Paul Catanach wrote:Tracey Curtis-Taylor wrote:...but this situation would never have arisen had the LAA Board not allowed its AGM to be used as a vehicle for a campaign of personal retribution by Mr Rutherford and friends
On the contrary.
This situation would never had arisen had your publicity been factual and when called into question, honest.
The proximate cause of all this lies nowhere near the LAA board or those who called out the constant re-writing of the accounts of your endeavours. Do you not have any real friends to tell you how this looks to the outside world?
Try hard, really hard, to look at the picture below and imagine if anyone is really convinced by your assertion that this is “ambiguous” and intended to represent Lady Heath.
The logo in the top, left hand corner is YOURS.
The destination, Goodwood is YOURS. Lady Heath flew to Croydon.
The route is YOURS.
The start date is YOURS.
The planned timescale is YOURS, Lady Heath’s was three months.
The ‘Spirit Of Artemis’ caption in the bottom, right hand corner is YOURS.
Could I make it any clearer? People SEE this, they are not fooled by the desperate explanation that has taken you two years to think up. Just stop. For the love of Pete, stop it now.
It is still not too late for you to walk away with some credibility and dignity intact. If those around you were honest they would tell you the same thing. Pushing this to whatever conclusion on Sunday will do nobody any good. Nobody is going to ‘win’.
Paul,
I am in total agreement that TCT has used misguided tactics to try to defend herself from the decision of the AGM. She is though correct to make the case that the proxy votes were made without hearing here defence. No one in their right mind can call this a fair hearing if decisions are made without hearing both sides. I worked in law enforcement for over 30 years and am frankly appalled that people have cast votes against her without a proper hearing.
I am asking myself how many of her critics have made a flight which comes anywhere close to what she did, have you?
As I understand there has been no attempt to claim that what TCT did copied in its entirety the original flight...... please correct me if I am wrong.
Of course having another pair of eyes in the cockpit helps, if that pair of eyes is also a capable pilot even better, no one can dispute that. Can anyone though provide evidence that any of the people in the aeroplane with her did much of the flying for her? Can anyone prove she did not fly on any of the legs?
When I look at that map, I still think it was a fantastic achievement by all concerned because it goes well beyond what most of us do. The fact that she landed at airfield x rather than y does not detract from the fact that the flight was over a vast distance over some pretty wild areas.
Lady Heaths flight, like Alex Henshaws flight were truly fantastic the likes of them are rarely going to be seen again. Technology has moved on, infrastructure has improved round the world, support is available that did not exist in the past. Are people really trying to suggest that to achieve an award like this trophy it must be done without the benefit of things that bring a better safety margin.
It seems to me that TCT is her own worst enemy in that she has supplied evidence in contradictory statements made about the flight, she has made the situation worse by attacking people within the LAA.
So I can understand why people have taken her on. However, when I look at that flight and compare it to a trip to France, or Germany.....there is really no comparison.
Perhaps, the difference between me and many members is that for over 30 years I was dealing with obnoxious people who’s character I did not like much, but my career required I give them a fair hearing before deciding whether to make a case against them. I have learnt that people often describe things incorrectly to make things look better for them, or describe things incorrectly simply by choosing words that can be interpreted in a way they are not mean.
The award was not given for being a likeable person who never blew her own trumpet. It was not given because it faithfully recreated Lady Heaths flight in all details. It was not given because she threw the GPS out of the window and did dead reckoning, nor was it because she never flew all the legs alone.
It was given because compared to what most of us do this was a fantastic flight.