Women pilots 'are safer than men'

Women pilots are safer than their male colleagues, according to a Civil Aviation Authority report. A CAA survey found that male pilots are more than four times as likely to be involved in fatal accidents than their female counterparts.

Figures released by the authority's General Aviation Safety Department show that fewer than 1 per cent of cases investigated in the past five years involved female pilots. Of the 138 general aviation accidents causing death in the United Kingdom in the past 10 years, just two involved women pilots.

But the CAA warns that the research, which was done on an informal basis, could not be regarded as definitive as women are a statistically small sample at just 6 per cent of pilots.

British Airways, which led the field in training female pilots and employs 40 women out of its total of 3,000 pilots, will not be changing recruitment policies to take on more women in the light of the research. Its spokeswoman, Laura De Vere, said: "All our pilots, no matter what their sex, are equally competent and display the same high level of skill that the job demands."