I DID IT MY WAY is the life story of Helicopter Pilot Bill Black MBE.
Now in retirement in Te Anau Bill looks through this book reminiscing on what was a period in New Zealand aviation that the likes will never be seen again. He has been flying for 55 years and accumulated some 29,535 flying hours. Bill continues to fly in his own privately owned gyrocopter.
In 25,572 hours of flying helicopters he himself was involved in only one accident of which no blame was attributed to him. Bill was involved in over 500 search and rescue missions including over 300 mercy missions. With many presentations and accolades from many people who were thankful to Bill for saving their life. He was awarded numerous awards the greatest being the Member of the Order of the British Empire award. Which was awarded for a significant achievement and outstanding service to the community. As well as lifting literally hundreds of thousands of feral deer from the mountain tops he has lifted or salvaged over 100 aircraft and helicopters.
Those of us who have known and worked with Bill can relate his attitude with the title of this book, it is just so apt and regretfully copyright prohibits us from printing the lyrics of the tune by the same name to illustrate the point. His self determination and tenacity have prevailed throughout his career to the extent of creating a world record whereby never letting anybody else fly his dedicated helicopter. As a result the entire 13,852 hours accident free flying in New Zealand over a 22 year period in Squirrel ZK-HMY was done with one pilot namely Bill.
Bill Black’s story is a tale of a life full of fun and laughter mixed with sadness and emotion.