Tracey Curtis-Taylor

[Paul Catanach]

I think that's splitting hairs somewhat. Her overall claims on these flights have been 'Bird In A Biplane' (pass me the bucket) "solo" with the latter going toward the drama and difficulty of the whole thing.

The fact that she misled everyone taints the whole deal. I'm left with the impression that it's okay to lie just so long as you don't lie about everything leaving an 'out' for those who need it.

Brian, you suggested earlier that if Mike wants to know what the LAA make of all this he should ask them. Well I did and my email of a week ago to Steve Slater remains unanswered.

[ChampChump]

Having (mostly) stayed out of the other threads on this, I hesitate to add anything here, but one thing stands out to me now. The gentlemanly * thing to do, for anyone media-savvy enough to be aware of any controversy, and TCT is certainly media-savvy, would surely be to refuse any awards.

As an aside, having had the huge benefit of a generous and helpful wingman for a while now, I know I've been to some places I'd not have had the confidence to reach alone. I've arrived at each truly solo, even though I wouldn't claim all the credit. If one of them had been akin to somewhere in Oz or Africa, I'd be proud to share it all with the world, as the minor part of a two-ship extended bimble, but certainly wouldn't consider promoting it otherwise.

The long-distance homage to Lady Mary Heath might have had more value to potential female flyers had it been done by a student and instructor.

The Daily Mail piece will have been forgotten by Jo and Joe public by now, so the discussion remains within the aviation community.





* ladlyly doesn't work...

[josher]

more anoying than the truth economy that has gone on with TCT circus is the fact she sucked all the publicity and consequent sponsorship from the plan by Amanada Harrison - someone with the genuine intention enthusiasm and capability to fly solo to oz in a moth.
Then of course there is Johan Wiklund who has already done the north cape to cape town trip solo in a moth major http://capetocape.net with no sponsorship or much publicity. A man truly deserving of an award.

No connection with either other than great admiration

[Paul Catanach]

I emailed Steve Slater over two weeks ago asking if, in light of emerging details of TCT's dupliciity we (the LAA) are to reconsider awarding her the Bill Woodhams Trophy.I received a reply from one of his colleaugues saying he would contact me after the weekend.

Despite sending a follow-up email five days ago I have no no reply from Mr Slater. Is it LAA board policy to ignore its members when they raise such queries?

[SteveSlater]

Coincidentally I emailed Steve Slater about this last week (he was out of the office) and I await his/the LAA's reply with interest.

Hi Paul, not sure whether you received this reply which I sent you by e-mail on 29th June. Just in case you didn't, here it is below:

From: Stephen Slater
Sent: 29 June 2016 13:28


Hi Paul

Great to hear from you. Hope you're still enjoying the Isaacs Fury.

Despite the furore generated by a few individuals in areas such as the Flyer Forum, regarding Tracy's apparent lack of transparency regarding 'solo' status, I am yet to be convinced that the wider membership is too concerned one way or the other. I've discussed last year's award of the Bill Woodhams Trophy with the volunteer members of the Awards Committee and it is clear that it was made in good faith.

The LAA has not made any awards to Tracy based on her 2016 flights, which have attracted the controversy. The LAA awards are allocated by an independent committee and Tracy's award was made last September, when I understand there was no contention nor discussion at her then-perceived achievement in flying from Capetown to the UK.


To retrospectively overturn or annul the award is unprecedented and would require an LAA Board decision. I am happy to forward your concerns to them, but as the award was most certainly made in good faith,I think it would cause embarrassment to some hard-working and well-respected volunteers, which I think would be wrong. I also feel that any move to remove the award could be construed as petty. Not least following Tracy's recent accident.

As far as I am concerned I am happy to leave it to others to further analyse and comment on Tracy's activities. I have far more pressing matters to concern me at the moment, not least fighting on members' behalves to allay or mitigate potentially swingeing increases in CAA GA fees and to secure more freedom from unnecessary regulation . Also, more positively, helping make plans to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the LAA and many more robust member achievements over the years. Come to the LAA Rally at Sywell on 2/3/4 September and see some incontestable award winners or, better still, are you likely to be free on any of the rally days to educate us on ' proper' adventure flying, perhaps with a talk in our Speakers' Corner?

Best regards

Steve

[Chris Martyr]

Paul, If you did receive this reply from Steve on June 29th , then isn't it time to desist in administering corporal punishment to the deceased equine over this ?
As ChampChump has already said , most of the great unwashed probably forgot about this the moment they turned over to the next page. Don't forget that many of the under 45's probably haven't a clue who the heck Amy Johnson was anyway!
Otherwise , the only others who are left ranting on about this are a handful of diversified forumites who really should have better things to do.
As I'm sure Steve Slater probably has at this very busy time of year. Put yourself in his position : All of this was decided long before he took up the role of CEO , but here you are, placing him very publicly in the spotlight for something that he probably finds as distasteful as the rest of us !
I've made no secret of how I feel re: TC-T , but she isn't heavyweight enough to warrant any big-guns going after her and I certainly don't want our hard working LAA representatives wasting OUR resources on even trying.
And if , as Steve says , you fly an Isaacs Fury , then you should have alot more positive, constructive things to do with your time than seeking any sort of redress from an austrianblokeinabi-plane and his pax.

[Paul Catanach]

Hi Paul, not sure whether you received this reply which I sent you by e-mail on 29th June.

Hello Steve

No, I had not. No sign of it in my inbox, spam or deleted emails so it appears never to have arrived.

At no point have I suggested that the award was made in anything other than good faith however has it not come to light that rather than the flight to Cape Town being a triumph over the elements and navigational difficulties it was merely a case of following a GPS (or the 'support' aircraft) while everyone else did the donkey work? Had we known then all we know now would the award have been given? I like to think not.

I would suggest that given the level of duplicity exhibited by TCT then yes, special consideration should be given to setting a precedent and at the very least considering rescinding the award. As I said before the whole charade surrounding these flight taints all TCT comes into contact with. Letting it go sends the message that sort of behaviour is acceptable. I happen to think that it is not.

Paul, If you did receive this reply from Steve on June 29th , then isn't it time to desist in administering corporal punishment to the deceased equine over this ?:

I wrote in my post of 14th July that I had not. Had I received Steve's reply I'd have had no reason to raise the question here.

... but here you are, placing him very publicly in the spotlight for something that he probably finds as distasteful as the rest of us !

I send two emails over two weeks and have no reply. Lacking psychic abilities (and Steve's email of 29th June) I asked the question in here, the LAA forum, which is hardly very public. LAA members asking questions of the LAA board in an LAA-only forum? Whatever next?

[SteveSlater]

Thanks Paul for the response. Sorry you didn't receive my mail. Can't work out at this end why not.

More importantly, will you be around for the Rally. If so, we'd love perhaps for you to have a few moments of glory in our 'Speakers Corner' auditorium (well, tent!) Perhaps you can talk about some proper long-distance flying??

[samrutherford]

A rather late response to Brian Hope's description of my actions as a vendetta...

Please find below the an email sent to her before the real story went public. As is obvious, it did not stop her from accepting the HCAP Master's Medal, an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Portsmouth or even the rank of Honorary Lieutenant Commander with the RNR - plus a host of other awards/accolades.

It does look, though, as if my/our actions prevented her receiving an OBE in the most recent Birthday Honours - which would have been the final ignominy in this considerably less than 'Honourable' story.

I trust this clarifies my motives sufficiently.

As an aside, I consider it a great shame that the LAA board seem unable to find the moral courage to rescind an award that whilst given in good faith, in retrospect should never have been awarded. The Lance Armstrong story provides a similar, if higher profile, example of how/when this can/should be done.

One of the most effective elements helping flight safety today is the ability of a pilot to say 'I made a mistake'. It is extremely unfortunate that this appears to be too difficult in this instance. We lead by example, not rhetoric...

Safe flights, solo or otherwise, Sam.



From: Sam Rutherford [mailto:sam@prep...]
Sent: 09 January 2015 13:35
Subject: Telling it straight

Dear Tracey,

I read today of your Bill Woodhams Trophy award. This follows some months of hearing second-hand your version of how I/we performed during the flight from Cape Town. We, on the other hand, have been maintaining a professional silence about your performance until now.

Firstly, let me clarify that due to our reputation in the industry being considerably better than yours, most of your comments reflect badly on you (rather than casting us in a bad light, which is presumably your intention). That being said, if we receive solid information that our business has been damaged (potential or actual contracts lost) due to malicious defamation – we will sue.

Secondly, the Bill Woodhams Trophy is awarded for feats of navigation. I can only assume that you didn’t tell them that:

• You flew all but four of the African legs with your 20K+ hours instructor.
• That on two of the four solo legs, you actually asked the ‘chase plane’ to lead you in as you were unsure of your ability to find them by yourself.

I was surprised and disappointed by this award:

1. That clearly no due-diligence was done by the LAA before it was presented to you.
2. That the runner-up missed out on this (well-deserved in their case) recognition.
3. You had the gall to accept it.

What’s done is done, but please be advised that if I hear of further awards presented on the basis of an incomplete picture of your ‘achievement’ then I will make my concerns public. So perhaps consider supplying a full, complete and correct version of events should anything else be offered?

Lastly, could I ask you to stop using the words:

• Solo (as not true)
• I had it harder than Lady Heath (as not true, and also an insult to her achievement)



Sam Rutherford.

[Chris Martyr]

Yes , maybe Brian's 'personal vendetta' was being a little over-critical. It's no more of a personal vendetta than the one being pursued by Frank Field against that lovely pair ,Sir Phil & Lady Green . No they didn't maim or kill anyone either , he simply received a knighthood for his 'Services to the Retail Industry'.
Fortunately , for the aviation community , Sam has had a lot more of an insight into all of this than many, due to his professional involvement earlier on and did well in exposing TC-T's somewhat embellished claims of achievement. Yes, I know that Sam has pursued this with a Jack Russell's degree of tenacity , but that may just be the catalyst that will dissuade this woman , who insults the world of recreational/grassroots aviators into any further of her travelling circus stunts.

I realise of course that all of this may have put the LAA into a slightly embarrassing position, as certain minor Royals and other Grand Poo-Pah's will probably have been instrumental in currying favour for this on TC-T's behalf . I don't believe it warrants 'heads rolling' , but releasing some kind of statement on the matter would probably help put a lid on it all as far as the LAA is concerned.

For many of us , this pastime we have is not just a 'hobby' and for many of us it is a complete lifestyle, a religion even. But we all know that it can be very unforgiving of misjudgements whether they may be unintentional ones or stupid ones , which is why the brave people who have done extraordinary things , some with very little publicity, some with none at all, are held in such admiration by the aviation community.
All she has managed to do is bring it all down to the level of celebrity/reality TV . So from my point of view it's 'Well Done Sam', a new lot of LAA awards will be on the way soon ,now let's look to the future , which hopefully will be devoid of pretenders like the one in question !

[ChampChump]

Chris puts it very well (and has been quoted on pprune in the TCT hamster wheel thread). Particularly this:

"For many of us , this pastime we have is not just a 'hobby' and for many of us it is a complete lifestyle, a religion even. But we all know that it can be very unforgiving of misjudgements whether they may be unintentional ones or stupid ones , which is why the brave people who have done extraordinary things , some with very little publicity, some with none at all, are held in such admiration by the aviation community."

[Chris Martyr]

Oh Nic,,,you've got me all embarrassed now girl...
Hope this widespread acclaim doesn't go to my head ! [ ]

Or perhaps I should nominate myself for a literary award at Sywell......Hhmmm yes , The Pooley S.W.O.R.D. for literature.
Serial Waffler of Ridiculous Dross that means in my case.

Changing subject slightly . Great to see you and G-TECC fly in to The World Hub of Civilisation on August 6th. You both added a touch of splendour to the field . Proper Aviatrix's.........Always welcome at Deanland !

[ChampChump]

My turn to Proper?

It was another excellent fly-in. We do seem to have been flying from food to food a great deal this summer.

Back on thread, I can never decide if I care about encouraging more young wimmin into flying than I do young chaps. Probably I do, a little, as there is still rather too much gender stereotyping from toy marketers onwards. And yet....it's an equal opportunity arena. I've probably experienced a little benign patronage over the years but have no great urge to bang any particular drums.
TCT seems to be regarded by the female flyers I know in the same way as she is by the men: flies some interesting machines and has access to resources denied to many, but a very efficient PR machine has and is still doing none of us any favours. I just wish she'd go off and enjoy her flying and shut up about it.

[Nigel Kerr]

I came across this thread by accident and was intrigued as I have never heard of the lady in question nor her feats of derring-do (or derring-didn't as the case appears). I certainly would have avoided reading or looking at anything entitled 'A Bird in a Biplane', as a sobriquet I find it rather vulgar, which makes it highly suitable for the tabloid mentality.

Unfortunately the lady seems to have been given an award to which she was not entitled and it has been stated in the thread that there may have been a lack of due diligence by the LAA.

Although hindsight is a remarkable virtue I cannot quite believe that the facts could not have been accurately established reasonably early on. While I am sure that those involved in the selection process are very busy people cognisant of their responsibilities they must realise the award is given in memory of a remarkable man.

It was unfortunate that the award was given but the LAA dishonors the memory of Bill Woodham in not requesting its immediate return or at least rescinding the award, in not seeking to do so any future recipient of the award would be demeaned.

While this action may cause some loss of face to the LAA it would send a message to those that sought to manipulate others for their own aggrandisement.

[samrutherford]

Beautifully put.