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-   -   Tracey Curtis-Taylor (Merged threads) (https://www.pprune.org/private-flying/579030-tracey-curtis-taylor-merged-threads.html)

Fly-by-Wife 2nd Oct 2016 13:34

It is truly staggering how many reporters / journalists / commentators / press officers / publicists "misinterpreted" TCT's jaunt to Oz as a solo endeavour - the following is a (by no means exhaustive) list of those that were labouring under this misconception before, during and after the expedition.

Even Boeing, one of the sponsors, thought it was to be solo!

http://www.boeing.com/resources/boei...essRelease.pdf

ExecuJet wishes Tracey Curtis-Taylor bon voyage as she embarks on solo expedition

?Bird in a Biplane? off to an adventurous flight in 1942 Boeing Stearman

British pilot Tracey Curtis Taylor days away from completing 13,000 mile solo flight - ITV News

Adventurer follows in icon's footsteps with 10,000-mile solo bi-plane flight to Australia - ITV News

16R News - Tracey Curtis-Taylor - Solo United Kingdom To Sydney

https://limitlesspursuits.com/advent...-to-australia/

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/usa/tra...year-old-plane

Tracey Curtis-Taylor completes journey in the Spirit of Artemis from Britain to Australia | Daily Mail Online

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...n-to-australia

Stearman solo success | Flight Safety Australia

Round-the-world female aviator stops off for Dubai Airshow | The National

'Bird in a biplane' euphoric after 13,000 mile solo flight to Sydney (From Herald Scotland)

Farnborough Airport, Uk. 1st October, 2015. Adventurer Tracey Stock Photo, Royalty Free Image: 88082336 - Alamy

Vintage Boeing biplane takes reassembly stop in Everett - seattlepi.com

1942 Boeing Stearman Spirit of Artemis - Manager Online

http://xtoday.news/media/50134/ae64-90-91-challenge.pdf

Britain to Australia solo flight makes Kingdom stopover | Arab News

23 countries, 30,000 miles, 14 weeks: ?Bird in a biplane? lands in Dubai on solo flight to Australia - ArabianBusiness.com

Around the world in 100 days...in a 1940s plane - Khaleej Times

https://www.silverkris.com/stories/b...t-uk-australia

ExecuJet wishes Tracey Curtis-Taylor bon voyage as she embarks on solo expedition

23 countries, 22,500 kilometre: This female pilot's solo journey around the world - Rediff.com India News

Girl power reaches new heights with historic solo flight to Australia | Stow

I have omitted dozens that simply reported her "solo" arrival in Sydney (with Ewald in the front seat), as there are too many that were simply reiterating the story.

So many faces, so much egg!

FBW

Jonzarno 2nd Oct 2016 13:49

Aviator 38: thanks for the clarification!

Pilot DAR 2nd Oct 2016 13:57

Posters, we're having a few photos reappearing so regularly that they are probably now seared in the minds of those who have been following this thread. I do understand that in 84 pages, older posts and their images can slip from the forefront, but we'd like to have this thread be a repository for new information, rather than repetitive reposts. Perhaps, if requested, direct inquiries for references back to the older posts, as those who are tracking this topic should be easily able to note their location in the thread thus far.

Thanks, Pilot DAR

Stanwell 2nd Oct 2016 13:59

Yes, thanks, Pilot DAR.
This thread, with it having attracted the attention that it has, can be a bit of a challenge to riffle back through the pages, muttering..
'Now, where did I see that post?'
Thank you and the other Mods for your continued forbearance, sirs.


Quote of the month...
"So many faces, so much egg!" .. :D

.

canopener 3rd Oct 2016 01:28

I notice that TCT's website hasn't been fully sanitised of the "solo" claims......

In preparation for her solo flight across Africa, Tracey was invited to join a three man Russian crew ferry flying an old piston engined Antonov 2 biplane from Kiev to Cape Town. The aeroplane was donated by Utair for humanitarian work in South Africa and supported by ExecuJet.



27/09 3rd Oct 2016 02:16

Canopener: No doubt there are other little nuggets like that lying about.

Those famous words of Sir Walter Scott come to mind, "Oh what a tangled web we weave when we first practice to deceive".

I recall being told as a child, "If you're going to tell lies, you'd better have a very good memory".

Mike Flynn 3rd Oct 2016 06:34

She often endorsed the solo myth with posts on her website.

Tracey Curtis-Taylor
29 April ˇ
Many thanks Katherine LaGrave for the wonderful article in Condé Nast Traveler! Why One Woman Is Flying Solo Across the U.S. #USA2016 #Boeing #GREAT
Meet the Woman Flying Solo Across the U.S.
British pilot Tracey Curtis-Taylor is about to spend a month crossing America in a 74-year-old Boeing Stearman.
CNTRAVELER.COM
Always forgetting to mention Ewald in the front seat and suggesting it was solo.

wiggy 3rd Oct 2016 06:37

As a perhaps vaguely relevant aside (and just to show there's a lot of it about in these days of social media..):

There have been a couple of articles over the past months in the UK's Guardian newspaper about an Ultra long distance runner caught out not telling the truth about his attempt to run across the States, e.g. lying about his daily mileage, hitching ride in a support vehicle instead of running etc...

FWIW from back in June a piece here written when people were beginning to cast doubts of the runner's claims:

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeands...heating-rumors

Final para:

" Cantrell ( a sceptic) knows his questions might be falling on closed ears. Young’s (the runner) fans are eager to see him pull through.

“The overwhelming social media response has been adulation and accolades, with the few dissenting voices effectively drowned out. Young does not need credibility with the ultrarunning community. They are not the target market.”
Sound familiar?

Now from today, an update including the reaction of his sponsors:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/bl...or-stands-tall

From the final paragraph of the piece:


"Not that it has been easy for Skins" (The sponsor)"It was a difficult situation when the sxxx hit the fan but the most important thing for us isn’t the initial problem" (when the allegations started)" - because problems will always happen – it’s what you do when they arise. In our view there are no half measures when you apply and live by your principles.” It is a motto one wishes other companies would heed.
In summary: sponsors heard rumours of wrong doing circulating> sponsors started their own investigation, sponsors published findings of investigation.....

Hello Artemis, Boeing et.al...compare and contrast?.

( Edit to add: Just e-mailed the author of those pieces outling our current "problem" ..given he does sport, and more importantly the Guardian has a very feminist agenda I doubt I'll hear back, but who knows, whilst they might leave TCT alone they might like to stir things up with the nasty capitalist sponsors, ...)).

27/09 3rd Oct 2016 08:30

There's some very strong parallels between both stories. They may follow up since it's very much in the same theme.

condor17 3rd Oct 2016 09:01

Has anyone mentioned flight plans ? Crossing International boundaries they are mandatory .
Furthermore Item 19 has a box for POBs [ persons { used to be souls } on board ] .
If unknown then when flight plan filed then TBN [ to be notified ] However on opening flight plan POB must be notified for SAR purposes .

Sam Rutherford 3rd Oct 2016 09:04

I did mention this earlier.

For Cape Town to the UK, I did all the flights plans and also the General Declarations (GenDecs). All notified 2 POB.


I've done my Proxy vote for the LAA AGM, any other members done theirs?

SATCOS WHIPPING BOY 3rd Oct 2016 09:44

Sam, when you did the planning, I take it the name of the "passenger" will have been recorded, even though not a legal requirement it is useful in the event of an incident and the correct Next of Kin forms pulled. Do you have that information? As I mentioned earlier, a table showing each leg, A>B, B>C, C>D etc and the name(s) of the persons on board would clearly show how many of the flights had Ewald in the Stearman. TCT claims that on many occasions members of the team flew with her, the list would show just how many times this happened and if they were "guests" invited to share the experience or a 20,000hr+ CPL "comfort blanket".
When he was not in the Stearman, did he fly in the chase plane?

Sam Rutherford 3rd Oct 2016 09:51

Hi SWB,

The GenDecs have this information on them - on all, they were both named in the CREW section and the passengers section was crossed through.

On the Africa trip enroute legs, there were four where Tracey was solo - on all other flights Ewald was up front.

Jonzarno 3rd Oct 2016 10:30


The GenDecs have this information on them - on all, they were both named in the CREW section and the passengers section was crossed through.
If this practice was followed for all Ms Curtis-Taylor's flights, it may well provide the "smoking gun" that the AWPA asked for in the email quoted earlier by JS. It certainly would seem to contradict the caption on the picture of her presentation that has been posted before.

(As requested by Pilot Dar, I won't post it again but it's on the previous page of this thread)

Chesty Morgan 3rd Oct 2016 10:33


Originally Posted by Sam Rutherford (Post 9528463)
On the Africa trip enroute legs, there were four where Tracey was solo - on all other flights Ewald was up front.

I'm curious why she could do these legs solo but not the whole thing? Were they particularly easy legs, straight lines, following roads or the chase 'plane or whatever?

Blink182 3rd Oct 2016 10:59

Yes, just filled in my proxy vote form for the LAA AGM.

It must be in by 20th October ( 48 hrs prior to AGM )

Cows getting bigger 3rd Oct 2016 11:26

GENDECs - To be fair, it is easier to annotate 'grey' people like engineers as crew rather than passengers. You get far less hassle from customs and immigration (been there, seen it, done it).

However, a pile of African GENDECs consistently indicating two POB somewhat flies in the face of Ms TCTs "solo" Powerpoint slide.

SATCOS WHIPPING BOY 3rd Oct 2016 13:55


Originally Posted by Cows getting bigger (Post 9528551)
However, a pile of African GENDECs consistently indicating two POB somewhat flies in the face of Ms TCTs "solo" Powerpoint slide.

...and out of that list with them all showing Ewald as the second person blows the "I took members of the team in the aircraft to let them share the experience" argument out of the water too.

Fly-by-Wife 3rd Oct 2016 14:40

There seems to be some confusion about which flights are under discussion, and with what purpose.

For example, the AWPA are looking for evidence that the London-Sydney was claimed to be solo (for which they presented an award), but turned out not to be. There is little relevance (for them) in saying that the African flight wasn't solo (although also claimed to be).

There appears to be ample evidence that the African flights were claimed to be solo (particularly by TCT herself) and mostly weren't.

Although clear that the London-Sydney flights were not solo, there is less direct evidence (particularly from TCT's own statements) about the Oz flights being claimed in advance or at the time to be solo, although as I have recently pointed out, copious "assumptions" have been made, and TCT never seemed to see the need to correct these at the time.

It is most peculiar that sponsors / partners such as Boeing and ExecuJet (who one would expect to be more intimately involved in the details of the expedition than mere reporters) should explicitly state in their press releases that the flights were solo, if they were never intended to be such - am I right in thinking that TCT has subsequently issued a statement to that effect about the London-Sydney? If someone can find it that would be helpful.

As for the US legs of the so-called "round the world" trip, well the less said about that ignoble chapter, the better!

FBW

SATCOS WHIPPING BOY 4th Oct 2016 10:59

Am I right in thinking that TCT does not hold an Instrument Rating?
If not then that would exclude her from Class A airspace and might be the reason for Ewald being there on specific flights.

There is a video of them flying in some pretty bad weather over Romania(?). Any pilots on here that can gauge the visibility from the vid? VFR for the stearman below 3000ft is 1500m vis, clear of cloud and in sight of the surface. To me the vis looks atrocious but I am not a pilot. I wonder if Ewald did any IFR/IMC flying.


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