This activity occurred on the third floor during Tailhook '91 and involved the shaving of women's legs and pubic areas by male aviators.

Jefferson's complement of male aviators was quartered on the 0-3 deck, which extended uninterrupted from bow to stern and lay directly underneath the carrier's "roof," or flight deck.

First came the Navy's Tailhook scandal in 1991, in which more than 80 women said they were assaulted by drunken male aviators at a convention in a Las Vegas hotel.

Quiet Birdmen, a secret club for male aviators in the U.S.

Ms. Coughlin, 32, a former helicopter pilot, was among several dozen women who complained they had been groped by drunken male aviators in a crowded third-floor "gantlet" on the final day of the convention.

Several news organizations in Southern California have received faxes, apparently from disgruntled male aviators, raising questions about her flight tests.

She has said she was groped by drunken male aviators in a crowded third-floor corridor one night during the four-day convention.

The Quiet Birdmen is a secretive club in the United States for male aviators.

Only male aviators were allowed to join, not female aviators or "Keewees" (non-flyers).

Ms. Coughlin was among several dozen women who Navy investigators determined were groped or fondled by drunken male aviators in a crowded third-floor "gantlet" on the final day of the convention.