RWS 47 – First Around the World Solo and Australian Regulations with Dick Smith

This is Episode 47 of The Rotary Wing Show and our main interview today is Dick Smith, the first person to fly a helicopter solo around the world plus a bunch of other aviation first and records. For Australians, Dick Smith is someone that doesn’t need too much of an introduction. He is very active …

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Dick Smith has set a number of records and world firsts in aviation

This is Episode 47 of The Rotary Wing Show and our main interview today is Dick Smith, the first person to fly a helicopter solo around the world plus a bunch of other aviation first and records.

For Australians, Dick Smith is someone that doesn’t need too much of an introduction. He is very active in a number of areas and for such a long time such that most people in Australia would at least know who he is but I’m sure don’t know many of his aviation feats.

For the sake of our international audience though I’ll give you a bit more of an extended version of Dick’s bio.

Dick and his wife Pip built up and sold two quite large businesses here in Australia – Dick Smith Electronics and Australian Geographic.

As you’ll hear about coming up Dick was the first person to fly solo around the world in a helicopter which included the first crossing of the Atlantic in a helicopter. Then later on the first person to fly a helicopter around the world from East to West against the prevailing winds.

He was the first person to fly a helicopter to the North pole and has also flown around the south pole in a fixed wing. In the hot-air balloon world he was first to complete a non-stop crossing of the Australian continent and to pilot a balloon from New Zealand to Australia.

The helicopter that Dick Smith flew around the world is now part of the Powerhouse Museum collection in Sydney.

[Tweet “If the cloud gets too low you just land and have a cup of tea”]

Some additional dot points…

1986 Australian of the Year
2015 Companion of the Order of Australia ‘community services and devotion to flying’

‘awarded for eminent achievement and merit of the highest degree in service to Australia or humanity at large’

2nd highest appointment in order of Australia honours system
1992 – United States’ (Charles) Lindbergh award. The Award, “is given annually to individuals whose work over many years has made significant contributions toward the Lindbergh’s concept of balancing technology and nature.

http://lindberghfoundation.org/lindbergh-award Other notable awardees – Harrison Ford, Burt Rutan, David Suzuki, Neil Armstrong, Edmund Hillary, James Doolittle, Jacques Cousteau
1990 -1992 Chairman of the Board of the Civil Aviation Authority
1997 – 1999 Deputy-Chairman and Chairman of the Board CASA

At time we go to air in May 2016 – Dick has recently attended an industry meeting in Tamworth about the state of general aviation regulation and Part 61 here in Australia so we get to chat about that too.

[Tweet “The helicopter lanes in Sydney were copied from those in London”]

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In this week’s episode:

01:20 Goal of the Rotary Wing Show

02:20 iTunes review feedback

03:33 Dick Smith Bio

07:30 Getting into helicopters

08:30 Trying to learn to fly a helicopter

10:00 First solo circuit

11:20 Selecting the engine to take around the world

13:40 Australian helicopters had to operate as fixed wing traffic

15:40 Planning the around the world route

17:15 Ross Perot, Jr. and Jay Coburn, Spirit of Texas + Hercules support first around the world

18:30 Finding a container ship in the fog for refuel

22:50 Refueling on a rolling ship deck

25:00 Close calls and frights

27:40 Monsoons through Burma, beach landing

30:00 What was trying to achieve at CAA/CASA position

35:10 Average age of the Australian general aviation business owner

36:30 Part 61 reform process

37:50 Cost of doing aviation business in Australia

40:30 Biannual flight review requirements increased

42:20 Changes are not addressing any known safety issue

45:40 GA airfields sold off and being used for non-aviation activities for revenue streams

47:20 Dick’s current helicopters and flying

49:50 Hong Kong Peninsula Hotel – opening of the roof top helipad

52:00 Flying under the Sydney Harbour bridge

56:00 World Helicopter Day

56:40 Episode Sponsors trainmorepilots.com

Links from this week’s episode:

Dick Smith biographical details

April Fools joke – Iceberg in Sydney harbour

BBC documentary with film that Dick Smith recorded during the first solo circumnavigation of the globe in a helicopter

[leadplayer_vid id=”573E8B9CCFB06″]

Grabbing some ‘crew rest’ on way around the world.

[Tweet “Had to cut through Cold War Russian buffer zone due to fuel “]

Dick is still a frequent flyer getting behind the controls of several fixed and rotary wing types to get around Australia.

[Tweet “Atlantic crossing done without heater to save weight”]

Be part of the conversation about this interview by leaving a comment below. What would be the part of the world that you would most like to fly over?

The post RWS 47 – First Around the World Solo and Australian Regulations with Dick Smith appeared first on The Rotary Wing Show Podcast.