Besides flying there is much that women can do in the various branches of the industry. Many touch it now in factories, offices, fields, service stations and the like. In such jobs it is ability, not sex, which counts, in the final analysis. There should be no line between men and women, so far as piloting is concerned. Except when the muscular strength of men is a deciding factor, it hardly seems possible great differences exist. Of course, so few women have essayed flying that no comparison of ability can justly be made yet. In them even the desire to learn to fly must be cultivated so the only possible criterion is that of their driving. Bring on the arguments. Age and physical equipment determine the fitness to fly. While there are many older people learning to fly today, and many excellent pilots who are no longer young, still it is youth which has the advantage, as in all physical activities. I make no statement as to how young youth is. To soothe excitable mothers, I should say, they needn’t worry yet about children under seven adding to life’s complexities by trying to fly, and that pilots’ licenses can’t be obtained after fifty-two. Today there are ample facilities for flying instruction throughout the United States. It is, however, considerably more difficult for a woman to procure it than it is for a man. A primary reason is the advantage a man has through what the army and the navy offer. By enlisting in either branch the beginner has not only free instruction but actually receives a salary as well and in due course may emerge as a competent pilot. There is no such opening for women. She must pay for the instruction she gets. And it is just a little harder, too, for the woman to get this instruction at the average field than it is for the man. It is not so much that there is any definite prejudice against the woman beginner—the men are remarkably fair in their attitude—but that as matters stand, it is pretty well a man-conducted business. Equipment too is naturally designed for men—for instance, there is no parachute really adequate for women. Woman is conscious that she is intruding—or something akin to that—a feeling which causes hesitation. That same sort of thing prevails in medicine, the law, and other professions, to a certain degree. Gradually it is being overcome where ability has been demonstrated. Too often, I think, sex has been used as a subterfuge by the inefficient woman who likes to make herself and others believe that it is not her incapability, but her womanhood, which is holding her back. Generally speaking, the average cost of ten hours in the air, as I have said, is about $250. But ten hours in the air doesn’t make a finished pilot. After such time the average person should be able to solo, but it is experience which alone counts. A novice can learn to drive an automobile in a way in a matter of a few hours, but only mileage makes him competent.