Awakening from a land of bliss : changing control and authority of commerical airline pilots

This research project explores the changing control and professional authority of commercial airline pilots as a professional group. Although pilots have historically held significant amounts of professional authority, this has been changing in recent years as a result of the increased regulation following the events of September 11, 2001. Through a series of qualitative in-depth telephone and face-to-face interviews with commercial airline pilots and other professionals who work with pilots, the data was collected and several themes emerged. First, commercial airline pilots as a professional group are controlled by numerous different organizations – each of which uses a different type of control mechanism. The result of these multiple simultaneous control mechanisms used on pilots has been that the role of pilots, especially in matters of security, has become increasingly ambiguous. Second, commercial airline pilots not only experience this changing control dynamic on an organizational level, but also experience it on an interpersonal level. Pilots struggle to establish who has the authority to handle security situations with many different groups of people, including other pilots, flight attendants, Federal Air Marshals, law enforcement officers, and even passengers. Third, although pilots are heavily regulated by many different organizations, they have attempted to establish themselves as a professional group and have fought to empower themselves. For example, an alliance of commercial airline pilots, along with several other groups, fought to establish the Federal Flight Deck Officer program, a program that trains volunteer pilots to carry a firearm with them while flying an airplane. Through initiatives such as these, pilots have cohesively fought to maintain their rights as a professional group with their own professional authority. Finally, these recent changes in control and authority for pilots have had several important outcomes for pilots, other groups involved in the commercial aviation industry, as well as the traveling public. The practical, theoretical, and methodological implications of these results are also discussed

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Communication Studies

Grantor

University of Texas at Austin

Year dc:date.issued

2005

Author dc:creator

• Leiseca, Sarah Kimberly

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Browning, Larry D.

• Commercial airline pilots
• Professional control and authority

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright © is held by the author. Presentation of this material on the Libraries' web site by University Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin was made possible under a limited license grant from the author who has retained all copyrights in the works.

Language dc:language.iso

en

Identifier URI

https://doi.org/10.26153/tsw/52359

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repositories.lib.utexas.edu:2152/125799