Quite fancy doing Aberdeen to Stavanger in a self maintained single. A modest goal but one I'd consider quite a personal achievement.

We used to send a few bits from Norfolk to Stavanger. On one trip, the door popped, a latch problem on the Piper Twincom. 'Cors, you cant push it out to slam it, so it stayed a bit ajar. Since life is not kind, the brushes on the heater motor quit at the same time. So our hero was getting a bit chilly. He moved into the middle row and wrapped himself in the rugs that were there for the passengers, putting his head up to check the a/p heading and other minor points, from time to time.
So, Piper, I would sugest you do the trip in summer and get a nice thermal suit..

Has this thread just died , or been killed ?
I've been looking forward to the execution news.

Not just yet, NS.

You see, our "Solo Aviatrix" is presently wilfully and skilfully working the media circuit, issuing somewhat modified, but still
glowing, press-releases and 'making herself available' to any outlet she's sure won't ask awkward questions.

After all, TCT has billed herself as "an attractive, personable and articulate motivational speaker".
What that really means, of course, is that she's really good at telling stories - tall stories.
(Ahem.. Well, y'see, some silly reporter just made a bit of a mistake... I wasn't actually solo ALL the time - I was just all alone in my cock-pit[sic] all the time).
(Oh, who,.. Him? .. He was just a passenger I took for a bit of a joy-ride once or twice.)

Oh, yes, our Tracey's a veritable icon - whose only motivation is to inspire the young women of today.
Yep, this is how you do it, girls .. the keyword is deceit, got it? .. Just follow her lead and you can't go wrong.

At the same time, she's vigorously displaying the 'rigid digit' to any who would express doubt as to the veracity of her claims,
past, recent and even 'as amended'.

One must 'make hay while the sun shines', after all.
Better hurry, girl. :=


Oh, BTW, I notice she's organised a Wikipedia page for herself ... nothing less than her standard, fanciful, press-release (as modified), of course.
.

Wiki editing
 

Stanwell,

Your mention of TCT's Wiki page prompted me to have a look at the edits of this page. To do so, click on the 'View history' tab at the top right. This opens this page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php...action=history

which contains some interesting information.

The page was started by MurielMary in NZ on 9 January 2016. There have been mutiple edits since then, including several by JaySata, but any edits referring to flights being "not solo" have been systematically removed, as has any reference to the Goodwood Stearman/Robinson "interfacing". Some of the edits come from an IP address that is in Goole, and another in Chang Mai in Thailand!

It is interesting that there is no mention in the text of the US flights, that ended with the crash at Winslow. although it is referred to in Reference 13.

There is however, a mention (admission?) of the Stearman having GPS.

Hmm, interesting. Thanks, I-42.
That'd be part of the 'rigid digit' act I mentioned earlier.

That Wiki history page is entertainment in itself.
MurielMary (wonder just where she fits into the picture) does like to keep a subjectively 'clean' house, doesn't she?

There's also a former media 'celebrity' here in Oz who seems to have someone "dust her Wiki furniture" almost daily when her name comes up in the press.
.

Yes, I'd noticed that.
That is, of course, at a variance with the impression that she'd given earlier on that she'd relied only upon standard cockpit instruments.
(Now, didn't some association or other present her with an award for a certain 'navigation feat'?)

"Oh what a tangled web we weave ...". :=
.

The wiki page history is interesting as you can see that my edits were mostly removed by Murial Mary.

All references to the accident at Goodwood plus questions over the so called solo flights which she admits on her Birdinabiplane site were not 'solo' have been removed.

I have refrained from further editing of the wiki site in the short term but others are free to update it with links to both accidents.

Much as I dislike the sneering obsession of this thread I have to say Jay that I think you are well justiified in adding her accidents on to the wikipedia article.

for fun I typed "Tracey Curtis Taylor Solo" into Google.

My PC almost melted with the number of reporters saying she was solo.

An interview popped up that she did late last year....

"Although this was primarily a solo flight..."

http://www.pilotweb.aero/features/q_...ylor_1_4051082

That's a direct quote in her own words, yet is she now saying she didn't say that ?

She has yet to answer the elephant in the room question.

What part did Ewald Gritsch play in this saga?

More importantly she described him as a passenger when the Arizona accident happened.

However it does not take much effort on google to discover he was a highly qualified "passenger".:=

Now I might be missing something but she paints the picture of a solo flight in her various media interviews but never mentions the fact that her 1300 hours of ppl flying are dwarfed by the man in the front seat whose company owns the aircraft.

"Sole" pilot is not the same as solo pilot. Two pilots on board means one can do nav and radio while the other handles the physical part of flying. Half the workload of that experienced by Lady Mary Heath or Amy Johnson.

She also makes the point ..
In other words there was another pilot on board the Spirit of Artemis for all flights but she never admitted this or revealed him to the press corps on arrival in Sydney despite the fact he could be seen in all the pictures. Here he is..http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/...re-id504089984

Did she admit to the Light Aircraft Association when she accepted the Bill Woodham Navigation Award that she was not solo on the Africa trip? That is what the above statement reveals.

Did she send the above statement to the HCAP Master before he sent his letter to her which obviously reveals he was not aware Ewald Gritsch was in the front seat.

The clever picture she portrays in all her many interviews have never mentioned
the part Ewald plays in this charade.

Owner and constructor of the Spirit of Artemis and a pilot well qualified beyond the skills of most of us.

Her theme tends to focus on those early women pilots which she has tried to highlight in her much publicised 'adventures" recently.
Q & A with Tracey Curtis Taylor - Features - Pilot

Amy Johnson and Lady Heath must be turning in their graves at this so called "celebration" of their achievements and wondering why they never thought about taking a 'Ewald' along.

I am not critical of the journalists who accurately reported her claims which are alleged to be misleading. Equally I can understand how her sponsors and even the HCAP were taken in by claims which appear to be exaggerated. What I cant understand is why her sponsors and these respectable organisations are standing by her. I have written to Artemis asking how their position as a company entrusted with peoples' lifesavings sits with their ongoing sponsorship. No reply. And why has the HCAP not just dropped the award? Are they so insecure that they believe owning up to gullibility is a sin? Have they no insight to their reputations, rapidly falling? Or is this simply a case of who you know and the establishment closing ranks.....

I've never met "inspirational speaker & aviatrix" TCT at all, but, you know, I do now feel very inspired to use more bull$h!t in my everyday life. However I think if you enjoy flying anywhere in aircraft like that then you should also enjoy self flagellation as well. She does have that milfy allure that I like though.
With regards to this Company of pilots or whatever it is, I was in flying for 25 years and I've never heard of them until now. Are they the aviation branch of the funny handshake brigade? The "flying freemasons" if you will? They certainly seem to like dressing up. Maybe TCT has a fur or two she could lend them, faux of course...

It used to be called GAPAN.

G

Private Jet

"Are they the aviation branch of the funny handshake brigade? The "flying freemasons" if you will? They certainly seem to like dressing up. Maybe TCT has a fur or two she could lend them, faux of course"

That is a very uneducated statement.

Whilst I have no doubt that you haven't heard about them until now, that may be partly due to the fact of all the good positive and unadvertised work they do behind the scenes, obviously, which you are no part of, by your own admission.

Everybody seems to share unanimous concern [and rightly so] surrounding the TCT award by the 'Honourable company'

There is nothing 'honourable' with what she has done with the significant level of deceit, and it is a shame that the HCAP have been caught up with it. That's not to say that they may now carefully review their original thought as more evidence has come to light and make the right decision based upon that.

Quite true. It can happen that well meaning groups of people can be drawn in by cunning people, who could appear at the surface to by like minded. It'll be difficult, but I hope that the people of the HCAP can independently take action which affirms their integrity. Perhaps in doing so, they have to "fess up" a little, but maybe get some overall good press out a not so good situation.

"It can happen that well meaning groups of people can be drawn in by cunning people"

That statement is also quite true Step.

Anyway, I am now confident that HCAP will see this TCT shenanigan for what it is.
I'm also sure that this whole sorry saga will be published in our aviation journals as a reminder of what 'not' to do.

I see on the LAA's website that their most recent mention of TCT's jaunt is as "solo".

Anybody aware of what's happening re the planned appearance of (and, no doubt, accolade shower upon) TCT at Farnborough?
And ... is Ewald going to be there?

Jetblu, I somehow doubt that "our aviation journals" have the balls to publicly admit that their standards of journalism had been 'somewhat lacking'.
The only correction that I've seen so far is a small-print addendum to an amended report on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's website.
And, even that only related to the most outrageous of TCT's claims.

Call me cynical, but I've a feeling that most of them who originally published the stories based on the TCT machine's press releases would prefer to keep schtum and hope it'll all go away.
Principle? .. What's that? .. Oh, yes, but, given our tight margins, there's just not room for that these days.

I do hope you're right but TCT seems to have achieved her planned goal of, early on, firmly establishing in the gullible public's mind that she is indeed an outstanding Solo Aviatrix and Navigator - and therefore fully deserves to stand on the same podium as the aviation greats.
In fact, she's even on record as saying that, in some respects, she did it tougher than either of the aviatrices whose feats she claimed to be emulating.
I feel ill.
.

Well... It can be "tougher" to accomplish something, if you're not as good as the other person who has done it before!

Sometimes in life it helps to have the right connections.

TCT is a member of the HCAP who awarded her the Masters Medal for the UK to Australia jaunt.

The Light Aircraft Association awarded her the Bill Woodhams navigation trophy last year for her Cape Town to UK adventure. The chief executive of the LAA is Stephen Slater who is also a senior member of HCAP.

What are you implying re Steve Slater?

In answer to Hoodie I am not suggesting Steve Slater had any part in giving the navigation award to TCT. Just pointing out that connections or 'networking' as it is called these days goes a long way.

TCT was socially well known to Steve and the HCAP long before her awards as a bit of googling will reveal.

She certainly knows how to self promote once the door is open as can be seen and heard in the various media interviews. She has the ability of a politician to convey a message without actually commiting herself.

Her BBC Today programme appearance was a classic when Nick Robinson gave her free rein to run through the same script we hear every time without question.

If the LAA want to give their annual navigation award to someone flying a Stearman with a GPS on the panel and an airline pilot owner in the front seat who am I to argue.

Perhaps next year they will give it to a Tipsy Nipper pilot with a GPS "celebrating" Bleriot's historic flight across the English Channel.

Steve Slater is a decent bloke, who does not deserve sly public innuendo of this kind.

Aviation is a very small world, and it is no surprise whatsoever that individuals know each other: To wit, Steve Slater knowing poeople in both LAA and HCAP. It is not proof of a conspiracy.

TCT's claims are suspect, to be sure - but don't drag down other people in your campaign.

What genuinely amazes me is that the LAA and HCAP don't mind being associated with the deceit. Neither have admitted they may have got it wrong and in fact she wasn't solo.

TCT herself has now admitted the deceit was wrong and that it was a team effort.

If the LAA and HCAP changed it to a team award, then everybody, including Jay should surely be happy. They've not got the integrity though.

Never thought I'd say this, but it turns out TCT has more integrity than they do !
That's what I find amazing.

I have no personal agenda regarding anyone in this saga not least TCT.

Steve Slater is the paid chief executive of the LAA and as such has responsibility to his members.

Given all the facts that are in the public domain it is apparent she was given the navigation award without have to do the navigation. Quite apart from the airline pilot owner of the Spirit of Artemis being in the front seat she also had a support crew in another aircraft.

All the nav and met was done for her so please explain how she warrants an award?

What is wrong with the LAA chief exec saying we made a mistake and given new evidence we want to give it to the runner up? Has he ever convened a meeting regarding this issue?

As for the HCAP Masters Medal....while Tracey was waving to the assembled media in Sydney Tim Peake was orbiting the earth. I know who my choice for 2016 would be.

If the LAA and HCAP want to change the rules and make TCT's award a team effort then of course it moves the goalposts.

In my opinion Ewald deserves credit for a great looking Stearman restoration.He also appears to be every bit as photogenic as Tracey so why did they not use him in his role as restorer and pilot. She dismissed him as a "passenger" in the Arizona accident press coverage.

However I alerted the ABC in Australia in early May to the misreporting hence the correction on her Sydney story.

So when the Arizona incident occurred they reported..

Adventurer Tracey Curtis-Taylor survives plane crash in Arizona Desert - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

By the time she was on BBC Radio 4's Midweek earlier this month Ewald was back to being a passenger.

I saw a reference somewhere where she described him as her engineer.

I believe that people and organizations can manage their public image and credibility by how they handle a mistake that has been revealed after the fact.

I have heard of circumstances in which award winning sports figures have had awards publicly rescinded when their deceit became evident. In my opinion by the organization made the best out of a bad situation for themselves by doing that.

The lesson often learned by an organization is to dig deeper, verify facts, and hold to their own standards to maintain their credibility, and value to their members.

I don't have the time or inclination to look it up, but I did read somewhere that the Stearman had been modified with the addition of extra fuel tank(s). Quite how much extra it fuel it could carry I have no idea, but one would presume it was at least double the norm - and maybe even more than that.

It would be interesting to learn what the gross weight of the aircraft was when it departed (or rather, crashed) from a high density altitude field on the leg she planned to fly (as sole manipulating pilot and navigator) across the USA .... with her 12,000 hour ATPL and Stearman owner "passenger."

And there lies the very basic fundamentals of the integrity test.

We'll wait and see in anticipation.

In reply to Deefer Dog I am puzzled by TCT suggestions on BBC Radio 4 Midweek that the range of the Amy Johnson DH Tiger Moth was far in excess of the Stearman.

More puzzling is the stats I can find online regarding the range of the Boeing
Stearman.

Ewald's site below suggests a maximum range of 505 miles.
Boeing Stearman

So how did they cross from Dili to Darwin which is 545 NM with two on board?
They must have had life rafts and survival equipment adding to the load.Full fuel on take off adding to extra weight?

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped.../Timor_See.jpg

The Master of the HCAP was suggesting in his award letter I posted earlier that she faced serious challenges. In a lot of her interviews she mentions the "shark infested Timor Sea".

However I am not aware of any downed pilot been eaten by a shark in those parts.
see these stats. http://www.sharkattackdata.com/place/indonesia

Given a choice of where I would like to cross water in a small single engine aircraft I would choose the Timor Sea crossing to Darwin over Jersey to Bournemouth.

Sadly on reflection I have pushed my luck too much in the past flying the latter in winter and often at night in Cherokee. Not much glamour in such mundane flying and never going to get a gong for it or appear on Midweek.

C'est la vie

Jay Sata,

Same source says the the normal tankage was 43 US gallons in the centre section of the upper wing. That would take up all the space available. From there it was gravity-fed to the engine.

With two-up and with a dinghy and baggage, can't see how you would find space for any more.

Danny42C.

I am not an engineer so how could you increase the range given the extra weight of the fuel required to have a margin for headwinds and weather?

I suppose rather than planning for a headwind you could wait until you had a good tailwind, choose a slow cruise, and let the weather help you.

You could also choose to fly in a straight line - in which case the distance would only be 451 miles (according to the Great Circle Mapper)

Great Circle Mapper

Interestingly the map on her (cringeworthily named) birdinabiplane website shows a flight from Timor to Kununurra which is 542 miles. Perhaps the reason she flew to Darwin instead was because it is shorter.

That's a big ask. I doubt there are that many pilots ditching in the Timor sea to be eaten, so it's not a surprise you're unable to find record of any. But I imagine you're likely to find sharks there if you try.

I believe Amy Johnson's DH-60 was fitted with considerable extra tankage in the front passenger space.
I did read somewhere that Ewald had equipped the Stearman with extra tankage - but, as Danny says, exactly where he would have fitted it is a bit of a mystery.

In an earlier post on here, I think someone did say that their flight over the Timor Sea was to Kunnunurra - and from there to Darwin (Seems a bit strange to me too, I'll have to check on that).

I recall our local Stearman joyflight operator did tell me that his standard 220hp R-670 Continental-powered jobby consumes 50 litres per hour (two-up with minimal fuel) at its most economical (90mph @ 3000 feet).
An aerobatic session uses 60 litres per hour.

For some reason, the ordinary Lycoming R-680 is known to be a bit thirstier than the Continental.
Earlier in this thread, Flying Lawyer informed us that Ewald's Stearman was fitted with a 300hp Lycoming R-680.
That, then, would mean that it's probably an R-680-13, a fairly thirsty beast.

So anyway, just for the exercise, I did a couple of table-napkin calculations based on a standard, loaded 220hp Continental Stearman, using a conversion of:
1 US gallon = 3.785 litres.
Thus, the standard 43 USG tankage would give an endurance of just under three hours.
On standard tankage, three hours at 90mph gives a distance of 266 statute miles. Not quite enough.

Therefore, as deefer dog has noted, Ewald's machine would have to have, at the very least, double the tankage - especially given the thirst of an R-680-13.

Anybody got Ewald's phone number?


Oh, BTW, chaps ... The word around Darwin is that there are no longer any sharks in the Timor Sea - y'see, some time ago, the saltwater crocodiles cleaned 'em out.
.

Mystery half-solved:

Category: | NT News

"Ms Curtis-Taylor landed in Darwin just after 6.30pm on New Year’s Day, completing the journey from Great Britain, more than eight decades after Amy Johnson’s first pioneering journey in 1930 [.....]
Ms Curtis-Taylor had two days rest before setting off to Kununurra and Alice Springs on the way to Sydney."

As for the fuel, my question wouldn't be where they put it, but how much payload the aircraft had. Presumably TCT doesn't weigh much. One payload figure bandied around - 492lb when already fully fueled - should take care of 2 pilots, a life raft and a fair amount of extra fuel.

Thanks, abgd.
Still not quite adding up in my tiny brain, though.
The two crew plus liferaft would probably go about 350lb, at best. That leaves only about 140lb for extra fuel.
Where did the 492lb payload figure come from, can I ask?

Maybe, just maybe, Ewald flew that leg without Tracy on board.

Boeing Stearman - Plane & Pilot Magazine

Let's say TCT weighs 55kg and Ewald 75 - no idea really - never seen them, but for not-particularly-weighty people that's quite feasible. A lightweight raft might be 5kg. 135kg. 492lb -135kg = 88kg. 88kg of fuel is about 122 litres. 122 litres is 32 us gallons - 2.5 hours of flight at 13gph. OK, the tank may weigh a bit too. And if they were to have taken off slightly heavy who would know? There were mail-carrying Stearmans that seemed to have considerably greater payloads.

Whatever, someone seems to have flown the aircraft across the sea.