The Problematics of Gender for Aviation Emergency Communication during an Inflight Emergency: A Case Study

Angela Cora Garcia

doi:10.18778/1733-8077.19.2.01

Authors

Angela Cora Garcia Bentley University, USA https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1052-5364

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8077.19.2.01

Keywords:

Air Traffic Communication, Aviation, Interaction, Gender, Conversation Analysis, Inflight Emergency, Address Terms, Gendered Pronouns, Emotion

Abstract

Due to the rarity of female pilots, aviation communication is typically conducted in a single-gender environment. The role of gender in interactions during inflight emergencies has not yet been adequately explored. This single case analysis uses a qualitative approach based on conversation analytic transcripts to investigate how gender may be relevant either explicitly or implicitly in radio transmissions between flight crew and Air Traffic Control (ATC) personnel, as well as internal ATC phone interactions as participants work to handle an inflight emergency. This incident involved a female pilot and a male copilot, thus providing a naturally occurring rare event to explore the potential relevance of gender. The analysis shows that explicit references to gender are limited to occasional asymmetrical use of gendered address terms and gendered pronouns. Participants also used interactional formulations that—while not explicitly gendered—have been associated in previous research with gender differences in interaction, for example, the use of indirect forms of requests or complaints, actions that imply inferences about the emotional state of participants, or possible confusion over the identity of the pilot given the transitions between male and female sounding voices speaking on behalf of the plane. The findings are discussed in terms of implications for how gender differences can impact aviation communication during emergency incidents.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Angela Cora Garcia, Bentley University, USA

Angela Cora Garcia is a professor in the Department of Natural and Applied Sciences at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts. Her main areas of research are conversation analytic studies of mediation sessions, emergency phone calls to the police, air traffic communications, and political speeches and interviews. She is the author of a textbook on conversation analysis, An Introduction to Interaction: Understanding Talk in the Workplace and Everyday Life (2nd ed.) (Bloomsbury Academic Press, 2023), and a conversation analytic study of mediation, How Mediation Works: Resolving Conflict through Talk (Cambridge University Press, 2019).

References

Alvinius, Aida, Edward Deverell, and Susanne Hede. 2020. “A Gender Perspective on Temporary Organisations in Crisis Management.” NORA—Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research 28(4):273-286.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08038740.2020.1785008

Andy, Anietie, Garrick Sherman, and Sharath Chandra Guntuku. 2022. “Understanding the Expression of Loneliness on Twitter across Age Groups and Genders.” PLoS ONE 17(9):e0273636.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0273636

Arminen, Ilkka, Petra Auvinen, and Hannele Palukka. 2010. “Repairs as the Last Orderly Provided Defense of Safety in Aviation.” Journal of Pragmatics 42(2):443-465.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2009.06.015

Arminen, Ilkka, Inka Koskela, and Hannele Palukka. 2014. “Multimodal Production of Second Pair Parts in Air Traffic Control Training.” Journal of Pragmatics 65:46-62.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2014.01.004

Arrabito, G. Robert. 2009. “Effects of Talker Sex and Voice Style of Verbal Cockpit Warnings on Performance.” Human Factors 51(1):3-20.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0018720808333411

Ashcraft, Karen Lee. 2005. “Resistance through Consent? Occupational Identity, Organizational Form, and the Maintenance of Masculinity among Commercial Airline Pilots.” Management Communication Quarterly 19(1):67-90.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0893318905276560

Asmuß, Birte. 2008. “Performance Appraisal Interviews: Preference Organization in Assessment Sequences.” International Journal of Business Communication 45(4):408-429.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0021943608319382

Atkinson, J. Maxwell and Paul Drew. 1979. Order in Court: The Organization of Verbal Interaction in Judicial Settings. London: Macmillan Press.
Google Scholar

Barnes, Rebecca. 2007. “Formulations and the Facilitation of Common Agreement in Meetings Talk.” Text & Talk 27(3):273-296.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/TEXT.2007.011

Boden, Deirdre and Don H. Zimmerman, eds. 1991. Talk and Social Structure. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Google Scholar

Cardosi, Kim, Paul Falzarano, and Sherwin Han. 1998. “Pilot-Controller Communication Errors: An Analysis of Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS).” Reports U.S. Department of Transportation, Research and Special Programs Administration, John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, Cambridge MA 02142-1093. Retrieved April 10, 2023 https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA356655.pdf
Google Scholar

Costantini, Giovanni et al. 2022. “The Emotion Probe: On the Universality of Cross-Linguistic and Cross-Gender Speech Emotion Recognition via Machine Learning.” Sensors 22(7):2461.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/s22072461

Cushing, Steven. 1994. Fatal Words: Communication Clashes and Aircraft Crashes. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Google Scholar

Cushing, Steven. 1995. “Pilot-Air Traffic Control Communications: It’s Not (Only) What You Say, It’s How You Say It.” Flight Safety Digest 13(7):1-10.
Google Scholar

Drew, Paul and John Heritage. 1992. Talk at Work: Interaction in Institutional Settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Google Scholar

Falzon, Paul. 2009. “Discourse Segmentation and the Management of Multiple Tasks in Single Episodes of Air Traffic Controller-Pilot Spoken Radio Communication.” Discours 4:1-22.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/discours.7241

Federal Aviation Administration. 2006. Radio Communications Phraseology and Techniques (P-8740-47). Washington, DC: Federal Aviation Administration.
Google Scholar

Ferla, Martina and Anne Graham. 2019. “Women Slowly Taking Off: An Investigation into Female Underrepresentation in Commercial Aviation.” Research in Transportation Business & Management 31. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rtbm.2019.100378
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rtbm.2019.100378

Fischer, Ute and Judith Orasanu. 1999. “Confronting the Boss Indirectly: Study of Cockpit Crews Finds Copilots Use ‘Hints’ to Correct Captains.” Research News & Publications Office. Georgia Institute of Technology. Retrieved April 25, 2002 http://gtresearchnews.gatech.edu/newsrelease/CREW.html
Google Scholar

Frankel, Richard. 2000. “‘Captain, I Was Trying Earlier to Tell You That You Made a Mistake’: Deference and Demeanor at 30,000 Feet.” Pp. 289-301 in Language in Action: New Studies of Language in Society: Essays in Honor of Roger W. Shuy, edited by J. K. Peyton et al. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton.
Google Scholar

Garcia, Angela Cora. 1998. “The Relevance of Interactional and Institutional Contexts for the Study of Gender Differences: A Demonstrative Case Study.” Symbolic Interaction 21(1):35-58.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/si.1998.21.1.35

Garcia, Angela Cora. 2016. “Air Traffic Control Interactions in Routine and Emergency Contexts: A Case Study of Flight 1549 ‘Miracle on the Hudson.’” Journal of Pragmatics 106:57-71.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2016.10.005

Garcia, Angela Cora. 2019. How Mediation Works: Resolving Conflict through Talk. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781139162548

Garcia, Angela Cora. 2022a. “A Preliminary Investigation of the Use of Racial/Ethnic Categories in Emergency Telephone Calls in the United States.” Journal of Applied Communication Research 50(4):345-362.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00909882.2021.2012224

Garcia, Angela Cora. 2022b. “Doing ‘Care Work’ in Emergency Service Calls.” Western Journal of Communication. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/10570314.2022.2138526
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10570314.2022.2138526

Garcia, Angela Cora. 2023. An Introduction to Interaction: Understanding Talk in the Workplace and Everyday Life, 2nd ed. London: Bloomsbury Academic Press.
Google Scholar

Garfinkel, Harold. 1967. Studies in Ethnomethodology. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Google Scholar

Gibson, David R. and Matthew P. Fox. 2021. “Facts into Faults: The Grammar of Guilt in Jury Deliberations.” Discourse Studies 23(4):474-496.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/14614456211001605

Gleason, Shane A. 2020. “Beyond Mere Presence: Gender Norms in Oral Arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court.” Political Research Quarterly 73(3):596-608.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912919847001

Goldhammer, Hilary, Sula Malina, and Alex S. Keuroghlian. 2018. “Communicating with Patients Who Have Nonbinary Gender Identities.” Annals of Family Medicine 16(6):559-562.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1370/afm.2321

Gorlin, Ivana and Donna Bridges. 2021. “Aviation Culture: A ‘Glass Sky’ for Women Pilots—Literature Review.” International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace 8(2):1-20.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.15394/ijaaa.2021.1587

Hedegaard, Joel. 2019. “Communication about Patients during Ward Rounds and Verbal Handovers: A Gender Perspective.” Journal of Interprofessional Care 33(6):753-761.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13561820.2019.1593116

Heritage, John. 1987. “Ethnomethodology.” Pp. 224-272 in Social Theory Today, edited by A. Giddens and J. H. Turner. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Google Scholar

Heritage, John and J. Maxwell Atkinson. 1984. “Introduction.” Pp. 1-17 in Structures of Social Action: Studies in Conversation Analysis, edited by J. M. Atkinson and J. Heritage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Google Scholar

Heritage, John and Steven E. Clayman. 2010. Talk in Action: Interactions, Identities, and Institutions. Boston: Wiley Blackwell.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444318135

Hildenbrand, Grace M., Evan K. Perrault, and Rachel HeeJoon Rnoh. 2022. “Patients’ Perceptions of Health Care Providers’ Dismissive Communication.” Health Promotion Practice 23(5):777-784.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/15248399211027540

Hochschild, Arlie Russell. 1983. The Managed Heart. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Google Scholar

Hollander, Jocelyn A. 2001. “Vulnerability and Dangerousness: The Construction of Gender through Conversation about Violence.” Gender & Society 15(1):83-109.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/089124301015001005

Hopper, Robert and Curtis LeBaron. 1998. “How Gender Creeps into Talk.” Research on Language and Social Interaction 31(1):59-74.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327973rlsi3101_4

Howard, III, John W. 2008. “‘Tower, Am I Cleared to Land?’: Problematic Communication in Aviation Discourse.” Human Communication Research 34:370-391.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.2008.00325.x

Hutchby, Ian and Robin Wooffitt. 2008. Conversation Analysis, 2nd ed. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Google Scholar

Jefferson, Gail. 2004. “Glossary of Transcript Symbols with an Introduction.” Pp. 13-31 in Conversation Analysis: Studies from the First Generation, edited by G. H. Lerner. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.125.02jef

Jones, R. Kent. 2003. “Miscommunication between Pilots and Air Traffic Control.” Language Problems & Language Planning 27(3):233-248.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/lplp.27.3.03jon

Kevoe-Feldman, Heidi. 2018. “The Interactional Work of Suppressing Complaints in Customer Service Encounters.” Journal of Pragmatics 123:102-112.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2017.10.018

Klein, Noa Logan. 2011. “Doing Gender Categorization: Non-Recognitional Person Reference and the Omnirelevance of Gender.” Pp. 64-82 in Conversation and Gender, edited by S. A. Speer and E. Stokoe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511781032.005

Liddicoat, Anthony J. 2007. An Introduction to Conversation Analysis. London: Continuum Press.
Google Scholar

Mavisakalyan, Astghik. 2015. “Gender in Language and Gender in Employment.” Oxford Development Studies 43(4):403-424.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13600818.2015.1045857

Maynard, Douglas W. 2013. “Defensive Mechanisms: I-Mean-Prefaced Utterances in Complaint and Other Conversational Sequences.” Pp. 198-233 in Conversational Repair and Human Understanding, edited by M. Hayashi, G. Raymond, and J. Sidnell. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511757464.007

Mohajer, Leila and Noraida Endut. 2020. “The Role of Gender and Status in Communication between Doctors and Patients in Malaysian Contexts.” Kajian Malaysia: Journal of Malaysian Studies 38:89-108.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.21315/km2020.38.s1.6

Murphy, Alexandra G. 1998. “Hidden Transcripts of Flight Attendant Resistance.” Management Communication Quarterly 11(4):499-535.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0893318998114001

Nevile, Maurice. 2001. “Understanding Who’s Who in the Airline Cockpit: Pilots’ Pronominal Choices and Cockpit Roles.” Pp. 57-71 in How to Analyse Talk in Institutional Settings, edited by A. McHoul and M. Rapley. London: Continuum Press.
Google Scholar

Nevile, Maurice. 2004a. Beyond the Black Box: Talk-in-Interaction in the Airline Cockpit. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Google Scholar

Maurice. 2004b. “Integrity in the Airline Cockpit: Embodying Claims about Progress for the Conduct of an Approach Briefing.” Research on Language and Social Interaction 37(4):447-480.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327973rlsi3704_3

Nevile, Maurice. 2006. “Making Sequentiality Salient: And-Prefacing in the Talk of Airline Pilots.” Discourse Studies 8(2):279-302.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445606061797

Newberry-Koroluk, Andrea Margaret. 2018. “‘Little Girls’ and ‘Bitching Up’: Early-Career Social Workers.” Affilia 33(4):435-452.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0886109918770774

Ochs, Elinor. 1992. “Indexing Gender.” Pp. 335-358 in Rethinking Context, edited by A. Duranti and C. Goodwin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Google Scholar

Peräkylä, Anssi. 2019. “Conversation Analysis and Psychotherapy: Identifying Transformative Sequences.” Research on Language and Social Interaction 52(3):257-280.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08351813.2019.1631044

Sacks, Harvey. 1984. “Notes on Methodology.” Pp. 21-27 in Structures of Social Action: Studies in Conversation Analysis, edited by J. M. Atkinson, and J. Heritage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Google Scholar

Sacks, Harvey. 1992. Lectures on Conversation, Volume 1. Oxford, Cambridge: Blackwell.
Google Scholar

Sanne, Johan M. 2003. “Creating Trust and Achieving Safety in Air Traffic Control.” Pp. 140-156 in Constructing Risk and Safety in Technological Practice, edited by J. Summerton and B. Berner. London: Routledge.
Google Scholar

Schegloff, Emanuel A. 1987. “Analyzing Single Episodes of Interaction: An Exercise in Conversation Analysis.” Social Psychology Quarterly 50(2):101-114.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2786745

Schegloff, Emanuel A. 1988. “Goffman and the Analysis of Conversation.” Pp. 89-135 in Erving Goffman: Exploring the Interaction Order, edited by P. Drew and A. Wootton. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Google Scholar

Schegloff, Emanuel A. 1997. “Whose Text? Whose Context?” Discourse & Society 8(2):165-187.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926597008002002

Schegloff, Emanuel A. 2007. Sequence Organization in Interaction: A Primer in Conversation Analysis, Volume 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511791208

Schegloff, Emanuel A. and Harvey Sacks. 1973. “Opening Up Closings.” Semiotica 8(4):289-327.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/semi.1973.8.4.289

Shrikant, Natasha. 2019. “‘Who’s the Face?’: Communication and White Identity in a Texas Business Community.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 42(2):254-271.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2018.1430842

Shults, Tammie Jo. 2019. Nerves of Steel: How I Followed My Dreams, Earned My Wings, and Faced My Greatest Challenge. Nashville, TN: W Publishing Group.
Google Scholar

Speer, Susan A. and Elizabeth Stokoe. 2011. Conversation and Gender. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511781032

Stack, Liam and Matt Stevens. 2018. “Southwest Airlines Engine Explodes in Flight, Killing a Passenger.” New York Times, April 17, p. A16.
Google Scholar

Stevanovic, Melisa. 2018. “Social Deontics: A Nano‐Level Approach to Human Power Play.” Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior 48(3):369-389.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jtsb.12175

Stevanovic, Melisa and Anssi Peräkylä. 2014. “Three Orders in the Organization of Human Action: On the Interface between Knowledge, Power, and Emotion in Interaction and Social Relations.” Language in Society 43(2):185-207.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404514000037

Stivers, Tanya and Stefan Timmermans. 2020. “Medical Authority under Siege: How Clinicians Transform Patient Resistance into Acceptance.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 61(1):60-78.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0022146520902740

Stokoe, Elizabeth. 2015. “Identifying and Responding to Possible -isms in Institutional Encounters: Alignment, Impartiality, and the Implications for Communication Training.” Journal of Language and Social Psychology 34(4):427-445.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X15586572

Stokoe, Elizabeth H. and Janet Smithson. 2001. “Making Gender Relevant: Conversation Analysis and Gender Categories in Interaction.” Discourse & Society 12(2):217-244.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926501012002005

ten Have, Paul. 2007. Doing Conversation Analysis: A Practical Guide. Los Angeles: Sage.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781849208895

Tuccio, William Anthony and Angela Cora Garcia. 2020. “‘I’d a Set That Back at the Chocks’: The Personal Hypothetical ‘I Would’ in Aviation Flight Instruction.” Journal of Pragmatics 157:53-67.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2019.12.007

Tuccio, William Anthony and Maurice Nevile. 2017. “Using Conversation Analysis in Data-Driven Aviation Training with Large- Scale Qualitative Datasets.” The Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education and Research 26(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.15394/jaaer.2017.1706
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.15394/jaaer.2017.1706

Vermeulen, Leopold P. 2009. “Flight Instructors’ Perceptions of Pilot Behaviour Related to Gender.” SAJIP: South African Journal of Industrial Psychology 35(1):128-135.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/sajip.v35i1.819

Vöge, Monika. 2010. “Local Identity Processes in Business Meetings Displayed through Laughter in Complaint Sequences.” Journal of Pragmatics 42:1556-1576.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2010.01.016

Wang, Christine. 2020. “Understanding Antibiotic Overprescribing in China: A Conversation Analysis Approach.” Social Science & Medicine 262:1-15.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113251

Weatherall, Ann. 2002. “Towards Understanding Gender and Talk-in-Interaction.” Discourse & Society 13(6):767-781.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926502013006756

West, Candace and Sarah Fenstermaker. 2002. “Accountability in Action: The Accomplishment of Gender, Race and Class in a Meeting of the University of California Board of Regents.” Discourse & Society 13(4):537-563.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926502013004455

West, Candace and Don H. Zimmerman. 1987. “Doing Gender.” Gender & Society 1(2):125-151.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243287001002002

Whalen, Jack and Don H. Zimmerman. 1998. “Observations on the Display and Management of Emotion in Naturally Occurring Activities: The Case of ‘Hysteria in Calls to 9-1-1.’” Social Psychology Quarterly 61(2):141-159.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2787066

Whalen, Jack, Don H. Zimmerman, and Marilyn Whalen. 1988. “When Words Fail: A Single Case Analysis.” Social Problems 35(4):335-362.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/sp.1988.35.4.03a00030

Whitehead, Kevin A. 2009. “‘Categorizing the Categorizer’: The Management of Racial Common Sense in Interaction.” Social Psychology Quarterly 72(4):325-342.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/019027250907200406

Whitehead, Kevin A. 2018. “Managing the Moral Accountability of Stereotyping.” Journal of Language and Social Psychology 37(3):288-309.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X17723679

Whitehead, Kevin A. 2020. “The Problem of Context in the Analysis of Social Action: The Case of Implicit Whiteness in Post-Apartheid South Africa.” Social Psychology Quarterly 83(3):294-313.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0190272519897595

Whitehead, Kevin A. and Gene H. Lerner. 2009. “When Are Persons ‘White?’: On Some Practical Asymmetries of Racial Reference in Talk-in-Interaction.” Discourse & Society 20(5):613-641.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926509106413

Yanıkoğlu, Özge, Sena Kılıç, and Hatice Küçükönal. 2020. “Gender in the Cockpit: Challenges Faced by Female Airline Pilots.” Journal of Air Transport Management 86:1-8.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2020.101823

Zirulnika, Michael L. and Mark Orbe. 2019. “Black Female Pilot Communicative Experiences: Applications and Extensions of Co-Cultural Theory.” Howard Journal of Communications 30(1):76-91.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10646175.2018.1439422