Discount that factual evidence B70.

In fact, even discount the headline which you read about the 'epic solo' on that clip too.

It's all a deceitful commercial scam, labelled up with some glossy awards to make the tin look good.

Some back peddaling and damage limitation exercises going on over at the Light Aircraft forum.

View topic - Tracey Curtis-Taylor | Light Aircraft Association

(Seems only fair to reference them as everyone else is referenceing PP.)

TCT needs to make a public statement about recent revelations. Perhaps dig into HER well lined pockets and make a donation herself to some of the charities she was meant to be supporting with her sham of an adventure under the guise of Bird-&-Bloke-In a BiPlane.

I am going to try and find the link with Portsmouth Uni and TCT, and how she came up for an honorary Doctorate.

Searching their pages (all public on the web) I chuckled at this bit about the Board of Governors:

The Board observes the seven principles of public life:
Selflessness
Integrity
Objectivity
Accountability
Openness
Honesty
Leadership

I wonder how many of those boxes TCT ticks.

Source: What does the board do... About us | Board of Governors | University of Portsmouth

For the avoidance of doubt I am not questioning the integrity or principles of a fine University or its staff. Simply highlighting a difference perhaps in standards between it and its new Honorary Doctor.

Interesting to see the almost logarithmic escalation in viewing statistics over on the Wiki site, post the LAA announcement. The evident now near hysterical editing frenzy can also be tracked easily on the revision history visible under "View History".
It looks like this site is heading for a very limited future existence .

Since there seems to be an undercurrent running in this thread about possible influence, is it of any interest to remind ourselves that Prince Michael of Kent is also Grand Master of The Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons?

I believe there may be a link with Portsmouth Uni and TCT via Tim Kelly.

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/timkellycommsconsultant

Quote from linkdin VELUX 5 OCEANS partners up with the University of Portsmouth

Portsmouth Poly were warned about this. I know, I wrote to them.

Would you care to share what was written to them? Did you get a reply?

I am sure Jay and Sam would be interested (I know I am :ok: )

My good friend and pilot Brad Van Liew competed in and I believe won one of the Velux 5 "Around Alone" races. I'll ask him about the PR team on that project.

Looks like you might have found it, SWB. 'Oh what a tangled web we weave..........'

That is bloody spooky B70, as I was typing my post I actually said to myself those exact same words. :eek:

I read with interest, the action taken by the LAA, and I think positively for them for it. I am not a member of the LAA (wrong side of an ocean), however, they do represent me - I am a pilot and aircraft owner, so in the broad interpretation, I represent general aviation, and so do they.

As such their decision corrects an error which was made, and restores faith in pilots/owners in the broad sense. When one in our group brings disrespect upon themselves, they bring a small amount upon us too. We are entitled in a small way to defend our general reputation, and to express disapproval when one of us violates our reputation.

I note with interest that in the last few days, of 2008 Olympics athletes who were retroactively stripped of awards due to their deception:

6 More Athletes Stripped of Medals From 2008 Olympics | NBC4 Washington

I read that the accused athletes were guilty of only one or two cases of deception, not the multiple cases which TCT has obviously presented to the public. So, I think it entirely reasonable that TCT not receive an undeserved award now, so that it does not need to be rescinded later.

We pilots make our pastime more honourable by not tolerating dishonour in our ranks, be those ranks the LAA, or pilots worldwide, or the HCAP, who also represent me as a pilot.

It seems to me that HCAP have rather painted themselves into a corner:

Either they go ahead and keep changing the citation until they find some formulation that can act as a fig-leaf to justify the award, no matter how implausibly; or they withdraw it and upset an important and "prominent" part of their constituency.

In short they have to decide between doing what they almost certainly know to be right, and what will keep The Nobs happy.

Sadly, it looks like they lack the courage to do the former and, as a result, will lose all credibility with a major part of the community they claim to represent. I'm not a member but, if I was, I would definitely resign over this.

To the HCAP committee deciding on this award: if any of you is reading this, look at yourselves in the mirror and ask yourselves if this award really reflects what HCAP is meant to represent. REALLY?

The HCAP will either have to acknowledge that they have made a serious error of judgement and potentially embarrass their patrons or if they wish to retain some of their professional standing reverse their decisions. i would bet that they go with the former and lose any form of credibility within the international aviation community.
I have often thought about joining the HCAP after thirty years of professional aviating but I will now not bother.

No, you are alone...



...but others are with you.;)

Tubby,

If they reverse the decision tonight to award her I PROMISE to do one flight completely naked. Not a pretty sight I admit, but I'll do it in front of witnesses FOR SURE.

Tracey Curtis Taylor is undoubtedly a pilot of questionable ability. Accounts of her experience, flight training, and previous exploits are long on claim and short on evidence. By her own admission she has demonstrated a total disregard of accepted airmanship standards, rules of the air, international procedures and compliance with ATC instructions. Her claimed exploits demonstrate that she is a potential danger to those who may find themselves sharing any controlled or regulated airspace with her. As to the question of whether or not she had a valid licence to fly her Stearman previously, I don't yet know and will not make any claims - but I am looking into it.

Tracey. My name is Clive Watson. I'm a professional pilot. Your legal team may contact me by email addressed to [email protected]. I will respond.

The FAA airman database yields the following-

Personal Information
TRACEY CURTIS-TAYLOR

Address is not available
Medical
No Medical Available.
Certificates
PRIVATE PILOT(FOREIGN BASED)
Date of Issue: 9/23/2013
Certificate: PRIVATE PILOT(FOREIGN BASED)
Ratings:
PRIVATE PILOT (Foreign Based)
AIRPLANE SINGLE ENGINE LAND

Limits:
ENGLISH PROFICIENT.
ISSUED ON BASIS OF AND VALID ONLY WHEN ACCOMPANIED BY UNITED KINGDOM PILOT LICENSE NUMBER(S) GBR.FCL.PP.3365 94H.A.
ALL LIMITATIONS AND RESTRICTIONS ON THE UNITED KINGDOM PILOT LICENSE APPLY.

GRITSCH EWALD
Date of Issue: 9/23/2013
Certificate: PRIVATE PILOT(FOREIGN BASED)
Ratings:
PRIVATE PILOT (Foreign Based)
AIRPLANE SINGLE ENGINE LAND
AIRPLANE MULTIENGINE LAND

Limits:
ENGLISH PROFICIENT.
ISSUED ON BASIS OF AND VALID ONLY WHEN ACCOMPANIED BY AUSTRIA PILOT LICENSE NUMBER(S) AT.FCL.4555.
ALL LIMITATIONS AND RESTRICTIONS ON THE AUSTRIA PILOT LICENSE APPLY.

SWB,

I've thought for a while the University of Portsmouth is fertile ground for opening things up.

First, they are a public sector body and therefore subject to the Freedom of Information Act

Freedom of Information Act 2000 | Freedom of Information Act 2000 | University of Portsmouth

Second, they will have Students Union. Students Unions (general) have a history of getting involved with discredited honouray awards.

Constructing an email including the words:

nepotism, royal family, big business, celebrity cult, post-factual politics, quasi-legal intimidation, social media, the BBC, investment companies, global multi-nationals etc etc (my word, such a lot of ammo)

Should get them nicely wound up.

Thanks Tubby, I was simply wondering if TCT may have flown the Stearman on any international flights before Sept 23rd 2013. Or perhaps Ewald may have done, although it seems that he and her obtained their FAA licences at the same time. Just thinking.

I've been digging around using Google to tie in TCT with Artemis with a view to getting the FCA involved if Artemis are out of line with the advertising which is subject to FCA compliance. In fairness to Artemis, they seem to have cut the cord...I can't find any direct reference on their websites.

However, I did stumble over this...

SPIRIT OF ARTEMIS ? THE PROFIT BIRD IN FLIGHT | LIBERTINE LONDON

Note the wording:

We were down at the Goodwood Revival Festival last week to bid farewell to pilot Tracey-Curtis Taylor before she embarks on a solo flight in her open cockpit plane – Spirit of Artemis – from Cape Town to Goodwood.

I'm not sure who Libertine are, or if it is worth following up, but the internet is a big beast, so i thought i'd post it in case it helps.

Clive it used to be easy to obtain a US licence, and it has been a number of years since I last followed this route. You simply made an appointment at a FSDO and took your current foreign licence and medical and a temporary airman certificate was issued. This was basically worthless commercially until you took a flight test with an FAA designate examiner. There is also a requirement with the FAA licence to undetake a biennial flight review to keep the licence active.
Current FAA rules-
https://www.faa.gov/licenses_certifi..._verification/

In an attempt to inject a little levity, whatever the rights and wrongs: somehow this thread reminded me of the scene in the splendidly politically incorrect film Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines, where the Japanese pilot has just arrived for the race having allegedly flown solo (should that be "sole"?) to England from Japan and is being interviewed by a reporter.

Reporter:

Excuse me, sir. May I have a word with you?

You must've had a remarkable journey. Ten thousand miles, wasn't
it? Did you fly it all?

Japanese Pilot:
Of course!

First I came by mule train to Yokohama, then by ship to Vladivostok to catch the Trans-Siberian Express.

Reporter:
Good heavens!

Japanese Pilot:
From Moscow, overland to Paris, then to Dieppe, where I took the cross-channel ferry to Folkestone.

Reporter:
Quite a remarkable journey.

Japanese Pilot:
But at Folkestone I boarded my machine and flew all the way here!

Four miles!

Reporter:
Amazing!

Sadly, the film does not make clear if he won an HCAP award for this..... :p

We have, amongst our number, a very highly respected ex-Master of GAPAN - the organization that only recently became HCAP. Indeed, the transition took place in his time. While clearly much that goes on at his level is not for Pprune, perhaps Flying Lawyer could explain what legal and decent options are available to HCAP.
Apart from conniving in a falsehood and accepting awards that she knew to be unearned, we have dishonestly wearing emblems to which she is not entitled, a number of flagrant breaches of Airspace regulations in countries to which she was a guest - and a record on film of her boasting about such breaches and also denigrating other Aviation professionals, not to mention gross abuse of beautiful, harmless whales. The failure to taxi properly in the vicinity of other ac, using the normal precautions - such as a marshaller or wing walkers - adds to a toll of poor airmanship. As we are now confident that the Africa and Australia flights were both commercial enterprises, one might also consider them to be abuses of the privileges of a PPL.
Come to that, does the CAA have a view on the appropriateness of her holding even a PPL - equivalent behaviour on the road might well lead to one's driving licence being withdrawn?

This post was moderated out.

With regard to the HCAP award to T C-T it seems that saving "face" is more important to them than how they are perceived by the rest of the professional aviation community. I believe they do run very nice dinners though!

I mentioned this earlier AirPolice.
If you click on the link in your post and scroll down about half way there is this bit of text: A full list of award winners can be found by click on this link (sic)

Click on the word link on there and it takes you to this page
https://www.airpilots.org/file/2365/...nners-2016.pdf

Odd that there is a song and dance on the main pages but she now only gets a mention in that pdf. I did wonder if the award had been withdrawn and the pdf is just an old uncorrected document. I guess we will know for sure once the attendees have sobered up and find their way to a keyboard :\

Who knows what the machinations going on in the background will lead to. I do know the HCAP pages have been that way for a while. My spirit was bolstered when I read that
a) she would not be attending, and
b) no one was going to collect it in her stead.

Post #2204 by BEagle.
But...
As BEagle says, it doesn't necessarily mean the award has been declined, just that she won't be there.

SWB

Should she win the award, will she hide that fact on her website?

The wiki page is being edited all the time.

This was removed by someone and then restored by MurialMary.

How on earth standing alongside a parked aircraft at an airshow warrants wiki text boggles me.
What is more amazing is the above is listed under Career!

It also lists her occupation as pilot and flying instructor. She only holds a UK PPL.

The site is up for deletion if enough people vote for it to be removed.

SWB.

To answer your first question about Portsmouth Poly they merely acknowledged receipt of my message. Nobody there referred to the content ie, the (then) controversy surrounding her claims.

As for HCAP they issued a written announcement in the program at tonight's dinner. It was only for the attendees to browse and not read out.

"The Master's Medal
TRACEY CURTIS TAYLOR
Between October last year and January this year, Tracey Curtis-Taylor led an aviation expedition from the UK to Australia, retracing the routeflown by Amy Johnson as tribute to herand evoking the pioneering spirit of that era, but with a very different purpose or objectivefor the whole undertaking. Unlike Amy Johnson's flight this was not a solo flight and it was sponsored by Artemis and Boeing as part of a promotional endeavour to encourage females into aviation. Tracey's team consisting her co-pilot and engineer, Ewald Gritsch, flying with her in the Stearman biplane, and film crew in a Cessna Caravan chase-plane throughout the expedition, together with back-up and logistics support team, were all there with one specific principal aim in mind: to promote aviation to many thousands of youngsters, especially women, across the globe for whom flying is a distant, even unknown or seemingly unachievable activity,. The entire expedition was filmed for a documentary and will show, better than can be described by any citation, how this outreach to youngsters in the Middle East and Asia in particular was achieved.

This was a singularly spectacular and successful advertisment for women.....blah blah blah....following social media....birdinabiplane (irony)....woman in a cockpit....consider the impact (irony again)......".

Spin worthy of a dervish.

Having read most of the stuff on here please could I save you all a lot of further anger and upset and try to summarise the position?

You can then all stop going round and round (and round and round ad infinitum)

1. she originally intended to fly solo but due to outside circumstances had to change her mind
2. some lazy journalists erroneously used the 's' word
3. she has sought to correct this at every opportunity
4. she was awarded a badge and wears it on her flying suit
5. she is female
6. as a result of her hard work she has some great sponsors
7. she has a high profile
8. many people find her inspirational
9. she's upset a bloke called Sam

er, that's it! Easy isn't it?

Jay,

I saw this surprising and interesting development too! Click on the thumbnail below.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracey_Curtis-Taylor#cite_note-2

You can go here to view or participate in the discussion on deletion:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipe..._Curtis-Taylor

In my ever so humble opinion..
The Wikipedia page should be allowed to remain.
Why?
Because, in spite of the concerted efforts of the 'MurielMarys' of this world to create a thinly-disguised hagiography based on
demonstrable falsehoods, the truth will eventually out.

There are at least two other people who've involved themselves in this sorry saga whose respective Wikipedia pages do them no credit.
They've received mention on this thread before.

I think it was a certain JC to whom the following line was attributed:
"Show me your friends and I'll tell you who you are."

.

Rancidrabbit

Don't blame the messenger - journalists used the 's' word because her and/or her team continued to use the "s" word, or "alone".

No she doesn't - listen carefully to many of the radio interviews mentioned earlier in the thread. Have a look at the wording on the certificate she was presented with on arriving in Sydney...did she protest she wasn't solo and hand it back?



If by that you are referring to her military flying badge would you care to tell us why she was awarded such badge and who awarded it to her...or did she just think it looked good and stuck it on her flight suit without a second thought? I appreciate if you are not an aviator you may find it hard to understand but to many wearing that brevet when not entitled is regarded as a much bigger sin than embellishing a CV. A bit of research will show you such badges are only awarded to individuals at the conclusion of several long and arduous military flying training courses. T CT has frequently makes a point of saying she couldn't join the military so the question remains - why is she wearing said badge?

Can't speak for Sam, but Tracey has annoyed lots of professional aviators, both men and women.....and many of the latter probably do a better job of inspiring women every time they go to work and walk through the terminal/aircraft cabin or talk on the PA than Tracey does at one of her road shows.

Yes it was, I hope you'll find responding to those points honestly just as easy.

Ahem..
Wouldn't 'rancidrabbit' be the same brand-new crusader under a new identity who came on here some weeks back
with the following, (not to mention suggesting that contributors to this thread were jealous misogynists):
1. Tracey is female.
2. She is attractive.
3. She is successful.
4. She is personable.

Hmm?

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a worthwhile response from this 'new member', wiggy.


Just had to add a p.s. .. Quote .."Having read most of the stuff on here.." .. Please don't make us laugh, rr .
.

So we're focusing on "outreach" and beating the drum of encouraging or helping underprivelged youth, particularly girls in poor or 3rd world countries. TCT's "charitable" trips were completed years ago, just how many individuals have Boeing and Artemis (both billion dollar companies) gotten into aviation related career paths , training or scholarships through Tracey's ambassadorial efforts? Surely that will be the true measure of the success of the expedition not some loosey goosey notion about lighting the spark of aviation in some poor kid who can do nothing about it without resources and assistance. Please don't tell me this smug woman thinks she is doing underprivelged kids a huge favor swooping in for a photo op and a smarmy speech on her favorite topic (herself) then takes off into the blue yonder or 5 star hotel thinking she's done her part.That would not be charitable or helpful but rather deceitful and perhaps cruel.

Edit to add: I challenge her or her supporters to name one kid from a poor country, just one! that got a PPL or a science/ aviation related education as a direct result of her lavishly funded expedition.

Rancid Rabbit
 

In reply to your post:

Indeed? Here is a picture of her "correcting" it....

http://i1053.photobucket.com/albums/...psj8puhetf.jpg

(Sorry mods, but I need to repost it in order to make this argument!)

Assuming that you mean the RAF brevet, can you tell us when and by whom it was awarded?

Perhaps her greatest achievement!

I suspect some or all of them may be regretting that now.....

She certainly has!

She has certainly "inspired" a lot of people on here. I should think the owner of the R44 she wrote off also feels especially inspired..........

And just about every pilot that has commented on her "achievements".

Yep!

RHT

Re: the HCAP statement – if that is literally what was stated, then the person who wrote it should have known that the chase-plane used in the UK to Australia trip was a Pilatus Porter (Turboporter?) and not a Cessna Caravan.

TOFO

Asks “I’m not sure who Libertine are…..”

Libertine, I believe, is a market-support company specialising in brand creation and support. LIBERTINE LONDON | THE FREE-THINKING AGENCY They work with Artemis and produced the ‘Profit Hunter’ campaign. That brand image is very much in line with the ‘Out of Africa’, ‘latter-day Indiana Jones’ image favoured by TC-T.

It is quite possible that Libertine was also involved with the UK to Australia flight because they received a thank-you in the BiaB Newsletter 6. Tracey Curtis Taylor - Aviatrix, Adventurer, Inspirational Speaker The newsletters disappeared fairly quickly and are no longer accessible via a tab on the BiaB site; for the time being, however, they exist somewhere in the ether.

B70
I think the current Master at HCAP and last years Master must be a bit weary having penned three citations for TCT.

They obviously got their press releases mixed up.

Judging by the accuracy of past press releases re TCT this is understandable:O

My sources tell me the current Master Captain Peter Benn was determined TCT received the medal to the point of threatening to resign if he was opposed.

Where this leaves Boeing with their solo statement that misled the worlds press remains to be seen.

That statement of thanks also mentions the Mail on Sunday as a media partner.

TCT has claimed that she has no control over what the press have written, basically they, and we, have misunderstood. So why is it that in January 2016, after she had completed the UK to Sydney jollybobs, were her media partner STILL reporting her as an "intrepid solo pilot"? At the very least I would have expected not to see the word solo; at best, some acknowledgement that she was "not alone", "not on her own" or "not solo".

Tracey Curtis-Taylor lands down in Sydney after 93 day biplane flight | Daily Mail Online


TCT et al: The story that is spun just does not stack up to the slightest scrutiny.
To give you the benefit of doubt it may be difficult to get published articles corrected but it certainly is not impossible. Where we have sought clarification from various newspapers we have e-mailed and received very prompt replies. Copies of these e-mails are available.
Show us where YOU or YOUR TEAM made any attempt to correct the errors. I don't mean since that statement on the website in June that waffles about the SOLE pilot rubbish, I mean from far earlier in the Cape to Goodwood flight.
My gut instinct tells me that NO such attempts have been made.
I would pay a lot of money to see Claude Littner (off the Apprentice TV show) go through your CV: now that would be a programme worth watching.

rancidrabbit needs to be mindful of the old saying "if in a hole, stop digging".

If she/he had kept stum this would have been a quiet morning on Pprune (the bespoke site for aviators :ok:) as it turns out there's even more ammo been made available for the supposedly "lazy" jurnos.

BTW Tracey, if you are reading this and that was you....if you do just one thing - do yourself a favour and ditch the military Brevet, regardless of who gave them to you......