project 3 intro

Ethnography of Aviation Pilots

     For my ethnographic study I have chosen to study the discourse community of aviation pilots. This is of great interest to me due to the fact that I am currently in the Aviation program at Ohio University to become a pilot and one day be  part of this Discourse community. The focus of this research is to bring a better understanding of what it means to be an aviation pilot as part of this Discourse community. I will achieve this by conducting an interview with my cousin who is a pilot, along with observing one of my instructors at Ohio University. I will also research genres that are used by me and my instructors. I will also bring to light a particular conflict within the community that deals with the concern of their being a shortage of pilots within this community within the next few years.

     I will start by giving a brief description of what is required by a pilot within their Discourse community and how they meet the 6 criteria of John Swales, that he feels all communities need to meet to be considered a Discourse community. Pilots all have one common goal, and that is to transport passengers and cargo safely from one place to another. They need to have strong communication skills, depth perception, quick reaction time, and problem solving skills just to name a few. They have a method of communication, whether it is by in-person conversations with other pilots or by radio communication with air traffic control. They also communicate  whether it be by phone, text message or email with members of the community or outside of the community. They have participatory mechanisms in place to ensure that they are in good physical and mental health to be able to carry out their duties safely. This mechanism is the FAA ( Federal Aviation Administration). It is the national aviation authority of the United States of America. The FAA has the authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the United States. It has the ability to issue, revoke, and suspend all pilot certificates. They require periodic health exams to ensure that Pilots and student pilots are able to carry out their duties safely. Pilots have many genres that they put to use such as flight plans, pre-flight check list, and the instruments in the plane that they monitor during flight. They also use a specific lexis or language to communicate. For example terms like “down wind” and “base” are used when landing an airplane. Lastly they have a threshold of members. The minimum age to obtain a private pilot’s license is 16 and the minimum age to fly commercial is 18.You have to have 40 hours of flight time to obtain a private pilot’s license and 250 hours to be commercial pilot rated. However to work for an airline you need 1500 hours of flight time. The retirement age for pilots is 65 years of age.

     A discourse community is not something you can just partially be a member of. You have to be part of the community 100%. It is an identity and if you are not able to display that identity, then to the community you are seen as being fake. In some instances you can be in the process of becoming part of the discourse, like an apprentice or schooling. As a pilot you cannot be seen as being part of the community until you have studied and worked hard to earn your pilots license. Even after you have received your license you still have a lot of training to do to prove that you are able to be a part of the community. Sometimes when people work to be part of a discourse community, they become “fossilized” in the attempt to do so. As an aviation student if you attempt to earn your license and even obtain it but do not work to get the number of flight hours needed to be part of the pilot community, you are still considered to be an outsider because you have not proved that you can be an asset to the community.

     Aviation pilots would be considered an acquired dominant secondary Discourse community, due to as members they acquire money from being part of this Discourse. This varies from a Primary discourse community which would include family and friends. People become part of a secondary  discourse most of the time as a way to support their family. However it can also be a non-dominant in that people can obtain a private pilot’s license and fly airplanes as a hobby and not to profit from it.

     There at times can be conflict between someone’s Primary discourse and their dominant secondary discourse. This is most often temporary, but if not resolved a few different things can happen according to James Paul Gee in his writings in literary discourse and Linguistics. He says that many times people will fall back on their primary discourse, for example family. Being a pilot can sometimes put strain on a family. For example training to become a pilot can put a lot of financial stress on a family and changes may have to be made with in this primary discourse to adjust. As a pilot just out of school you may not get a job right away, or may get a job that does not pay a great deal of money. The job a pilot gets may not be close to home and may cause the pilot to be away from his family for long periods of time. However most likely with some adjustment overtime this conflict will resolve or the primary discourse can adapt to the secondary discourse. In some cases a person may have to use a related secondary discourse temporarily. For example a pilot just out of school may not get a job right away or may not make a lot of money at first. In my own experience being currently in flight school, I had to quit my previous secondary discourse as a union carpenter that I had been part of for many years. Once I have completed flight school, being a pilot will become my dominant secondary discourse. However I have union carpentry to fall back on if need be.

     When working toward becoming a part of a particular discourse it seems at times there are those that do not have to work as hard and things just seem to come easy for them. There is a process known as filtering that takes place, this is when parts of one’s secondary discourse are filtered into the primary discourse.  As child is still acquiring their knowledge of their primary discourse, they are learning aspects of their secondary. As a child my father had is private pilot’s license and owned his own plane. So from a young age I was exposed to aviation. My cousin, whom I will be interviewing for this project also had his private pilot’s license. I was familiar with the basics of how airplanes worked and the genres and lexis of the pilot discourse community. Due to the exposure to the pilot community and the interest I have in becoming a pilot I feel that in some ways this gives me an advantage of someone who may not have had the exposure to aviation that I have had.