Translated
and summarized from here:
Ever since PM Benjamin Netanyahu publicized the
existence of the first female Charedi pilot last week, I have seen much
discussion online about whether or not she should really be considered Charedi,
and if there is a problem with Yichud in the pilots cabin when flying a plane.
People just don't take well to anybody who does things a little
differently than the average. Anyways, someone asked Rav Aviner about it,
and because the topic is interesting, I'll share it here.
According to what is reported on Srugim, Rav
Aviner responded to the query by saying that a similar question was asked about
a private plane that was being rented to take a female passenger somewhere. Rav
Asher Weiss said there is no Yichud because they will not come to any
"hanky panky" as the pilot has to focus on flying the plane and if he
gets drawn away from that the plane will surely crash. Rav Aviner says
that in a large plane, even more so it is not a problem. In a large plane there
are stewards and stewardesses going into the cabin. And even with auto-pilot,
the pilot still has to be alert and focused and ready to take over the controls
at any moment.
Rav Aviner concludes with an anecdote of how he
once answered a similar question on a halachic program for the army. He was
asked about a pilot with a religious female navigator being Yichud. He says he
answered then that it is not Yichud (though he says there were other problems,
though he does not specify). After the fact he was called by a reporter asking
how he can answer army questions as a civilian. He responded that he is
discussing theoretical questions, not practical, so it is ok, though he says
after that he stopped answering army-related question and directs them to the
IDF Rabbinate.
