ALL MEMBERS ! Please fill out those proxy forms..!!

[John D Hill]

And as someone has recently posted on the other forum, if she wins at the AGM the LAA could be exposed to a claim of lost earnings for Bird in a Biplane and herself since 2016. That could be another reason for her attack now as the amounts could be substantial.

Matrix Chambers don't come cheap, T C-T has already alluded to the costs of lawyers letters, can the LAA afford to take the risk of losing and being hit for costs (maybe the patron could underwrite the costs should such an action occur)

I have no doubt that in court a good barrister will merely expose the full, rather sordid story and she'll lose, but the Association could still be faced with hefty costs, unless she's going Kamikaze and just wants to destroy an Association that quietly does more for aviation than any amount of reality TV ever could.

John

[P5151]

Hmmm,

We certainly do live in a time of refusal to accept decisions, what with Brexit, people who want to trample on the rights of the majority, and demand a second or third hearing, and I see this affair splitting the Assoiciation just as Brexit has divided the country!

A decision was made to award this trophy to TCT by the committee. A decision made in good faith based on the fact they knew, and as Nigel Hitchman points out well worthy of the award of the trophy. Especially in the light of how it has been previously appointed. Harry Hopkins is a man of complete integrity, a gentleman who has devoted much of his time to supporting the LAA. I regard him as a friend and my life is better for having him in it and if anyone deserves an award for dedication he does!

However, in hindsight I feel like Nigel that this award should have been given to the team not one individual. This is not a criticism of the committee as they were not blessed with 20/20 hindsight.

What I find upsetting about this is that rather than relying on the facts to present her case TCT has resorted to labelling and name calling. I experienced this quite often when serving in the police where people used their race or gender to attack someone acting quite properly and within the rules or law.

I have always regarded flying as one of the few sports where men have a completely level playing field. I was really pleased when Patty Wagstaffe won the world aerobatic championship. There have been fantastic achievements by both men and women and I feel equal admiration for all the people of both sexes and if all nationalities who flew fir the Allies in WW 2.

So to have someone call members of the association misogynistic as TCT does twice in her supporting letter is in my view a complete misrepresentation of the true values of members and the association. I and i know others would love to see more women flying and taking up the sport, but this sorry affair has done nothing to help this.

As I said in a previous post, when I watched the film about the flight, it ticked all the boxes in terms of being good entertainment for a pilot. It showed flying in a good light and showed what I have said above that flying is a sport that can be enjoyed by everyone. I was completely aware that it was a team effort, and in my view should have been used as a vehicle to promote the sport not only for women but everyone.

That people on both sides have dragged it into a bitter argument is very disappointing.


So, how would I vote?

Given the motions before us that is extremely difficult. Had there been a motion to make the award to the whole team I would have no problem, that is where my vote would go. I believe this was an endeavour worthy of that award. We are not though presented with that option.

Would I be happy with the award being reinstated to TCT, well when I hear about legal threats, and the association wrongfully being called misogynistic by her, that does not show me she is someone who supports the association. However, if I go back to the basics and ask myself did she deserve this award in her own right because of the flights she did on balance I agree with the decision of the awards committee but only just because this was a team effort.

I do not know whether it is possible under the rules but I would like to see a third motion which provides the possibility to make the award to the team. If not it would be preferable that the motions are withdrawn with a view to such a motion next year. So, guess I will be abstaining.


Sorry if I have made this more complicated by suggesting a middle ground approach but that is the only way I can see a win win for all concerned.

[Graham Donnelly]

I've tried not to get embroiled in this sorry state of affairs as I felt it had almost all been said already. Nevertheless from the sidelines my views were along the lines of Jonathon Holland (just give her it back for her to go away), however my support for such action floundered when trying to understand her true motive.

Maybe I've lead a sheltered life and that is why I find it difficult to believe anyone can be so narcissistic as to embark on such a campaign to simply get an award reinstated. Call me cynical, but narcissistic as TCT may be, I fear there's another motive at play. My fear is that the motive is as described by John Hill above.

Awards aside, it is the duty of the board and members alike (yes even those claiming it doesn't matter to them) to do all in their power to guard against that possibility.

[Donald Walker]

Bill Woodhams must be turning in his grave. It is so sad that the award of the trophy which honours his memory has been used as the focus of an imagined struggle between right and wrong. I am reminded of the last words of Madame Roland.

Hopefully, we can put an end to this shameful state of affairs at the AGM.

[Trevor Harvey]

What seems to have been forgotten here it that TCT received a number of other awards, from HCAP, the Masters Medal I believe, another award for a Solo flight in Australia, the honorary rank of Lieutenant Commander from the Royal Navy. All of which were based on Solo endeavours. She wears Royal Navy pilots wings on her overalls which infuriated a number of RN pilots.
The Pprune forum were not all trolls trying to stir things up, they were mostly outraged pilots who could see through the false claims, bad airmanship, disregard of rules etc.
When the LAA discovered some of the truth and strength of feeling, they were seen as the only organisation with enough balls to rescind what they had given her.
Let's not start thinking she is some poor innocent girl that has suffered enough over this. We are being insulted, threatened with legal action, our constitutional voting system questioned and still no apology or real believable answers to questions.
All I am doing as a member of the LAA is stating my opinion that she didn't deserve the trophy in the first place and I am not changing my mind now.
I very nearly put "we" in there but that would have started another fight!

[Bill McCarthy]

When I clicked on “Hangar Chat” this morning and saw that Nigel Hitchman had posted I thought, here goes, we are all going to get torn up for arsepaper and a few “horrorscopes” read over this subject. But no, I found it to be a good down to earth appraisal of the issues.
The conduct and integrity of the LAA board has never been in doubt throughout this whole affair. A week tomorrow this whole saga will finally simmer down. I never believed this argument was really about the award of the BILL Woodhams trophy in the first place - more to do with the previous continued portrayal of the memorial flight as a solo effort - my Stearman, solo flight etc. For her, the genie is well and truly out of the bottle and to remain blinkered, with fingers in the ears going “la la la ......” is not going to make the criticism go away. I am not a misogynist, but old - guilty. Sooner or later, when she is in the middle of a presentation, someone is going to stand up and say “ hang on a minute, who is in the forward cockpit”
Let’s have peace !

Edited to add : no kidding, as soon as I switched off my wife handed me the Saturday Express “crozzy” to do. Clue 1 across - “Trophy found by committee in cabinet”

[dmcnicholl]

Over on the PPruNe thread there is a fairly repetitious demand that Ms Curtis-Taylor answer three questions about her flights. I won't repeat them here, you can look them up yourselves if interested, but I do have one question of my own.

There are two motions on the agenda for the AGM both of which are, in different ways, favourable to your case. Many of the 55 or so people who have commented on this forum, despite being in the main against restoration of the award, have stated their intent that whichever way the vote goes they will accept the outcome. So my question to you Tracey is, will you?

[jollyrog]

Of course she won't. She's clearly making a career out of being famous and there's an inevitable next step, be that money or a gong or something. The withdrawn award is undoubtedly an embarassing barrier to whatever that next step is and she needs it remedied. I suspect that's more important than the award itsef.

If that wasn't plain enough, the Radio 5 interview this week confirmed it to me. "My Stearman" at least twice, maybe three times and some other oft repeated but quite ridiculous claims and justifications. Then she had the gall to say that the LAA hadn't given her a right of reply. Weird, because I received a personal statement from her with my magazine, even though she is netiher the proposer nor the seconder of any motions.

She's never going to answer the questions. The PR team and legal representatives which she says she doesn't have but seem to be working on her behalf have certainly told her not to.

Wonder if Radio 5 will give me an interview if I call them out of the blue?

[samrutherford]

@dmcnicholl

I suspect that your question will not get a reply - but if it does, perhaps she could also answer some of the other questions in this thread at the same time (rather than cherry-picking or throwing mud about).

One of her (false) complaints in the radio show was to claim that she had not been given the opportunity to respond...

[Chris Martyr]

True, an in-house report produced in April 2018 found his actions beyond reproach; unfortunately it has been kept secret, with no indication of the evidence or reasoning that led to this conclusion. .

Blimey,,,, To think it was only yesterday that I was being cited as the forums no.1 conspiracy theorist...

[Planemike]

Thread drift coming up..... I have been doing some research into the origins of the Bill Woodhams Trophy. I see it was given by the family of the late Bill Woodhams who had been Director of Operations at the PFA rallies at Sywell in the 1970s . He had apparently died testing an aircraft. I have never known what aircraft he was flying.... Any one know what aircraft he was flying ?

To answer my own question: it was Pilot/Practavia Sprite G-BDDB being flown from Sherburn in Elmet.

[DaveWhite]

From 'Flight' in 1977, reporting on that year's PFA Rally at Sywell:

Two new annual awards were
announced. Bill Woodhams, a PFA
stalwart who was killed while test flying
the prototype Practavia Sprite,
will be remembered by a new navigational
award—the Bill Woodhams
Perpetual Trophy—presented by his
widow.

Elsewhere I have read that the accident occurred when test ballast came loose in flight.

There isn't too much about him available easily on the web, but from what there is he sounds to have been an extraordinary man and a key personality in the (then) PFA.

I'd love to know more about him (but I think in a thread of his own, not here) if anyone out there has any memories they are willing to share.

[Graeme Park]

On "Eye of the Storm", the BBC Radio 5 Live blog, Tracey Curtis-Taylor said "I've been a member for 15 years" (of the LAA).

LAA AGM 2018 Motion 1 Supporting statement by Tracey Curtis-Taylor: "Since 2005, I have been proud to be a member of the LAA,..."

[Donald Walker]

Not the first time she has got her sums wrong.

[Chris Martyr]

Taylor said "I've been a member for 15 years" (of the LAA). ."

Well,,,, I have to say ,,,I wouldn't hold that against her . I can't for the life of me remember when I joined . I'm not just an ageing misogynist , but also an ageing amnesiac . Was either 1992 [or maybe 91 or 93 ] All I can tell you is that it was hammering down with rain when I walked into the SHM terminal after having made one of the best decisions of my life .

But it's the other bits of Tracey's selective memory that get her into hot water .