piperboy84

Couldn't have put it better CGB, Great minds think alike 😄

Marchettiman

It would take at least 10 days just to get out of Europe!

kghjfg

So, just to be 100% clear.

TCT herself has now stated that they were NOT solo flights, but she was PIC, is that correct ?

Do the press realise how duped they were.

Cows getting bigger

I bet Ewald never touched the controls once. Not once.

Reverserbucket

Sole pilot or sole-manipulator of the controls? I've seen some interesting interpretations of "solo" vs "PIC" in the US where UK PPL's hour building for the purpose of achieving 100 hours PIC prior to a modular CPL course are in fact 'dual' with an FAA CFI sitting with them also logging PIC apparently for insurance purposes. Which leads to a question of certification: I see that the Stearman is 'N' registered and in the AAIB report of the contact with the R44, the Commander is recorded as holding a PPL; I take it this is referring to TCT and if so, I presume she holds at least an FAA Private Pilot Certificate to operate as PIC of an 'N' registered aircraft (In particular the flying conducted in the US most recently)? An Airman Inquiry through the FAA reveals nothing.

aviator_38

Was she on the Queen's birthday honours lists?

Cheers

Mike Flynn

There was a suggestion on here some weeks ago that that letters to the honours committee might raise issues regarding her 'adventures'.

mary meagher

Gives rather a new emphasis calling herself an "aviatrix!" tricks, more likely.

I call myself a pilot.

Mary Meagher

Sir Niall Dementia

Hi Mary;

Not just a pilot, but a damn sight more inspirational too!

See you soon.

SND xxx

Stanwell

I see that TCT has threatened to turn up at the forthcoming Farnborough.

This, I understand, has caused some consternation within the Helicopter Industry Association.
The members fear for the safety of their exhibits, it seems.

The organisers, while smarting from the Red Arrows display cancellation, are confident that enough punters will still be drawn to the main event.
The prospect of witnessing TCT and Ewald cartwheeling across the in-field should prove to be a compensatory drawcard, it is felt.

9 lives

Perhaps TCT can be awarded the honour of demonstrating to the guests at Farnborough:



Active, entertaining, safe for parked rotorcraft, no harm done during a roll over beside the runway, and best of all, easy to see she is truly solo in the cockpit!

Sir Niall Dementia

Fifteen years ago during one of the periods of unemployment that is all part of the glitz and glamour of a career in aviation I got a job as a contract ferry pilot. In just over a year I did 19 solo single engine flights from the USA to sub-Saharan Africa, where do I get my award? and can I have the money in used fivers in a brown envelope marked "not to be opened by starving family."

If I'd achieved T C-T's record at least 10 of those flights would never have got anywhere.

I'm going to be at Farnborough for the whole event this year, I don't look good in a flying suit (actually I look like a badly stuffed pillow in most clothes), and a milf shot is well beyond my abilities, so hopefully I'll dodge any publicity, but my anti T C-T protective clothing might draw some attention.

SND

Whiskey Kilo Wanderer

The good lady is on BBC Radio 4 Midweek program from 9am today. From the accompanying piece on the R4 website there is no mention of 'solo'.

BBC R4 Midweek website:
Tracey Curtis-Taylor is a pilot who last year followed Amy Johnson's flight from the UK to Australia in her classic open cockpit biplane, Spirit of Artemis. Earlier this year the self-styled bird in a biplane attempted a round-the-world flight which ended when her vintage biplane lost power and crashed after take-off in the Arizona desert. She plans to be back in the skies when her plane is fully repaired.

Mike Flynn

I have just been listening to the programme and it's the same old story. No mention of Ewald or his major part in her 'adventures'.

As for the aircraft she said it's en-route to Hungary and the the only bit salvageable is the fuselage. It is going to get a new engine as well. Triggers brush?

It was interesting to hear the Pilatus that carried the support crew also carried Avgas for the Stearman.

She repeated the claim I read in Hampshire Life that "Artemis’ has a range of about 380 nautical miles, as opposed to Amy’s plane which had a 1,200-mile range. That is why I decided to take my trip over three and a half months."

The Timor Sea crossing to Australia is 450 miles

Planemike

Jay..............

I listened too. As you say very much "business as usual". Did mention there was a passenger aboard when she crashed in Arizona...

Well it is a case of "you can't keep a good (wo)man down"....!!!!

Andrewgr2

On 'Midweek' when asked by Libby Purves about the state of the pilot (singular) after her crash she very nearly said 'two pilots' but then corrected herself to refer to the state of her 'crew'!

Stanwell

Oh dear. It just doesn't stop, does it?
Thanks for that snippet, WKW.
"... attempted round-the-world flight..."

I've known a few calculating, scheming, pathological liars, frauds and cheats in my time, but the TCT's not really one of those, is she?
She's simply a naughty little girl, all alone in this world, who seems to have a pathological need to tell lots of fibs to lots of people.
She just can't help herself, don't you see?
I mean, what's a girl to do?

Wake up, BBC !
.

Fantome

Had Nancy Bird still been around when Tracy landed in Australia she would have been met and feted by the elder retainer . Nancy loved the limelight and was never averse to stealing the thunder of the odd hard working quiet type behind the scenes (Peggy Kelman comes to mind) . This may seem wildly off topic but speaking with the son of Peggy Kelman you did get another perspective on the way media savvy personalities can project themselves.
Not denigrating Nancy or her memory . .. just mentioning one of her foibles.

Mike Flynn

Well spotted Andrewgr2. I was not sure If I had heard that correctly.

Podcast is here http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006...odes/downloads

Victorian

I started the car this morning and to my amazement there she was, on the radio. It's true she stumbled over who was on board at Winslow, as I heard it saying 'we', instantly corrected to 'my crew'. But so what? She sounded very nice and I'm sure the average listener would have thought better of GA for hearing her. Isn't that what matters?

Anyway, she pointed out that Winslow is the last surviving runway (or unmodernised airport, at least) on Lindberg's Transcontinental Air Transport route and all credit to her for that. I'm pleased she mentioned it because Winslow is not especially well known and when I first went there you could still read the initials T.A.T. on the dilapidated hangar. Right inside the door of the unattended adobe hut that served as a terminal was a life size portrait of the man himself, standing as if to greet you! Spooky!!

So I respectfully suggest that it's time to let this matter drop. We won't improve our own image by constantly carping about her.