Dick Smith Autobiography

[Torres]

Dick Smith has published his autobiography "My Adventurous Life". Like or loath Dick, he was certainly out there when it came to business, adventure, aviation and life generally.

The book includes a full chapter on aviation, giving examples of overseas aviation practices versus the complexity of comparable aviation practices and regulation in Australia. Dick writes: "I learned that nearly everything in Australia was more complicated, resulting in a higher cost either for the Government or for the aviator and ultimately for the paying passenger."

Comparing Australia's prescriptive aviation regulations, Dick notes: "In countries like the USA, the UK, Europe and Canada, the regulations left room for the pilot to make commonsense decisions, but not here. The pilot was treated like an irresponsible child." (in Australia)

It is interesting that Dick considers he failed at most of the reforms he wanted Australian DCA/CAA/CASA to consider and adopt, the Authority is far too inflexible and deaf to experienced aviation operators and the aviation industry generally to make reasonable and logical change to Australian regulatory philosophy.

As when Dick Smith posts on PPRuNe, I am sure there will be those who support his aviation philosophy and those who oppose - vehemently in a few cases! :} Dick obviously has a thick skin as he always bounces back with a response.

I wonder if the majority of Dunnunda PPRuNe users would have supported Dicks proposed changes?

https://books.google.com.au/books?id=oRc7EAAAQBAJ&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover&hl=en&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/797x1199/dick_smith_my_adventurous_life_bc6e83af8e85cee1a8cdcd6328022 6a7d09031fd.jpg

[Double_Clutch]

Was looking for the perfect Christmas present

[Ascend Charlie]

I have had a bit to do with Dick since 1979 (before the epic chopper flights) and I thoroughly admire him for his achievements.

The best change I saw in the helicopter world was opening up the chopper lanes through the SY zone via the harbour and V1 down the coast. Next best was eliminating full reporting for VFR.

[Arm out the window]

Sometimes he pushes his own agenda to extremes, to his own detriment I think, but he's done a hell of a lot in his life that many of us probably couldn't. I fully agree that our regulations are ridiculously overblown and not conducive to sensible and efficient aviation, so good on him for continuing to push for change there.

[tartare]

Met him at the ABC in the Q&A Green Room and had a long chat.
Thoroughly good bloke.

[mmmbop]

Dick writes: "I learned that nearly everything in Australia was more complicated, resulting in a higher cost either for the Government or for the aviator and ultimately for the paying passenger."

Comparing Australia's prescriptive aviation regulations, Dick notes: "In countries like the USA, the UK, Europe and Canada, the regulations left room for the pilot to make commonsense decisions, but not here. The pilot was treated like an irresponsible child." (in Australia)



Ask any of your colleagues who have worked for carriers overseas, or are currently working for carriers overseas, and you'd be hard pressed to find someone who disagrees with this statement. Australian = Oztronaut. Ridiculous regulations, over-legislating practices and it has lead to an abomination of an aviation sector.

[Dick Smith]

Ascend Charlie, thanks for the positive comment. Yes the Victor Lane came from my experience of flying in the VFR lane passing on the ocean side of JFK airport during my world helicopter flight. It is a great example of “copying the success of others.”

There is one other important quote from my book that I would like to put here:

“My efforts were successful in nearly all of these, but not in aviation. This lack of success didn’t affect me financially, because I had the wealth to cover the high costs, but it was disappointing nevertheless. I have been forced to watch as the general aviation industry has almost been destroyed by regulations that added to costs but not to safety. We could have become world leaders. It was incredibly sad.”

The aviation reform program was started back in 1990 with a simple direction from the Board to “remove every unnecessary cost.” Of course, it has morphed into the opposite – some of the most expensive requirements in the world.

Then again. The CASA act states that the most important consideration must be safety so that's the result you get!

[Pinky the pilot]

the most important consideration must be safety

Wasn't there some apocryphal statement allegedly once made by a CASA Official that the only way to ensure complete Aviation safety was to abolish GA in its entirety?

PS; Dick; What's the chance of a personally autographed copy of the book?:D

[markis10]

I had the pleasure of meeting Dick one day in Bankstown Tower when he popped in via push bike to say g’day, first and last time the hierarchy in CASA/CAA ever made an effort to put themselves in the shoes of the workforce! 73s

[megan]

the Victor Lane came from my experience of flying in the VFR lane passing on the ocean side of JFK airport during my world helicopter flight. It is a great example of “copying the success of othersWhen did the Victor lane come into existence? Regular Navy practice, from 1970 that I have familiarity with, was coastal from Nowra, 500' at CTR, coastal to the heads and turn left for Navy base of choice. Perhaps that laid the groundwork?

[Ascend Charlie]

You could usually get a coastal transit through the zone, but it needed a clearance.

In (I think) 1991 Victor 1 was created, 500' over water with a straight line from Malabar to Bondi to keep those nasty helicopters away from those gold-plated aeroplanes 1500' above them. But also the Chopper Lanes were created, through R405, to allow free movement over the harbour at 1000' east of the bridge and 500' along the Parramatta River. The TV lanes were created to allow access into Willoughby for Ch 9 and 2, and up the Lane Cove River for Ch 10 - Ch 7 was already outside the zone at Epping.

The straight line in V1 put single-engine choppers over water outside auto range, a bit of a quandary, so it was possible to ask for a clearance to hug the coast if traffic allowed. To highlight the stupidity of this straight line limit, I took one of the CA$A FOIs up and sat over the beach, on the extended centreline of Rwy 25 at 1000'. On the sight line between us and the runway threshold was a thumping big pine tree in Randwick or Kingsford, so any plane would have to be well above that line to be safe. But Howie just shrugged and said "Them's the rules."

[Dick Smith]

Pinky. You would have to post it to me and will sign and send it back.

Unfortunately I don't have books available as they are produced by the publisher Allen and Unwin.

I note that Dymocks and Booktopia are selling at a discount but it's best to support your local bookshop if you can!

[V-Jet]

I'll buy a copy because I've admired you more and more since The Electronic Dick.

Few have the luck (created the luck) to give it a red hot go - fewer still actually go forth and do more to create and creat and create.

I hope you have a chapter at the end to thank all for the billions and billions and billions you've made for investors through crypto with your secret advice:):):):):):)

Just in case anyone doesn't get the joke - the last para is FIRMLY tongue in cheek...

[Dick Smith]

Thanks. I am amazed that Facebook and Google and this site can get away with making money from fraudulent ads re Bitcoin

[Torres]

I'm not amazed Dick, I'm disgusted with the fake/scam Google adverts published by Facebook and PPRuNe, as you well know! :ugh:

I have made a conscious decision not to buy any goods or services advertised by Google Ads.

[cattletruck]

Another worthy book to add to my collection. Thanks.

Internet scams are a phenomena of the modern electronic world that mostly afflict the elderly. The young care not one iota for it and it's a shame our telcos are just too fat, dumb and lazy to put a lid on it.

[Dick Smith]

For those who have not been able to get a copy I have been told that there is a second reprint that should be available in bookstores in mid December.

[Duck Pilot]

You are a true inspiration for the younger generation Dick, not only in aviation but also in business and in just being a true Australian.

Your Autobiography is certainly a book that I look forward to reading.

It’s also great to hear you regularly talking to Australia on Sunday mornings with Macca!

[G.A. Boy]

Having just finished reading it, a total inspiration. I met Dick in Wynyard in the mid 90s when he brought in his Citation when I was in GA. Couldn't put it down once I started reading it, and the photos at the end, really made it!

[Dick Smith]

Thanks GA

I was particularly pleased by the quality of the end paper maps from the Australian owned printer.

Drawn by the Australian Geographic cartographer Will Pringle

[Kooka]

Ordered from my local bookseller. Dick would have a deserved knighthood for services to aviation in older times.
Always remember flying to Nareen for a Sunday afternoon with you Dick.

[Dick Smith]

Ha ha. That was in January 1982 and was my first day of a successful aviation regulatory change.

I went to Nareen to have lunch with the then Prime Minster of Australia Malcolm Fraser. He had agreed to be patron of my world solo flight.

I wanted to change the registration VH-DIK from a Volksplane I had purchased to my new Jetranger that was being built in Fort Worth.

"No way" I was told by the Aviation bureaucracy in Canberra. Not even Reg Ansett was allowed to change a registration from one aircraft to another. Safety would suffer if this happened !

When I told Mr Fraser of this story over lunch he jumped on the phone to Transport Minister Ralph Hunt and demanded a change.

Sure enough I was informed on the following Monday that the rego change was approved.

And from then on anyone could do a change if they wanted to !

[Bones13]

Just finished listening to the audiobook version narrated by Dick. Very good read.

[Dick Smith]

Bones13, if you got the audio book you would have missed out on the map and photographs. You can see them here (https://dicksmithadventure.com.au/).

[Advance]

Ordered four copies - for kids and my brother with whom Dick went to NSTHS, not to mention Froggy as one of his teachers.
Scouts - hiking from Berowra to Duffy's Forest.
Electronics - ham radio
Aviation - from the fun of the 1974 Perth to Sydney Air Race to Airservices and CASA.
Our paths have crossed so often - its been a good ride, thanks Dick.
Look forward to the books.
Crikey, if I wrote one and mentioned the skeletons, they would probably lock me up.

[Paragraph377]

Like him or loathe him, Dick is passionate about aviation and he has contributed more towards aviation financially and by giving of his personal time, than many armchair critics have done. Much of what Dick parrots about aviation, particularly in regards to poor regulations and bureaucratic red tape, is 110% correct. The reason some people who don’t like him is because he is a multimillionaire, not because of his contribution towards aviation. It’s a tall poppy thing. Unfortunately for Dick his tenure with the CAA was doomed to fail due to the underlying iron ring that had a political stranglehold on aviation. Bloated bureaucraps who didn’t want change and who made sure that Dick didn’t succeed with his vision of aviation reform.

I would much rather listen to a seminar conducted by Dick than by someone like Gina Swineheart or Gerry Harvey.

[Pinky the pilot]

I would much rather listen to a seminar conducted by Dick than by someone like Gina Swineheart or Gerry Harvey.

+1. Likewise.

[Sandy Reith]

I’ve been given a copy and look forward to reading it. I hope the book sells well to inspire and inform a new generation of Australians, and General Aviation aviators in particular, if the latter are allowed to exist in any appreciable numbers.

There’s one aspect of Dick’s life that I don’t expect to read much, if anything, about. That being his anonymous gifts and assistance to individuals and groups. I have very little first hand knowledge about this subject, naturally, but sufficient has come through the grapevine to leave no doubt in my mind.

The very best to Dick and Pip, fond memories, particularly of their hosting so many of us at their Gundaroo property fly-in BBQ lunches.

[FlyingwithJase]

Hope it comes out on Audio Book as I have a lot of time with those and not a lot of time with the written word!! I was always a fan of DS and appreciate what he tried to achieve with his airspace reforms.. I remember the days of "Full Reporting VFR" and wish we had never lost that!!

[Guselli]

I have had a bit to do with Dick since 1979 (before the epic chopper flights) and I thoroughly admire him for his achievements.

The best change I saw in the helicopter world was opening up the chopper lanes through the SY zone via the harbour and V1 down the coast. Next best was eliminating full reporting for VFR.

As one who was heavily involved in the design, implementation and eventual promulgation of the chopper routes and the Victor One coastal route, I am certain they would not have happened were it not for Dick's persistence. He kept on grinding away with common sense examples until the regulators shared the vision and ultimately relented.

Don't forget that at about the same time, helicopters had to hover-taxy for miles to depart from a designated helipad on the other side of many airports (like Sydney). High power settings at low level through and around parked aircraft were not a good mix. Once again, common sense prevailed and this practice went the way of the dinosaur.

[Bones13]

Bones13, if you got the audio book you would have missed out on the map and photographs. You can see them here (https://dicksmithadventure.com.au/).

Thanks Dick, much appreciated. I bought the hard copy for my old man for Christmas and then found the audiobook.
Just wondering on the 1987 and 1994 flights where you went through in Northern Alberta? I flew up the there for a couple of years and the 94/95 looks to turn west about where High Level is.

[Dick Smith]

Yes. Went through the town named High Level on two occasions. Great place.

Most Canadians I met could not understand why I would be flying in the north for pleasure. They all went south to the warmer weather for recreation!

Glad you enjoyed the audio book version. That was a lot of hard work putting it on tape.

[Ascend Charlie]

Opened my Xmas gifts and there was Dick's autobiography, as well as Sir Hubert Wilkins' photo book. I am a lucky lad.

[djpil]

Opened my Xmas gifts and there was Dick's autobiography ….. I am a lucky lad.
Same here!

[CHC EXPAT]

I'll be buying this book. I've long admired Dick Smith. His battles with CASA. His tenacity, courage and efforts to improve aviation safety. His advertures flying solo around the world. I loved that early tv series. Such courage! He has put his success to good use. Keep swinging the bat Mr Smith.

[tail wheel]

FlyingwithJase

Hope it comes out on Audio Book as I have a lot of time with those and not a lot of time with the written word!!

An audio book version is available from a number of sources at widely varying cost, THIS (https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details?id=AQAAAEC8EkNS7M&gl=AU&hl=en-AU&source=productsearch&utm_source=HA&utm_medium=SEM&utm_campaign=PLA&pcampaignid=MKT-EDR-apac-au-1003227-Med-pla-bk-Evergreen-Jan0122-PLA-Audiobooks_BiographyandAutobiography_General&gclid=Cj0KCQiAoNWOBhCwARIsAAiHnEgz8SSpTHxamm09JTqJeYFxYw5CqG AYOf14oZ6EN8wc2xL4YdHqFHAaArbLEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds) appears to be the lowest cost on Google?

Dick posted (#24 above) that the book photos you don't get with the audiobook are available HERE (https://dicksmithadventure.com.au/).

[vne165]

Was fortunate to be given a copy of your bio for Christmas, Dick.
Thoroughly enjoyed it, thank you very much for a great read.

[Ascend Charlie]

As one who was heavily involved in the design, implementation and eventual promulgation of the chopper routes and the Victor One coastal route, I am certain they would not have happened were it not for Dick's persistence. He kept on grinding away with common sense examples until the regulators shared the vision and ultimately relented.

Don't forget that at about the same time, helicopters had to hover-taxy for miles to depart from a designated helipad on the other side of many airports (like Sydney). High power settings at low level through and around parked aircraft were not a good mix. Once again, common sense prevailed and this practice went the way of the dinosaur.

Now there is a name I had forgotten: John Guselli. Thank you for your inputs, John, the chopper world got a lot easier with these changes.

Mind you, sometimes when Dick arrived direct to the hangar at Bankstown, it caused a little consternation.

[Dick Smith]

Another name that should not be forgotten in relation to the introduction of the lanes is Kevin Gale.

Thanks John and Kevin.

[Torres]

Great news and well deserved recognition - Dick's autobiography "My Adventurous Life" has just won Australia's Biography Of The Year award at the Australian Book Industry Awards!

https://abiawards.com.au/year-won/2022/

Congratulations Dick, a very deserving recognition.

Dick tells me the book is now out of print after 50,000 copies but is being reprinted in paperback, due out in August.

Next the movie and the Oscars Dick?? :}

[Ascend Charlie]

And who will play Dick in the movie? Chris Hemsworth? Russell Crowe? Tom Cruise?

I just received a very welcome copy of Richard Green's photo book "Remote and Wild". Richard was well known in the industry and is sadly missed, but this book is testament to his photographic skills and his (to me) unknown engineering skills. And he was a neighbour (within a few miles) of Dick, also with a helipad at his house.

[Squawk7700]

I’ll send someone my once-read copy of Dick’s great book they’d like to make a donation to the weather camera network. Every dollar counts. It has big text and is easy for oldies to read :-)

[Slippery_Pete]

Methinks there will be an addendum published to this book one day on Dick’s achievements ;)

Good luck with your continued battle against these Google ads.

[Dick Smith]

Thanks Pete. The fake ads seem to be reducing in number so I am hoping they will eventually disappear!