Mike Flynn

I understand she did not attend.

mary meagher

really is Ewald Gritsch. An easy name to forget, this lump who was crouching down most of the time in the front seat of the Boeing Stearman, is in my mind the responsible person who has escaped a lot of the opprobrium heaped upon the photogenic TCT.

To my mind the careless flying claimed by this woman and the fiction perpetrated by the entire publicity chain of Boeing, Artimis, and various royals, is the real crime. And Ewald Gritsch, who appears to own and maintain about five or six (identical?) Stearmans, who holds an instructor's rating and apparently has 20,000 hours in his logbook, manages to avoid any negative publicity or responsibility for the money making scam?

As others have mentioned, taking credit for dangerous and illegal flying is part of their story, so the national association supervising the license held by Gritsch needs to investigate his exploits.

If when I was an instructor in gliders there had been an accident I, not the beginner in the front seat of the K13, would have been held, and would deserve to have been held, completely responsible.

longer ron

Trouble is Mary -
The Oafishul story was that EG was merely a passenger with less than zero input into the flying !
The responsibility for any irresponsible flying etc therefore firmly rests on the 'Sole' Pilots shoulders.

Tagron

But how do we know if the allegedly careless dangerous or illegal flying actually took place ? Do not these claimed exploits fall in the same category as the solo claims ? But whether true, exaggerated or plain false bragging about them in high profile public statements does not seem to me a good idea.

Piltdown Man

Good point Tagron. From the clips i've seen the scud running is verifiable as is the low flying over wildlife (flamingos I believe). I haven't see the fulll African film so the airspace burglary at the Victoria Falls and Entebbe may not have occurred. However, woman flying a jolly green biplane is not an easy thing to forget. I shall have to send the SATCO's an email and see what comes back.

27/09

Yes, I too wonder about the veracity of some of the "risky" flying claims. I suspect these claims have been made to bolster the daring do image of the occupant of the Stearman's rear cockpit.

If they were made in my presence I'd be asking questions, however they've been made to people who don't really understand anything about flying.

Piltdown man, the camera angle can be deceiving at times, long lenses can distort the perspective markedly.

compressor stall

I have taken quite a bit of air to air filming and in the right light and lens you can make the aircraft appear at almost ground level. Indeed one picture that was taken at over 2000' agl we discussed as to whether we should let it go public as it had the appearance of something way under 100' and thus might invoke subsequent questioning from the regulator.

Stanwell

Of course. I agree.
Take, for example, her claim about flying at '10 (or 25) feet or below' over breeding whales.
I don't know whether that was filmed from the chase plane/camera ship or not.
I do however very much doubt the veracity of that TCT story, particularly, as we know, Ewald would have been in the front seat.

The big sin, as far as I'm concerned, is that she'd been loudly telling the world that she had done that (and other very naughty things) - and gotten away with it.
What kind of message does that send to impressionable youngsters who might consider taking up flying?
Inspirational speaker, eh?
.

surely not

Terry Holloway asks what the end game is for this thread.

I can't speak for anyone else but my wish, having read this thread from the beginning, is that any award given, or proposed to be given, for these flights on the basis of piloting or difficulty of the flights is withdrawn as we now know she wasn't solo; she didn't do her own flight planning; she used GPS to navigate; she didn't sort out the overflights, visas, etc; she didn't do the engineering checks on the Stearman; she didn't arrange her own PR, she had a logistics team arranging hotels, baggage transfers, paying the bills etc.

Her major part to play in these flights appears to have been to scrub up nicely and to speak well, and she carried out these duties admirably.

After the flights she has exaggerated freely about her exploits, claimed things that have been easily disproved, and someone has landed her with having to accept these awards for things she didn't do. It would have been preferable if she had politely declined the awards as they were factually inaccurate.

I remember watching with fascination as Sheila Scott and her Comanche Myth Too flew around the World. That was meritorious, TCT isn't even on the same page of capability.

I'm sure that TCT's exploits will make a rippingly good film, but please can she stop pretending to have done this solo, or that it in any way shape or form compares to Amy Johnson, Sheila Scott and other pioneering female aviators.

That clarifies what I would like to see as an end game. Others may want differently

Right Hand Thread

They've been made to all sorts of people including some of us who think we understand something about flying. That didn't seem to stop her saying it though.

Chris Scott

Excuse the thread-drift, but if any pilot of light aircraft - male or female - is currently worthy of consideration for an award, the list should include Sacha Dench, She returned to Blighty yesterday at the end of a 4500-mile flight following the autumn migration of Bewick's swans from the Arctic-Sea coast of Russia in September, finally landing her powered paraglider in Kent after crossing the English Channel - her first sea crossing.

She's a conservationist, working at Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in the west country. Her expedition included a small support team. Interviewed on BBC Radio 4's PM programme this evening, she made little fuss about her flying achievement, during which she injured a knee. She did admit that there were times when flight conditions were difficult enough to suggest a precautionary landing - but there was nowhere suitable to set down. Elsewhere she complains that, unlike the swans she flew with, she was unable to stave off the cold by flapping her arms about. A brave and modest person.

BBC Radio 4 - PM, 06/12/2016
[start at 40:30]

More details here:
'Human swan' describes navigating thunderstorms and battling temperatures of -25C during 4,500-mile trip

And here:
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rc...exi_NpgPGlq0rQ

The Old Fat One

If you the review the thread you'll see I was one of the first to take exception to this particular boast, which I heard first hand on the BBC breakfast radio show. My qualifications to make an observation on this subject - 5000 hours maritime and qualified sea-survival instructor.

Not everyone agreed with my input (fair enough) and some saw it as thread drift - also fair comment. I settled my "outrage" by contributing a thread on ditching in the forum, which - mostly - seemed reasonably well received.

But wait! As always with BIAB, the plot thickens. Some time later I was researching on Nylon Films and found the trailer for "The Aviatrix"

Nylon Films Home

In it (at 1.02) you will see guess what? The Whale Clip.

Now I can't be sure (editing innit) but it does not look "open ocean" (more like one wingtip over the beach) and therefore my earlier comments don't really apply (can't say fairer than that, can I) but it certainly does not look in 25 feet bracket either. More like a hundred feet plus. So once more our BiaB seems to be getting carried away.

And just for the absolute record (I just checked) she claims to fly quote 25 feet over the sea over the whales, and 10 - 20 feet over some lake unquote.

Before everybody rushes off, buckets at the ready, to check the clip...could I point out the details really don't matter.

Professional aviators do not talk like a character in a Biggles book every time sometime points a microphone or camera at them. Period.

PS Haven't seen the whole film, it looks beautifully made though, can't fault Nylon films for putting on a good show, that's their job.

SATCOS WHIPPING BOY

For the new joiners, this is her cringe-worthy speech to RAeS Australia. Skip the rubbish and head for around 19:30 onwards. TCT's description of the Victoria Falls and Entebbe yarns. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA6EBVunxnM

I too had doubts about these events actually happening but I believe it was Sam Rutherford that confirmed they did.

At 23:00 is the clearest indication of Ewald's role; to get her in and out of airports. So not just a passenger as claimed.

Also, it is within this clip she says she has not remotely interested in technology (11:00) and makes mention that the sponsorship has amounted to the £1 million mark. That alone would have paid for 100+ PPL's

When she speaks she exhibits the body language traits of someone who is being economical with the truth. Someone mentioned earlier about the importance, or lack of, of her wearing RAF wings. As a stand-alone issue it is not that major (I do find it offensive, others may not) but when you add it all up it comes down to what Barry Tempest said in that she is a boastful lady and needs bringing down a peg or two.

piperboy84

SWB Quote: I'd say it's more like making it up as she's going along and quite possibly completely away with the fairies. But she's a good public speaker even if the subject matter is complete bollocks.

The Old Fat One

Really didn't want to comment again...but, just can't stop it seems.

I watched the first 3-4 mins of SWB link. You know what I spotted...zero humour...not a whiff. The subject matter is 100% me, myself and I. Most of the people in that audience will have lost interest in her about the time I did.

Paid public speaker...not on that evidence...not in a million years.

And yeah your right...I taught public speaking too (military and civil)....yawn....sorry

Above The Clouds

Personally I find her speeches very random in format and difficult to concentrate on.

She side tracks all the time attempting to make the subject more dramatic than it actually is, talks in riddles attempting to make it humorous, as for messing with her hair, touching her face and fiddling around in general, dammed irritating.

Finally she always has to try and set the scene as though she has just rushed in from somewhere after rebuilding the stearman or scrambling off in some dramatic way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA6EBVunxnM

piperboy84

Just noticed something on the vid, she says she's never done an instrument rating, but if I remember correctly she said somewhere else she was an instructor in NZ. Is it possible to get a instructor rating without an instrument ticket ?

27/09

Most certainly you can.

Very true, but who ever accused her of being professional?

What message does it send to anyone hearing this b*l*s*it about what are and what aren't acceptable practices in aviation.

Chris Scott

Guys,

Having just watched the video, I have to disagree with some of your criticisms of Ms Curtis-Taylor's performance. She speaks for half an hour, apparently without an auto-cue or even notes. Her delivery and articulacy, and in particular her use of language, are excellent throughout. She is an enthusiastic and lucid story-teller, and evidently knows something about old aeroplanes and engines. Notwithstanding my prior knowledge of her journeys and what she was likely to be saying, and all the stuff that she found it expedient to leave out, I had no difficulty in maintaining concentration from start to finish. I wouldn't attribute any detrimental significance to her body language, not that I'm a student of Desmond Morris...

The issues I found the most jarring in the content of her speech included the evident (and inevitable) priority to promote Boeing, the overuse of the first-person singular, and the attempt to spice-up the story by offering disarming admissions of basic breaches of flying rules on successive occasions - often deliberate. Also, although she admits to having lacked originally much natural ability as a pilot, she does not relate any incidents in which she might have benefited from more experience or better flying skills. The few mentioned she blames on petty, arbitrary regulations that unnecessarily impeded her mission, which she implies was entitled to special treatment wherever it went.

To her credit, she devotes some time to telling eloquently the tales of Amy Johnson and, to a lesser extent, Mary Heath, and how these two pioneers inspired her from early on. However, her dismissal of the concept of using a "Moth" to recreate Lady Heath's Africa-UK flight (which was, of course, not flown in one) included the rather gratuitous comment: "if you've ever flown a Moth, it's a fairly overrated experience." [9:15] Not sure any de-Havilland admirer could forgive her for that one...

Occasionally she lapses form the first-person singular into the plural, in all-too-brief recognition of her large support team. But at no point in her tale is the presence in the air, or even the assistance on the ground, of her engineer-mentor recognised. Thus the whole narrative is discredited.

9 lives

Oh dear, so TCT chose not to recreate the celebrated event with authenticity, because she thinks a Moth is overrated. Perhaps the Moth is not exaggerated enough to suit her needs. I've flown them both, and I would prefer flying the Moth. In 1980 I was a very junior participant in the latter stage of a cross Canada air antique rally, which included a Moth. You could always pick those two pilots out crowd after arrival, as they had the biggest smiles!