Industry panel says fixing the shortage of women in the cockpit is 'a plumbing problem,' not a talent one

A Halldale Group podcast episode on getting more women into the cockpit brought together Professor Susan Durbin of the University of the West of England, Salient Aero's accountable manager Veronica Zunic, and Airbus flight training strategic portfolio manager Susannah Crabol to unpack why flight-deck representation lags other parts of the industry. The panel cites figures showing women hold 42% of aviation jobs overall but only 35% of senior aviation roles, with representation in actual flight-deck positions markedly lower still. Zunic argued the issue isn't a pipeline of interested candidates but where that pipeline leaks: "women are in aviation; they just aren't in the flight deck... it's not a talent problem, it's a plumbing problem, and every joint in the pipeline has a leak." The discussion covered specific barriers women face at multiple stages of pilot training and career progression, workplace harassment as a factor pushing women out, and pointed listeners toward the UK CAA's Confidential Human Factors Incident Reporting Programme (CHIRP) as an existing channel for reporting workplace incidents confidentially. The panel framed better representation as a safety issue for the industry as a whole, not simply a diversity target.