I posted this almost 2 years ago, so it's possible that some of the links no longer work, but it's still germane:

I offer this only as a quick reference to assist anyone, like Nick, who might need a wee refesher course in what T C-T is all about.

The important bit is where there is an allegation that she was trying to taxy between two objects, but the photographs show an open field.

An interesting Daily Mail story from August 2015

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....d981e01183.jpg

Reference the TCT Stearman and Dual Controls
 

You can decide for yourselves wether the aircraft she was flying had dual controls or not.

This is a picture of the rear cockpit of her aircraft taken in Africa.

http://www.birdinabiplane.com/galler...1/dsc00251.jpg

This is a picture of the front cockpit
http://www.stearman.at/pictures/rest...ips%20(10).JPG

In the majority of the articles, there is supporting pictorial evidence of the 'solo' expedition with photos which inconveniently show 2 people on board. Now we know this 2nd person to be the ATPL / instructor / owner Ewald Gritsch on board for the majority of those flight.

With such widespread pictorial evidence in the public domain, it would appear to be rather more than a mere 'uphill struggle' to reconcile all those ambitious solo claims to secure sponsorship with the inconvenient facts. What was she thinking, to believe it was wise to come back to berate everyone - the LAA in particular - for such an dreadful miscarriage of justice, and to think that she could rewrite history to claim her prize and restore her honour?

Perhaps the role of emotional support .. err . .. being ... ?
Sorry, I had sworn I'd never get involved in this thread - after 4000-odd entries I think I may be forgiven.

PB84: Ah yes, the STEM thing.

Her logic is absurd. Her attempt to associate herself with real achievers, such as the likes of Amy Johnson and Mary Heath, is damn nearly fraudulent.

If she had a degree or some such qualification in something like engineering, she might possibly be qualify to pose in that guise, but she hasn't. It's just a charade. A pretence.

It's almost as if she's trying to teach kids that they don't need to get a science degree or diploma if you've learned the art of bullshooting and charlatanry.

90 years ago it really was a big deal for a woman to fly around the world, or across a couple of continents, alone and without a support crew. Nowadays it's generally recognised that you really don't need a toggle and two between your legs to fly an aeroplane.

If she and her finance house sponsors really gave a toss about having more femme CPLs, they'd have sponsored a coupla hundred females (to the exclusion of males, but never mind) through a modular or integrated CPL course.

Well, you can clearly see the limited front cockpit controls: No IPAD!

Having finally gotten round to reading Fate is the Hunter by Ernest K Gann recently, I feel that one passage is particularly relevant to this whole affair.

The (civilian) pilot in question was searching for a C-87 (cargo Liberator), with a crew and 17 sick and injured passengers on board, which had crashed in the Canadian Arctic during WW2. He was flying another C-87 on instruments at night over unknown terrain when he lost two engines on the same side and lost access to the fuel on that side too.

As a result, he could not reach any recognised airport. However, he learned over the radio that there was a new field still under construction that he could just make. It was much too small for a C-87 but it did have a radio range. When he arrived over the airport, he was told that the short runway only had a few kerosene flares, the ceiling was far below limits, visibility was half a mile, or even less in heavy blowing snow, and the wind was strong across the runway.

Ernest K Gann continues, "True to his profession, McGuire said later it was a rotten instrument approach. He was referring to his minor technical misdemeanors as if they were important at the time. HIs critique deliberately skipped the fact that the aeroplane was flying askew, everything below was foreign to him including the nature of the terrain, and they had to lengthen the runway before the C-87 could be flown away again. Nor would be mention how he swept down through the squalls, caught a mere glimpse of the runway, then somehow squeezed the ship into it's limitations, and landed without scratching the staggering beast of an aeroplane. All of these things, he passed off as inconvenient tribulations which it would be in poor taste to discuss....... It was he who was fraudulent, anyone must understand, and the ultimate success was achieved in spite of his efforts rather than because of them."

11) Friends in high places

The full quote Sam is a great summary of log-book inspection needs and likely outcomes. There is another point I would be interested in too in those log books, in particular who flew the Stearman from Hungary to the UK back in July(?) 2013 and in what capacity. I am still not convinced that all is above board with regards to licencing and flying an N-reg across Europe months before the appropriate licences were issued. As far as memory serves me I understood it to be that neither of them were licenced to do so.

If I am wrong then I apologise now...however... anyone with more knowledge than I feel free to comment and allay my idle curiosity. The topic was raised back then but was lost/buried in the plethora of other very interesting posts.

Their FAA licences were issued on the same day: 23rd September 2013.

N-56200 was registered on the 26th of July 2013.

Thanks.

On what date was N56200 flown to UK? Would the disparity between dates and licences be an issue?

Bingo ! ! !
It is exactly this and this alone which is driving this rather unwelcome and extremely high profile [re]visitation of all these very tired and very old bits of information .

I do rather feel that we should hold back a little in our criticism of the LAA , as I have a sneaky feeling that they really don't want this any more than anyone else does ,. which makes me wonder what exactly is going on in Ms Curtis-Taylor's head .
I am not particularly worried about how this affects her future . But I do have considerable concern about the LAA's future , because this concerns 8,000 people [including me ]and not just one .

So if I may just hypothesise a little : Let's just assume that a legal firm takes her version at face value . Has she been "destroyed" by internet trolls ? Or was her reputation lying in tatters long before it ever came up at an LAA - AGM .
Are the people who have questioned her integrity actually "internet trolls" , or are they normal , decent , grass-roots flyers ?
I do actually know the answer to this one !
I have absolutely nothing to hide . I know that 'Martyr' is a bit of a funny old surname , but it's what's on my birth certificate and not a username.
I stood up and was counted in 2016 and will do so again in 2018 ,2019 , 2020 ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,[ just keep counting].


And for those in Tracey's camp who believe I am some sort of antagonistic bigot . Just come up and shake hands on Oct21st , I will be delighted to prove to you that I am nothing more than an ordinary rank & file LAA'er . Like quite a few others who have pursued this !

And each of the really great pilots I have been fortunate enough to know, amongst them Ray Hanna, Judith Chisholm and Stef Karwowski, have had one overwhelming characteristic in their personalities, a sense of humility especially when asked about their flying experiences and achievements. To them all awards and citations were more of an embarrassment than something to be fought over as though they are personal possessions.

When I read the quote from Ms Curtis-Taylor in The Times article "I’ve had 35 years flying these kind of aeroplanes. I’m as experienced as anyone in the world flying them.” I noted not only a lack of that essential quality, humility, but also a lack of any sense of reality. No doubt Ms Curtis-Taylor's fellow Stearman (and similar) aircraft pilots from around the world will be happy to acknowledge her world leading expertise in their field.

It is to the credit of LAA that they reconsidered their position when the extent of her deceit came to light. They rescinded the award.

They did the honourable thing.

Pity that HCAP didn't. A different set of values, I suppose.

At the last count, she had 450 hours on type. In 35 years.

Two crashes in 450 hours is not hugely impressive, is it?

When she pranged in Winslow she'd flown 2 hours solo in the previous 90 days and 3 hours solo in the previous 30 days. Not quite sure how that works, but those are the numbers she reported to the FAA/NTSB.

+10

There is a distinct lack of honour.
TCT purports to be a champion for the female cause (that ethos died years ago) and is set on a pedestal as a role model. All she inspires is a notion that the only way to the top is to lie, embellish,cheat, and manipulate: Hardly worthy of a role model title IMHO. This is why I thought, and still think, that those great institutions who have garnished her with rewards have been hoodwinked into doing so but are too embarrassed to act. In that I include Portsmouth Polytechnic and The Royal Naval Reserve organisations.

Nick Adams, when are we going to see your great admission of guilt up on the BiaB site? Perhaps doing so may convey two things; a genuine desire to take the blame for this small piece of the whole charade, and confirmation that you are indeed who you say you are.