. She said the women appeared to be better at keeping control and making decisions in stressful flight situations. In one scenario, participants had to complete standard flight tasks but with a twist – unexpected and total engine failure. 'Female participants were able to manage that much better in these high stress scenarios versus those male pilots who ended up having a little bit more error, with respect to things like the airspeed they're trying to control, while coming down from engine failure and safely landing the plane,' Ayala said. The simulator definitely put participants in the hot seat. 'They had to identify the emergency, understand where they were located with respect to the runway or the closest field they could possibly land, and then maneuver the plane to said space where they could land the plane and let the air traffic controllers know that there was a mayday and there's an emergency onboard,' explained Ayala. Aviation student Preksha Shah was one of the study participants. She said she didn't feel too stressed when the engine suddenly failed in the simulation. 'I was immediately like, 'Okay, we had an engine failure, and the runway is right there. Now I just need to land.'' Shah said she always wanted to be a pilot. Her goal is to one day be a commercial pilot. 'For me personally, I'm an adrenaline junkie, so I love flying,' she explained. 'And it's also just really cool.' The study highlighted the importance of looking beyond surface-level indicators when measuring pilot performance. Especially since the aviation field has long been dominated by men. 'Only six or seven per cent of airline pilots are women,' said Suzanne Kearns, an aviation professor and founder of the Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Aeronautics. 'That's a tremendous challenge when you think about there not being enough pilots in the system and how do we attract and retain the workforce to support the future.' As for why female pilots did better in the study – the answer isn't clear cut. 'There's no clear tie to very distinct gender differences that have been shown in the neurocognitive research, just because it's too complex of a task to tie to one specific type of mental capability,' said Ayala. The team hopes their findings will help shape what the industry looks like for all future pilots.
