The Times story is behind a paywall.
It appears the LAA is run by blokes.
A British adventurer who won an award for flying solo on an 8,000-mile trip has been stripped of the trophy after it was alleged that she had a co-pilot on some legs of her journey.
Tracey Curtis-Taylor, the self-styled “Bird in a Biplane” who is described on her website as an “aviator, adventurer and inspirational speaker”, had the Bill Woodhams Trophy, which was awarded to her after she had flown from Cape Town to Britain in 2013, removed following a vote held by the Light Aircraft Association (LAA) on Saturday.
Ms Curtis-Taylor, 54, was stripped of the trophy at the association’s annual meeting at Sywell aerodrome, Northamptonshire, where members claimed that she had misled the public over her exploits. By 123 votes to 65, they voted for her to lose the award.
Last night Ms Curtis-Taylor said that she had never claimed to have conducted solo flights and had acknowledged that it was a “collaborative team effort”.
“It’s disgusting what has happened,” she said. “There was a palpable unease in the meeting, which was in a room full of men and just three women.”
She said that she felt “very let down by the LAA”, adding: “They have allowed themselves to be manipulated.”
Ms Curtis-Taylor, a former waitress who grew up in Canada and has lived in New Zealand, had just returned home from a two-week trip to China when she attended the AGM the next day.
She was mired in controversy after it was alleged that Ewald Gritsch, her flight instructor, had revealed that he had occupied the forward cockpit of her 1942 Boeing Stearman for most of the legs of her journeys.
Mr Gritsch dismissed claims that he had made such allegations and said that Ms Curtis-Taylor was “the sole pilot on all her expedition flights”.
Sam Rutherford, her former logistics manager, also allegedly said that Ms Curtis-Taylor had been guilty of embellishing the truth and that she had flown only four of the 36 legs from Cape Town to Goodwood, West Sussex, on her own.
Ms Curtis-Taylor previously hit back at the allegations, saying: “It is clear from what I say about the Africa flight and subsequent expeditions that they were not solo flights and that I was accompanied by a support crew. Ewald’s primary role in all these expeditions has been to provide engineering, technical and flight planning support.”
Barry Tempest, a member of the LAA, who proposed that her award be withdrawn, said: “I am delighted the award has been rescinded. I have the greatest respect for women pilots but I think Tracey Curtis-Taylor has not done a lot to further their case.
“I think that she is a boastful lady who needs bringing down a peg or two.”
Steve Slater, head of the LAA, said: “The award was made in good faith but in the light of what has emerged since . . . it is fair to say maybe we would have made a different decision.”
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