Did you actually have a pilot licence Tracey?
If you want to cover your online footprints it's pretty easy to edit your Wiki page, remove incriminating quotes from your own web site, and ask others (Ewald perhaps?) to do likewise, but it's almost impossible to eradicate the history of places you've flown to and from in an aircraft, and the dates on which such flights took place. Even if one managed to alter the records at a particular airfield (no suggestion that you did) there are so many other traces, especially when it is mandatory to file a flight plan if one intends to cross an international FIR boundary. And even without access to the massive Eurocontrol computer, there's a wealth of information out there on planespotting and photo sharing sites.
Fortunately I didn't need to trial through any of these resources because Ewald, in a piece on the restoration of N56200 that is included in his 3G Classic Aviation website, gives the detail.
After this Stearman had mastered its first "long range flight" from our Austrian/Hungarian base to England, piloted by Tracey Curtis-Taylor, the airplane was on display at one of the largest airshows worldwide: THE ROYAL INTERNATIONAL AIR TATTOO, where the airplane was awarded with the first prize for its technical quality and appearance...
So
in July 2013 the aircraft was in the UK, having been flown there by TCT from Hungary (or possibly Austria, but it makes no difference as you will read later).
What's interesting about this is that it took until
23rd September 2013 for TCT to obtain an FAA Pilot Certificate,
and without one of these (or at least a temporary certificate) all of the flights that she carried out during the transit in her American registered Stearman across Europe to England would have been flown illegally.
For the benefit of those unfamiliar with the rules, here is an explanation:
TCT's Stearman is registered in the USA, and as such operation of the aircraft must be iaw the American CFR (Code of Federal Regulations),
and the laws of the country over or within which the aircraft is operated if flown outside of the USA.
In respect of pilot licencing the American regulations may be found in CFR › Title 14 › Chapter I › Subchapter D › Part 61 › Subpart A › Section 61.3 which state:
§ 61.3 Requirement for certificates, ratings, and authorizations.
(a) Required pilot certificate for operating a civil aircraft of the United States. No person may serve as a required pilot flight crewmember of a civil aircraft of the United States, unless that person:
(1) Has in the person's physical possession or readily accessible in the aircraft when exercising the privileges of that pilot certificate or authorization -
(i) A pilot certificate issued under this part and in accordance with § 61.19;
(ii) A special purpose pilot authorization issued under § 61.77;
(iii) A temporary certificate issued under § 61.17;
(iv) A document conveying temporary authority to exercise certificate privileges issued by the Airmen Certification Branch under § 61.29(e); or
(v) When operating an aircraft within a foreign country, a pilot license issued by that country may be used.
Prior to obtaining her FAA licence TCT was only in possession of an EASA (European) Private Pilots Licence
that was issued by the UK Civil Aviation Authority. Therefore in line with (v) above, without an FAA licence she was fully entitled to operate an American registered aircraft in the UK, as soon as it arrived there.
However (unless she was in possession of a temporary certificate or special purpose authorization issued by the FAA) she most certainly would NOT have been entitled or licenced to fly the Stearman within or over any other country or state on the flight from Hungary (or Austria) to the UK, as the following letter from the FAA's Assistant Chief Counsel for Regulations makes perfectly clear:
U.S.Department
of Transportation
Federal Aviation
Administration
AUG 2 0 2009
Mr. Barry S. M. Condell
FinbarCondell0lBIue Yonder.co.uk
Office of the Chief Counsel 800 Independence Ave., S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20591
This responds to your email to Mr. James Whitlow of April 17, 2009, requesting an interpretation of 14 CFR 61.3(a)(1).
Section 61.3(a)(1) provides in pertinent part that when a U.S. registered aircraft "is operated within a foreign country, a current pilot license issued by the country in which the aircraft is operated may be used."
You ask whether the use of phrase "issued by the country" is interpreted by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as also meaning "issued under the law of a Contracting State to the European Economic Area" in the situation where various countries have entered into agreements for "the mutual acceptance of personnel licenses for the exercise of functions in civil aviation?"
The answer is that the FAA does not interpret the phase "issued by the country" as including "issued under the law of a Contracting State to the European Economic Area." The rule is expressly limited to a pilot certificate issued by the specific country within which the operation will take place.
This response was prepared by Michael E. Chase, Manager of the Air Traffic and
Airmen Airport Certification Law Branch in the Regulations Division of the Office of Chief Counsel, and coordinated with the General Aviation Division of Flight Standards Service. If you have additional questions regarding this matter, please contact us at your convenience at (202) 267-3073.
Rebecca B.
Assistant Chief Counsel for Regulations, AGC-200
So Tracey with the above in mind, did you have ANY licence or special authorization issued by the FAA that would have made it possible for you to conduct the mentioned flights legally?