Just to put the record straight on Ewald Gritsch's licence, when any of us obtains an FAA "piggy back" licence under 61.75 it is only issued as a private pilot certificate whether or not your national licence is an ATP, CPL or PPL. But you have to maintain the validity of your national licence, otherwise the FAA certificate is invalid. Mr Gritsch has an Austrian issued EASA Air Transport Pilot licence ( see my previous post with his Austrian licence number included with its AT.FCL prefix) so he can be properly described as a highly experienced Airline Pilot who accompanied Ms Curtis-Taylor in the Stearman on the entire trip(s). He might well have had a camera with him, and a set of spanners but once airborne I am sure the relatively inexperienced TCT would have relied on his experience and piloting skills when the going got tough. That's why so many of us have lost respect for TCT amid her varying claims of "flying solo", "alone in a cockpit", and all the other adjectival variations on the same theme.