>Re: husband/wife teams
>
>I find it interesting that suddenly, with women now flying as full
>partners on the flight deck, that there is such odd concern for having
>spouses flying together. As has been pointed out, relatives have been
>flying together for decades: just not *these* relatives.
>
>A blanket condemnation of husband/wife pilots, as opposed any other set
>of relatives flying together, strikes me as unfair, perhaps even
>prejudicial. Are we not all professionals in all circumstances? If there
>is stress flying with someone, it is our obligation as professionals to
>deal with it or to change the situation. Why this assumption that because
>it's a spouse we are suddenly checking our professionalism at the door of
>the cockpit?
>
>Whether or not any two people fly well together is completely individual
>and depends solely on the pilots themselves. Please remember that we are
>all proud professionals. To assume that we become anything less by virtue
>of a relationship with a coworker(s) strikes me as insulting as well as
>unfair.
>
>
I agree with the intent of some of these comments, in that I believe we
should not descriminate unfairly against spousal teams. As pointed out last
week, from a safety point of view as well as a general HR management
principle, relatives working together where one is subordinate to the other
is not desireable. This goes for all formal and non-formal familial
relationships - eg., de facto, etc.
However, I cannot agree that we are "all professionals in all
circumstances?". Let us remember that we are all human beings before we are
professionals, and that as human beings we are all fallible. If we start to
believe this kind of rhetoric, danger awaits...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brent Hayward ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aviation Psychologist
e-mail: brent_at_melbpc.org.au Tel: +61 3 9690 4258; Fax: +61 3 9690 7070;
AAvPA web page: http://www.nasma.com/aavpa
__________ PO Box 217, Albert Park VIC 3206, Australia __________