Male and Female Pilots Cause Accidents Differently
Male pilots flying general aviation1 (private) aircraft in the United States are more likely to crash due to inattention or flawed decision-making, while female pilots are more likely to crash from mishandling the aircraft. These are results of a study fly researchers at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.
The study identifies difference between male and female pilot in terms of circumstances or the crash and the type or pilots error involved2. “Crashes of general aviation aircraft account for 85 percent of all aviation deaths3 in the United States. The crash rate for male pilots, as for motor vehicle drivers, exceeds that4 of crashes of female pilots.” explains Susan P. Baker, MPH, professor of health policy and management at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. “Because pilot youth and inexperience are established5 contributors to aviation crashes6, we focused on only mature pilots, to determine the gender differences in the reasons for the crash.”
The researchers extracted data for this study from a large research project on pilot aging and flight safety. The data were gathered from general aviation crashes of airplanes and helicopters between 1983 and 1997, involving 144 female pilots and 267 male pilots aged 40-63. Female pilots were matched with male pilots in a 1:2 ratio, by age, classes of medical and pilot certificates, state or area of crash, and year of crash. Then the circumstances of the crashes and the pilot error involved were categorized and coded without knowledge of pilot gender.
The researchers found that loss of control on landing or takeoff was the most common circumstance for both sexes, leading to 59 percent of female pilots’ crashes and 36 percent of males’. Experiencing mechanical failure, running out of fuel, and landing the plane with the landing gear up7 were among the factors more likely with males, while stalling was more likely with females.
The majority of the crashes — 95 percent for females and 88 percent for males — involved at least one type of pilot error. Mishandling aircraft kinetics was the most common error for both sexes, but was more common among females (accounting for 81 percent of the crashes) than males (accounting for 48 percent ). Males, however, appeared more likely to be guilty of8 poor decision-making, risk-taking, and inattentiveness, examples of which
include misjudging weather and visibility9 or flying an aircraft with a known defect. Females, though more likely to mishandle or lose control of the aircraft, were generally more careful than their male counterparts10.
詞匯: inattention /7inE5tenFEn/n.疏忽 gender /5dVendE/n.性，性別 aviation /7eivi5eiFEn/n.航空 run out施盡，用完 flawed /fla:d/adj.有缺陷的 stall /stC:l/ v. (飛機(jī)〉失速， (發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī) )熄火 mishandle /5mis5hAndl/v.瞎弄 kinetics /kai5netiks/n.動(dòng)力學(xué)MPH （Master of Public Health）公共衛(wèi)生碩士 注釋:
1. general aviation專用航空(航班飛行以外的民航飛行 )
2. identifies the differences between male and female pilots in terms of circumstances of the crash and the type of pilots error involved：根據(jù)墜毀情況和飛行員失誤類型鑒別男女飛行員之間的差異。 in terms of：按照，根據(jù)。
3. account for 85 percent of all aviation deaths：占所有墜機(jī)死亡人數(shù)的 85%。account for：占。
4. that：代詞，代替前半句中的 the（crash）rate
5. established：確定的
6. contributors to aviation crashes：墜機(jī)的原因。 contribute to：對(duì)……做出貢獻(xiàn)，對(duì)……起作用。 contributor 是 contribute的名詞，使用同樣的介詞搭配。
7. with the landing gear up：不放下起落裝置
8. be guilty of: he responsible for：(對(duì)……負(fù)責(zé)，在…… (方面)有責(zé)任)
9. misjudging weather and visibility：對(duì)天氣和能見(jiàn)度判斷失誤
10. their male counterparts：她們的男同行。 counterpart：職務(wù)地位相當(dāng)?shù)娜恕＞毩?xí) :
1. What is the research at Johns Hopkins University about？ A Causes of aircraft crash. B Gender difference in relation to types of aircraft crashes. C Causes of mishandling aircraft.
D Gender discrimination in general aviation in the United States.
2. Which of the statements is NOT true according to the second paragraph? A Crashes of general aviation aircraft are a major source of aviation accidents in the United States. B Male pilots, like male vehicle drivers, are a more likely to have accidents than female pilots. C It is commonly known that aircraft crashes are mostly caused by young and inexperienced pilots. D Only mature pilots are studied to determine the gender differences in the reasons for aircraft crash.
3. How did the researchers carry out their study? A They studied the findings of several previous research projects. B They conducted a questionnaire with 411 pilots. C They collected data from the database at the Johns Hopkins University.
D They analyzed the circumstances of the crashes involved.
4. What is the most common circumstance of crash with female pilots? A Mechanical failure and running out of fuel. B Loss of control on landing or takeoff and stalling. C Loss of control on landing or takeoff and running out of fuel. D Stalling and landing with the gear up.
5. In the comparison of female and male pilots. A female pilots are found to be more courageous and risk-taking. B male pilots are found to be more professional and attentive. C female pilots are found to make more errors out of carelessness. D male pilots are found to make more errors in decision-making.
答案與題解 :
1. B文章的題目點(diǎn)出了主題，即飛行員性別的不同造成不同類型的飛行事故。
2. D A是正確的，因?yàn)?85%的飛行事故死亡人數(shù)是專用航空造成的。 B是第二段第三句所表達(dá)的意思， C是第二段昀后一旬的原因狀語(yǔ)從句的意思。 D是正確選項(xiàng)，因?yàn)閺牡诙魏偷谌蔚弥畔ⅲ貉芯咳藛T為確定性別和墜機(jī)原因的關(guān)系，將主要研究對(duì)象設(shè)定為 40～63歲的熟練飛行員，而 D項(xiàng)說(shuō)的是所有熟練飛行員，范圍擴(kuò)大了，所以不確切。
3. A答案可在第三段第一句中找到。
4. B第四段的第二句表明，除 stalling以外，其他情況均是男性飛行駕駛員常出現(xiàn)的問(wèn)題。
5. D答案可在文章昀后兩句中找到，判斷錯(cuò)誤、冒險(xiǎn)和疏忽大意 (poor decision-making，risk-taking， inattentiveness)是男性飛行員的特征，女性飛行員經(jīng)常犯的飛行錯(cuò)誤是操作失當(dāng)（ mishandle or lose control of the aircraft），但比男性同行來(lái)得謹(jǐn)慎 (careful)。