Just about everyone knows about Amelia Earhart, who disappeared in 1937 while attempting an around the world flight. Few remember a contemporary woman pilot, Elinor Smith, was born 100 years ago today.
Smith took flying lessons at the age of 10 and soloed at 15. When she was 16, she became the youngest person to hold a government pilot’s license. She went on to set altitude, speed and endurance records. Plus, she was the first woman to be featured on the front of a Wheaties box.
At the age of 19 in 1930, she was voted in a poll of licensed pilots as the best woman pilot in America. That year, there were more than 7,300 pilots in the country.
Today, that number is almost 614,000, 6 percent of them women. You can find these and more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at www.census.gov.
Of course, this all begs the question — why are there so few female pilots? Heck, I have no idea. In other professions, women seem to have begun to register higher percentages of the workforce. Any ideas?
Sources: Chase’s Calendar of Events 2011, p. 417
Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970, p. 772
Statistical Abstract of the United States 2011, t. 1082
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
