Girls and flying -- an interesting experience with the Kiwi

Jay Honeck writes:

While I believe this is true, video game makers have spent years and
billions trying to figure out why girls make up something less than 10%
of the total video game market.

They are probably 10% of the market because they are less than 10% of
the game designers and developers. Boys write games that are
interesting to boys.

There are spectacular exceptions, such as The Sims (which is also
among the best-selling video games overall, even though it's still
only a tiny fraction of the market).

Interestingly, this figure is pretty close to the percentage
of *real* pilots.

Piloting also seems to be something that appeals to mainly boys.
Operating machines and vehicles always seems to appeal to boys more
than girls.

There's either a social stigma for girls, or they are just wired
differently -- but I'm glad the Kiwi seems to have crossed that line,
at least with early teenaged girls.

They are wired differently, as a group. However, individual
variations in personality are much larger than the wired-in
differences between the sexes, which means that, while it's always
true that large groups of girls and boys will show the same
preferences, you cannot depend on this to predict the preferences of
an individual boy or girl. Thus, there are always a few girls who are
just as enthusiastic about flight as any boy--but they always
represent a minority of girls overall.

Early teenaged girls are awash in testosterone, which can slightly
alter their behavior. Girls younger than puberty are not yet worried
about finding partners, which can also alter their preferences.
However, this is just speculation. I don't know why early teenaged
girls would enjoy simulation, but as long as it's true, perhaps it's
best not to ask any questions.

One does wonder how many of them might feel inspired to actually
pursue flight in real aircraft, though.

It would be interesting to gather this same group of girls in five
years, just to watch the dynamics as they fly the Kiwi Version 5.0, and
see if their enthusiasm have changed with age.

It probably will have changed. My guess is that they will be less
interested, but time will tell.

--
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Jose writes:

I wonder if they would have been as interested had it been a mixed sex
party.

If they are younger than puberty, I'd say yes, although they might
have been much less likely to admit it. If they are past puberty,
they definitely would have been less interested, as the mating
instinct (in both sexes present) would tend to override many other
considerations.

--
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The Old Bloke writes:

Well many of my male friends like to have a go at FS, but I'm yet to find
any female friend that is interested in FS. Most tell me it is "too
boring". But most of these females will always have a go a car racing! And
love crashing!

Maybe they like car racing because they've actually driven a car,
whereas they don't like flying because they have no familiarity with
piloting. To some extent you have to be able to relate to an activity
before you can enjoy it in simulation. The more accurate the
simulation, the more true I think this becomes.

I know a couple of women who really enjoy car racing games. I met one
who enjoyed Tomb Raider not long ago, which surprised me a bit more.

--
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I wonder if they would have been as interested had it been a mixed sex
party.

There were two boys in the group.

They were into it, too -- but that's not surprising.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

In article hQyhh.290$_X.130@bigfe9, rod wrote:

Did either of the two boys try it? Or were they afraid of being shown up by
the girl super-pilot.

What has been the group's experience with letting non-pilot passengers
fly? In my experience, the women are much better then the guys.

The guys tend to over control trying to keep it straight and level,
and fail miserably. The women tend to use more finesse, and do a
good job of keeping it straight and level, and can usually manage
turns with just some verbal coaching.

I took three friends up recently, a couple and another male friend
who is a frequent passenger of mine, but isn't a comfortable flyer.
When the boyfriend was flying, the guy in back asked me to take
over after about two minutes due to the overcontrolling/etc. On
the way back from lunch, the girlfriend flew for fifteen minutes
with no problem and no complaints from the uncomfortable flyer.

On another flight, a vegetarian female friend of mine flew about
half the trip down to Harris Ranch. She was so smooth on the
controls, she made me look bad. :/

John
--
John Clear - http://www.clear-prop.org/

"John Clear" wrote in message
...
In article hQyhh.290$_X.130@bigfe9, rod wrote:

Did either of the two boys try it? Or were they afraid of being shown up
by
the girl super-pilot.

What has been the group's experience with letting non-pilot passengers
fly? In my experience, the women are much better then the guys.


Females are generally better than males the first time at most things that
both have seen done in movies. I used to be the senior range master at a
shooting club and would work with new people wanting to shoot competition
pistol. 9 out of 10 men had to unlearn things that women didn't. The only
problem with women was getting them over that first shot.

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
ups.com...
We witnessed an interesting thing last night, and it gives me hope for
the future of GA.


"There comes a moment in time when everybody eventually learns the real
meaning of things.
To a fighter pilot that moment arrives when the plane on your six has the
range, the closure rate, the angle off, and a Ps advantage. Add to this that
the pilot flying that plane has PMS and your life ain't worth a ****!"

From Dudley's private collection of witty ditties :-)))

Dudley Henriques

John Clear writes:

What has been the group's experience with letting non-pilot passengers
fly? In my experience, the women are much better then the guys.

The guys tend to over control trying to keep it straight and level,
and fail miserably. The women tend to use more finesse, and do a
good job of keeping it straight and level, and can usually manage
turns with just some verbal coaching.

My guess is that men tend to favor action, even overreaction, whereas
women tend to favor caution. Since aircraft controls are presumably
quite responsive from the viewpoint of a non-pilot, women would
logically tend to fly better, as they'd be more cautious about moving
the controls and more likely to see what they do before making any
rash movements.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

"Dudley Henriques" wrote in message
...

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
ups.com...
We witnessed an interesting thing last night, and it gives me hope for
the future of GA.


"There comes a moment in time when everybody eventually learns the real
meaning of things.
To a fighter pilot that moment arrives when the plane on your six has the
range, the closure rate, the angle off, and a Ps advantage. Add to this
that the pilot flying that plane has PMS and your life ain't worth a
****!"

From Dudley's private collection of witty ditties :-)))

Dudley Henriques

An easily defensible situation:

- Break hard left or right
- Select Zone V AB
- Hit the CF* dispenser

(*CF in this case does not mean Chaff/Flares - It means Comfort Food...)

g d r

Jay B

"Jay Beckman" wrote in message
...

"Dudley Henriques" wrote in message
...

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
ups.com...
We witnessed an interesting thing last night, and it gives me hope for
the future of GA.


"There comes a moment in time when everybody eventually learns the real
meaning of things.
To a fighter pilot that moment arrives when the plane on your six has the
range, the closure rate, the angle off, and a Ps advantage. Add to this
that the pilot flying that plane has PMS and your life ain't worth a
****!"

From Dudley's private collection of witty ditties :-)))

Dudley Henriques

An easily defensible situation:

- Break hard left or right
- Select Zone V AB
- Hit the CF* dispenser

(*CF in this case does not mean Chaff/Flares - It means Comfort Food...)

g d r

Jay B

The only problem with this is that the "average" fighter pilot would have
already eaten the comfort food :-)
D