Not being a member of the LAA (I'm not a UK resident), I watch from the outside. I watch in alarm at the thought that some members of the LAA somehow think there is a need to reconsider the issuance of the award which was revoked. The person making the motion writes:
there was no evidence that even if she had practised the subterfuge of which she was accused the reputation of the LAA had been damaged.
Well judging by the dis satisfaction raised by members posting here, the reputation of the LAA is up for question if the award is restored! What does the LAA lose if the members vote to not issue an award they earlier voter to rescind? The LAA will gain the reputation for standing up in what they believe in if the members vote to withhold the award!
I read the award was:
The citation was, "Award of the Bill Woodhams Trophy for a feat of navigation Tracey Curtis Taylor for her flight from Cape Town to Cairo in a Boeing Stearman a feat of navigation, aviation, tenacity and endurance."
Feat of navigation? Not really, when you have GPS and the latest databases in Ipads, available to both pilots, being supported by a chase plane, and with ground planning assistance! My colleague and I flew a Twin Otter Cairo to Johannesburg prior to the invention of GPS, using only charts and a magnetic compass, and that was not an unusual feat of navigation, so if a fully supported, multi pilot navigational exercise warrants issuance of an award for navigation, when other factors are dubious, I worry that the LAA is setting the bar a little low for issuance of an award! I think that not being able to navigate around a parked R44 should be reason enough to withdraw into the shadows with head held low, rather than return and make a fuss to have an award for navigation considered for reissuance!
And I will confirm that I'm not a troll, I've flown the route in question (as second pilot), flown many transcontinental trips as the only person in the plane, and always arrived where I intended to. And I have flown a Stearman. I have no personal grudge against Tracey, and indeed had not heard of her until reading the rather embarrassing Canadian newspaper article which revealed her trail of error and deception. I just don't like the thought of awards being issued to non deserving pilots! Tracey has earned right to call herself a pilot, and walk among we other pilots, but, for what I have read, has done nothing to distinguish herself to the level of being considered for an award issued by pilots! I think that Tracey should use the attention afforded her now to honour up, and truthfully answer some of the questions asked of her, to set the record straight. Following that, perhaps she'll just take a step back to be just a pilot, like the rest of us.