I saw an example of "reverse discrimination" in local reporting on a
Grumman that landed in a field near the Foristell VOR west of St.
Louis. The pilot was a 78-year-old woman. According to the newspaper,
she thought she was getting low on fuel so she decided to put down in
a field (!) instead of trying to make it to Washington, MO, which is
only about 10 minutes or so from that VOR. The TV reporting didn't
mention that it was a "preemptive" emergency landing, but the
newspaper did, so we'll have to wait for the NTSB report (it's not in
the DB yet).
The local media made her out to be a hero, landing her plane in
distress without getting seriously injured. The nose gear on her
plane DID hit a ditch and folded back, and the prop hit the dirt. She
suffered a bloody nose from the sudden stop, which means she probably
was wearing a lap belt but not a shoulder harness.
My reaction was that she screwed up. First, she obviously did not
manage her fuel correctly, and second, if she really did make an
emergency landing while the engine was still running, she showed
extremely poor judgment.
I understand that it's unusual to find an elderly lady flying an
airplane, but this simply makes me concerned, and a bit angry because
every time someone gets on the news because of something stupid like
running out of gas, we all look worse to the non-flying public.
Larry Snyder
N99340
On Apr 24, 2007, at 2:48 PM, ght wrote:
Ed,
Actually, it bothers me a lot that reports of all
sorts of accidents always cite the ages of the people
involved. There are definitely hidden messages and
assumptions there. I know, statistics say blah, blah,
blah. I took several stats classes in college so I
have a pretty fair idea how that works. But I am all
for paying attention to the individual pilot or driver
or whatever.
I suppose that age bias well be one of the last to go.
I decided to track down the origin of the rule that
airline captains have to retire at 60, regardless of
their health or safety record. Basically, the reason
for picking the number 60 is pretty much based on bs.
Harumph!
Spook
