[monday]

"but the chances are her navigational and flying skills were not up to crossing the Pacific by locating and refueling at the fly speck size Howland Island"

Perhaps not, but she did have a male navigator whose skills presumably were. It was most likely an accident that could have happened to anyone. No need to blame the accident on the fact that she was female unless you want to go out of your way to be sexist.

[katana]

Didn't mean to sound sexist. I can't recall names but at the time when Earhart was on the front pages there were a number of women aviators who were as good as any men. What they lacked was the opportunity to make a trans-Atlantic solo as well as Earhart's physical attributes and publicity machine.

I've read and heard that in terms of raw flying skills Earhart was very good but not great. That had nothing at all to do with her gender and if I gave the impression I felt it did then I hope this clarifies the matter. But, her enduring fame and mystique is certainly based on the fact that she was a very beautiful and photogenic woman as well as a very "good" pilot.