Pride and Prejudice.

“The air is the only place free from prejudices.”

In 1921, Bessie Coleman became the first African American woman to earn a pilot’s licence when she spoke those words. Over a century later, the reaction to the recent Learjet 60 tragedy shows how far we still have to go. Before investigators had even arrived on scene, social media was inundated with speculation. Worse than the armchair analysis was the personal, gender-based attacks aimed directly at the flight crew.

As a former paramedic, I’m familiar with human morbid curiosity. People often said, “You must see some terrible things,” while positive patient outcomes rarely generated interest.

Now, having spent four decades conducting flight training, I can say with certainty that the ratio of human error does not care about gender. Complacency, arrogance, laziness, and poor decision-making remain aviation’s genuine threats—not who is sitting in the seat. Yet female aviators remain an easily scrutinised minority, where any perceived error is magnified and weaponised online.

Aviation isn’t perfect, but its culture is built on continuous improvement, objective analysis, and learning from mistakes. Hopefully, investigators will uncover the facts of what happened to that aircraft.

Until then, feeding into baseless speculation does a disservice to the crew, their families, and the integrity of aviation safety.

Let’s leave the noise behind and focus on the data, the facts, and the lessons that will make the next flight safer.