Bennett A Simon - A Sociology of Commercial Flight Crew

SIMON A. BENNETT
University of Leicester, UK

First published 2006 by Ashgate Publishing

Published 2016 by Routledge
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Copyright 2006 Simon A. Bennett

Simon A. Bennett has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as author of this work.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Bennett, Simon, 1958
A sociology of commercial flight crew
1.Air pilots - Social conditions 2.Air pilots - Social life
and customs 3.Air pilots - Interviews 4.Aeronautics,
Commercial - Sociological aspects
I.Title
305.962913092

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bennett, Simon, 1958
A sociology of commercial flight crew / by Simon A. Bennett.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7546-4317-4
1. Air pilots--Great Britain--Attitudes. 2. Air pilots--Great Britain--Social
conditions. 3. Airlines--Social aspects--Great Britain. 4. Aeronautics, Commercial-
Great Britain--Sociological aspects. I. Title.
HD8039.A42G717 2006
305.9629130941--dc22

2006006788

ISBN 9780754643173 (hbk)

Transfered to Digital Printing in 2012

Growing up in Glamorganshire, South Wales, I developed a fascination with flying at an early age. Our house was overflown by both low and high-flying aircraft: we were overflown at low-level by Royal Air Force Hawker Hunters, at high level by passenger aircraft bound for the United States. The Hunters noise footprint gave me just enough time to ran outside to glimpse that wonderful machine as it screamed overhead (I can still call to mind the pitch of the Rolls Royce Avons jet efflux music to my young ears). Having got outside, Id then watch the 707s and DC-8s heading out over the Atlantic.

After leaving Polytechnic in the early 1980s I made a big mistake I forgot my childhood obsession and went into financial management lucrative, but a crashing bore. (Theres an important lesson here. I should have paid closer attention to the Monty Python sketch: Why Accountancy Is Not Boring.)

Eventually I came to my senses, dropped out of the 1980s rat-race and returned to university to do a PhD in sociology. It was at this point that I decided to lead a more interesting life. I tried to get in to aviation. I succeeded. I consulted for two UK-registered carriers and became a Member of the Royal Aeronautical Society. I even trained as cabin crew.

Many people have helped me realise my boyhood dream. Here are the names of some of my helpers: Captains Peter Griffiths, Simon Searle, Ed Winter, Jim Pegram, Lance Jordan, Dave Owens, Steve Moody, John Mahon and John Moss; Go Flys Chief Executive Officer Ms Barbara Cassani (whose hard work and can-do attitude helped secure the 2012 Olympics for Great Britain); Captain Ralph Kohn, Captain Ron Macdonald, Mr Peter Moxham, Mr Peter Richards and Mr Brian Riddle of the Royal Aeronautical Society, London; Ed Paintin of the United Kingdom Flight Safety Committee (UKFSC); Major Tony Masys of the Royal Canadian Air Force; Evan Parsons at Delta Air Lines; Mr Andy Shaw at First Choice; Ms Victoria Silverman; Dr Don Harris at Cranfield University; Professor Roger Wootton at City University; Laurie Benn at London Metropolitan University; Paul Sterbenz at North American Airlines; Simon Calder at The Independent (both for promoting my first book Human Error by Design? and for his thoughtful writing on the aviation industry); James Eales at IFALPA; Donna Hinchcliffe, Cindy Lewis and Gemma Evans at Nottingham East Midlands Airport; Sarah Jordan; Captain Mimi Tompkins of Aloha Airlines in Hawaii (a modern heroine whose quiet strength taught me a lot about the right stuff).1

My sincerest thanks to the many Captains and First Officers who took the time to complete my none-too-short questionnaire and the six pilots who agreed to spend some of their valuable leisure time with me answering questions.

Thanks also to the Captains and First officers who, over the past six years, have allowed me to observe them from the jump-seat as they flew their passengers and freight to various European airports and the many, many cabin crew who have supplied me with refreshments as I made my observations from the jump-seat. (I have now brought myself to forgive the Go flight attendant who emptied a cup of coffee down the back of my neck as she entered the flight-deck but I still bear the scars.)

Returning to the 1970s, I would like to thank my first Professor, Bob Haigh. Bob is a remarkable man. He began his working life as a coal miner in Yorkshire. He then worked his way up through the ranks of academe to become Head of Politics at Sheffield City Polytechnic (a fine institution much missed by its alumni). I first met Bob in 1978 when I enrolled to study Public Administration (actually a thinly disguised degree inPolitics). Inevitably, he made abig impression on all of us callow youths, not only because of his intelligence and kindness, but also because of his wit. I still smile when I remember how he would enter the lecture hall at nine oclock of a December morn, stride to the windows, open them all as wide as they would go and then proceed to deliver a scintillating fifty-minute lecture on Lloyd George and the Decline of the Liberals in the teeth of a howling gale. (His reasoning, of course, was that fresh air was the best cure for undergraduate hangovers.) Happy days! Thanks, Bob.

Going back a little less far (to the early 1990s) I would like to thank my Professor at Brunei University, Alan Irwin. Alan taught me how to do quality research and nurtured my interest in the sociology of science and technology. The fact that Alan supported Sunderland FC did not diminish my respect for him.

I would also like to thank my first External Examiner at the University of Leicester, Professor Brian Toft. Brian has made a significant contribution to risk management teaching at Leicester and to the disciplines development generally. His analyses of medical error should be required reading (Ministers of the Crown take note).

Finally, thanks go to my colleagues at the University of Leicester, Dr Martina McGuinness and Dr Jim Broderick. British academia is, in my experience, a vain, spiteful, dog-eat-dog world in which the term colleague rarely means what it is supposed to mean (a trusted co-worker). Thankfully Tina and Jim are true colleagues. Thanks for your help. And thanks for tolerating my workaholism.