Tracy Curtis-Taylor in NZ. Walt or not?
 

Some of you may be aware of the controversy regarding the solo or not solo antics of this person that is raging in the Private Pilots forum as well as the European press and media, and the highly questionable claims she and her PR people have made about her.

Her CV on Wikipedia which is being dramatically edited and re-edited on an almost hourly basis gives little hope for a factual solution, so...

She claims to have been a "flying instructor and commercial pilot" in New Zealand., presumably sometime before 2008 or so.

Does anyone remember her?

Anyone care to remark on her history there?

Who did she work for? Flying what? When?

We'd appreciate any info on this phase of her "career", such as it is, as it's utterly unknown and given what we do know of her later "career" the differences between what she's told us and what actually happened makes the actuality all but unrecognisable.

Did she actually train anyone in NZ" . Did she actually work for anyone in NZ?

Were you on her CPL course?

This woman is bringing aviation into disrepute by her Walter Mitty-like claims and garnering income and media exposure from them.

Some history and facts would be very welcome to cut through the smoke and mirrors of the bullshine she and her her PR team have fogged us all in with.

She appears to be one of yours noflynomore.

Interesting to see she is even an Honorary Lieutenant Commander, Royal Navy Reserve.

From Wiki: She had her first flying lesson at the age of 16, in British Columbia. She started to fly more regularly while living in New Zealand in the early 1980s, first in Queenstown and later at Ardmore Aerodrome in Auckland. In Auckland she earned her private and commercial pilot's licences, and her instructor rating.[3][6] While living in New Zealand, she joined the New Zealand Warbirds and began to fly vintage planes and to learn aerobatics and formation flying.[4]

noflynomore.....Check my posts on the other thread.

She was quite likely a member of New Zealand Warbirds.

She may have flown vintage aircraft and may possibly have learnt aeros and formation flying.

I'm pretty sure she NEVER EVER flew as display pilot especially with NZ Warbirds.

I attended many of their airshows during the time frame she claims to have been involved and I can remember many of the display pilots names from that era and I'm pretty sure I'd remember her name if she was one of them.

I suspect Canopener will be your best source of information from this part of the world

It is precisely the info posted by joli that I am seeking clarification of.

Her Wiki page is no source of reliable info - just an ever-changing mess of smoke and mirrors so it seemed a good idea to ask people from the area (ie NZ) what they remember. If she flew regularly, did a CPL and instructors course there must be hundreds of people who crossed her path - and the vintage and aerobatics connections must make her well known to many too.

What do people recall of her?

Thanks.

joli

I've been following this on the Private Flying sub-forum for a while and would very much second what noflymore has said:

T C-Ts wiki page is itself part of the problem/controversy. It seems at least in part to be policed and edited by her acolytes/PR team, and changes almost by the minute, most especially whenever another possibly inconvenient truth emerges. Similar happens for some of the other sites on which she features such as bookface....;)

It would indeed be interesting to see if anybody actually remembers her and can vouch for the accuracy of the NZ portion of her CV.

Disclaimer - I'm an enthusiast alone and had no knowledge of her history in NZ until reading this post yesterday. I've no dog in this fight and do not have any affiliation with T C-T but as a Kiwi I was intrigued and wanted to find out more.

I asked at the Wings Over New Zealand forum and some folks answered here: Tracey Curtis-Taylor in NZ | Wings Over New Zealand

To summarise their responses:
- one poster recalls flying as her passenger in an NZ Warbirds Association Harvard after a 1995 airshow
- same poster believes she had a share in the ownership of that Harvard, another corroborated that here
- another states she is the ex-wife of Kiwi aerobatic and warbird pilot Steve Taylor
- have seen no suggestion of display flying

I'd suggest that part of the Wikipedia page is accurate.

As with most BS'ers the is always a grain of truth on which to build the illusion of greatness.TCT's wiki page is a gross imbelishment of the facts.I know for a fact,that she once held both an NZ CPL and C Cat Instructor rating but that was more than 19 years ago and they are certainly not current.She was,briefly,an instructor for a flying school at Ardmore.She never flew commercially in any other sense.She never ever displayed any aircraft of any type in NZ.Virtually all of her flying was in light aircraft with the exception of a rating in a NA Harvard and probably less than 25 hrs total in that type.The bulk of her bio on wiki and her website is smoke and mirrors. Trust me....I know.

Re my posting of those Wiki lines above.


Not having read the other thread, and having no knowledge re this woman, I wanted to see what the general stated position was as a starting point. I read the whole Wiki entry, which does include some of the controversies surrounding her and the stripping of her award. I read some linked articles, and then snipped the part that seemed to have some detailed meat on it to help members of this thread to get to grips.


Like Kiwiboyzac above I have no axe to grind, and remain interested on the sidelines, popcorn in hand. In her defence she does seem to be running a crusade to set up women heroes, and in her enthusiasm I suspect she has repeatedly overstepped the mark, ruffling quite a few feathers so far. How history will regard her may still be up to the scriptwriters, or she may go down as a controversial figure, a mixture of good and bad. It will be interesting to see if any further details emerge. Not too many, methinks.

Follow the money. Her sponsor's name ARTEMIS is all over the place.

She is no hero to me and certainly her comparisons of herself to Amy Johnson would be laughable if they weren't so disrespectful of a true hero. She fits the stereotype of "helpless woman needing a man to do the real work while she looks decorative" perfectly....even naming her company "Bird in a Biplane" Bird having the derogatory meaning of brainless female.



Check out the pic here where they did a bad job of cropping out the pilot, then listen to her brag about flying in bad weather. Female pilot Tracey Curtis-Taylor lands in Sydney after epic journey in 1942 aircraft - Telegraph

Quite agree, Clare Prop.
Just how many men (with money) does she need to make herself look like a star?
Going by her history, quite a few, it seems.
A pathetic act.

Indeed. Amy did it for prize money, she had to buy the aircraft and finish the flight before she got paid; no sponsors painted all over "Jason". She was also the first ever female to qualify as an engineer so she could do her own repairs and maintenance.

If Tracey was doing this for charity, such as the flights by Polly Vacher, I might feel a bit more positive about it.

The fall from grace is a better read than the original story.

I see she was married to a Steve Taylor. It was written as though one should recognise the name but I for one don't.

Who/what is/was he?

nfnm,
New Zealand aerobatic champion and noted warbird pilot. :ok:

Ah! Thanks!