Pilot’s brilliant comeback to sexist passengers

A FEMALE pilot has publicly called out the sexist comments she faces on the job in a tweet that has gone viral.

Charlotte Knowlson, who goes by Pilot Charlotte on Twitter, wrote about a recent encounter she had with two male passengers travelling on the plane she was flying, Fox News reports.

She wrote that both men made jokes about her gender, with one commenting on "female drivers" and the other saying if he'd known the pilot was a woman, he wouldn't have gotten on.

But Ms Knowlson had the perfect comeback for the unnecessary remarks.

"Fact is, I can fly an £80m [$A142 million] jet, you can't," she wrote in her tweet.

In several follow-up tweets, Ms Knowlson explained how she is unfortunately "used to this kind of humour" and initially reacted professionally.

But later, when a cabin crew member expressed anger over the comments, Ms Knowlson said she began to question why this type of treatment towards women is normal.

"I didn't get where I am today by listening to these kinds of comments," she wrote.

"I'm not offended, I'm not disheartened. I'm saddened by the fact that this is the attitude some still have and think it is OK to make these comments to women.

"It is this attitude that puts women off and another barrier stopping them from going into male dominated careers. It shouldn't even be a thing!"

Ms Knowlson's tweet quickly grew in popularity, with nearly 12,000 retweets and more than 94,000 likes so far.

People also took to the comments to share their own experiences with sexism, as well as showing support for Ms Knowlson's career and thanking her for being a great role model.

Last month, female Southwest pilot Tammie Jo Shults was deemed a hero after successfully landing a plane that had suffered a midair engine explosion.

Prior to joining the commercial airline company in 1993, Ms Shults worked as a pilot and instructor with the navy and is one of the first female fighter pilots in US military history.

This article originally appeared on Fox News and was reproduced with permission.