Girls and flying -- an interesting experience with the Kiwi

John Clear wrote:
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

Several years ago I gave my wife for a present NSCAR driving lessons at
Texas Motor Speedway. She drove the track for 8 laps nearing 150mph.
(Said she didn't blink the entire time). The instructor said the women
were better drivers as they didn't have anything to 'prove' on the track.

--

Regards, Ross
C-172F 180HP
KSWI

"Jay Honeck" wrote:
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.

Um, according to the Entertainment Software Association, your 10% number is
way off:

"Thirty-eight percent of all game players are women."

From: http://www.theesa.com/facts/top_10_facts.php

John Clear wrote:

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.

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

Back in my rock climbing days the same was true. I helped as an
assistant instructor with the Colorado Mountain Club. Guys tended to
try and muscle up the rock, while the gals used footwork and, like you
say, finesse. They learned much more quickly, since footwork and
balance mean a lot more than Rambo-style muscling in rock climbing.

I'm not sure if that's true of young kids though, since both sexes are
still relatively equal in muscle strength. When I've taken younger kids
flying both boys and girls did a good job.

Interesting story: a lady here runs a local flight school. Recently one
of her students was a tackle on one of the local high school teams.
6'5", 310 lbs. Didn't fit in one of her Tomahawks so he learned in an
Archer. She said he was clumsy as hell during preflight and once
accidentally ripped off the pitot tube with his head (not an easy thing
to do on an Archer) trying to get under the wing to sump the wing tank.


But, once he was settled in the cockpit he was a baby on the controls.
Did a good job.

So, there are exceptions to every rule. :)

--Walt

Jim Logajan writes:

"Thirty-eight percent of all game players are women."

Where are they all hiding?

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

Um, according to the Entertainment Software Association, your 10% number is
way off:

"Thirty-eight percent of all game players are women."

From: http://www.theesa.com/facts/top_10_facts.php

I find that figure to be absolutely remarkable.

I've been buying video games for over 20 years now, and my son owns
both Playstation 2 and XBox game consoles. Between us, I think it's
safe to say we're video game veterans, if not experts -- and both of us
have noticed that almost no games are aimed at girls.

Disney has a line of games (all pink, of course) out now, all aimed at
girls, but they take up one tiny kiosk in stores chock-full of "guys
games". My daughter plays the PS2 very occasionally (she has a "chick
game" called "Spryo", about a pink horse...), but I have NEVER seen or
heard of any of her girl friends playing video games.

38%? That's...incredible.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

and both of us
have noticed that almost no games are aimed at girls.
38%? That's...incredible.

Maybe girls like the same things boys do. "Aiming things at girls" may
be attempting to create and perpetuate an artificial stereotype.

Jose
--
"There are 3 secrets to the perfect landing. Unfortunately, nobody knows
what they are." - (mike).
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

Jay Honeck writes:

Disney has a line of games (all pink, of course) out now, all aimed at
girls, but they take up one tiny kiosk in stores chock-full of "guys
games". My daughter plays the PS2 very occasionally (she has a "chick
game" called "Spryo", about a pink horse...), but I have NEVER seen or
heard of any of her girl friends playing video games.

Buy them The Sims. They'd probably like that.

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

Jose writes:

Maybe girls like the same things boys do.

No, they do not.

"Aiming things at girls" may be attempting to create and perpetuate
an artificial stereotype.

The stereotype is not artificial. It is consistent in large
populations. Video games are popular with boys because they are
designed by boys. Also, girls have a slight preference for real-world
interaction in general, although I don't think it's enough to be a
factor for video games.

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

"Jay Honeck" wrote:
Um, according to the Entertainment Software Association, your 10%
number is way off:

"Thirty-eight percent of all game players are women."

From: http://www.theesa.com/facts/top_10_facts.php

I find that figure to be absolutely remarkable.

Here are some figures from another source (circa 2000):

http://www.cybersurvey.com/reports/o...iles/frame.htm

Overall Gaming Market Player Demographics (All Gamers 178.3 Million):
56% male
44% female

PC Gamers Demographic Profile (90.6 Million):
50% male
50% female

Video Game Console Gamers Demographic Profile (137.7 Million):
61% male
39% female

Online Gamers Demographic Profile (41.4 Million):
51% male
49% female

More details on the above web site, with age breakdowns.

Video Game Console Gamers Demographic Profile (137.7 Million):
61% male
39% female

Online Gamers Demographic Profile (41.4 Million):
51% male
49% female

This last example is particularly interesting. I know my daughter
LOVES an on-line fantasy world game called "RuneScape" (spelling?).
We finally had to restrict her time on it, as it was getting too
addictive!

But I'm really, really surprised at the figures for game console video
games. If you walk through the video game part of Best Buy, there
simply aren't any girls there -- but you'll see dozens of boys playing
all types of games.

Girls must be stealthy video game shoppers...

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"