Congrats!
 

:ok: Well done Dick!

It's a big pat on your back for all your good life-long work ;)

Congratulations Dick,
Thanks for your input down in Tasmania, Always Welcome Here:ok:.
Regards R W

From ABC

Dick Smith could be 'forced' to run against Tony Abbott if Government does not overhaul aviation laws - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Thank You Dick
 

Congratulations Dick. It is certainly well deserved and we're all better off for your contributions to our country. Thank you.

Congratulations Mr. Smith!

Well done Dick. Great Australian. I always appreciate that whenever I've heard you make a comment you've usually got something interesting to say, not that I agree all the time. For example, Aviation, (G.A.), Sir Herbert Wilkins, Economic growth via population increases, Australian Produce, Adventure. Keep it up.

Read about it in todays Age newspaper, the article talked about leadership rather than being the smartest egg in the basket.

Well done Mr Smith for having the audacity to put the courage of your convictions on the line.

Dick,

What will you do if you win? :eek:

Congratulations, Dick. An award that is well-deserved. I particularly admire a man who is wealthy, but who doesn't flaunt his wealth with conspicuous consumerism - and who uses his wealth and prominent position to improve the lot of many fellow men (and women, too, no doubt).
Australia needs more people like you, and less of the recently-departed Perth-based corporate sociopath, who left no lingering benefit to anyone. He lived to reward himself at others expense.
I am sure your eventual memorial will read, "he helped many others less fortunate than himself". You are truly a man worthy of the award.

Dick Smith a great Australian, well deserved.

"If not us, who? And if not now, when?"

Others have put it far more eloquently than I could, so I'll just say...
Congratulations, Dick. Well deserved indeed.

Well deserved!
 

A life long contribution across many areas. A good example and role model for any and all Australians.

Dick for PM.

Heliport at Kirribili House and the Lodge.

Dick to run the aviation portfolio, get aviation moving again.

Here's a list to start with Dick, when you get into the cockpit of the big office in Canberra.

1. Sydney curfew get rid of it,

2. Simplify the regs,

3. Promote aviation,

4. Encourage aviation,

5. Keep the major GA airports open.

6 . Fellow Ppruners please add to the list.

7. Don't front up wearing budgie smugglers for any media events!


DICK for PM

Re CharlieLimaX-ray`s List; I forget now just what the incentive was way back then but I think that the main reason that all those C402, 404, 421, Piper Chieftain`s etc etc appeared in Aussie skies way back in the late 70`s was due to a rather generous tax write-off/depreciation scheme.

Tail Wheel; Help me out here, as I`m sure that you would know the details. I know that Gaunty knows the details but he does not seem to frequent these boards these days. (And more`s the pity IMHO):sad:

Anyway, restore those incentives to purchase newer Aircraft.:ok: The downside is of course that none of the abovementioned Twins are being built anymore.

What could be done in that regard is beyond me.

...at least partly, that major manufacturers were building a great many aircraft and operators were able to charge a decent fee to pay them off.
Roads were poor or non-existent compared to today, telecommunications expensive, poor or non-existent, and so on. The oil price was extremely low and there was a lot of protectionism in the Australian economy.

The 1970s was the end of the golden post-war era and recessions in 1974/5 and 1982/3 changed the economic landscape.

In the 1980s, Bankstown operators were able to charge out Chieftains at $1000 per hour... in 1980 dollars.

In 2015 the going rate is $1200 and I have heard some operators brag that they're "only charging for legs with pax".

These enthusiasts and adventurers only drive down market expectations and their eventual forced administration and liquidation only drives up costs and pressures on the operators left behind :ugh:

I hope Dick achieves something worthwhile, and not just for him and his mates but for the GA Industry too.
...but I fear having a billionaire take up the cudgels on our behalf will have as much influence on the Great Unwashed as Clive and Gina crying about how poorly treated the mining companies are.

WE all know that's not reality, but what have we done to change that public perception?

The AMA, National Farmers Federation, Beef exporters, and many other industry associations have managed to build public awareness of what they deliver.

To the general public, GA just means rich people in dangerous small aeroplanes.

.kept mis-informed by dimwitted journalists to lazy to get a story factually correct.

Oh I forget...actual and real facts do not sell newspapers.

____________________________________


Congrats on the award Dick. You have earned it. :ok:


As for entering politics. We should form our own monarchy and make you King.

:}:}:}:}:}

Remember the Journos are General Public too. Their ignorance reflects that of the GP... as does their apathy.

....that's too lazy. Smart enough and sharp enough to get their spelling correct usually, I would bet.

Journos are no more and no less intelligent than the average body of pilots. There are geniuses, there are showponies, there are pains in the arse... just like the average group of pilots or lawyers or doctors.

Forgive me - I am not "anti Dick" or "anti reform" and not especially "pro CASA" but Dick is merely threatening to throw a tantrum. He did the same thing to John Anderson if I remember correctly.

Where is the RAAA in all this?

From memory Dick was going to back an independent (Windsor), to run against John Anderson. In hindsight him not doing so may have been a blessing for Dick and us all. That may have done more to damage the impetus of aviation reform than lazy journalists. Farmer Truss is not the only one to blame for the state of the industry, Albanese needs to share some of the blame. Truss currently holds the reins so he gets the attention both deserve.


Dick's good name as an asset to aviation reform is too valuable to risk with partisan politics.


EDIT: Regional Airlines don't believe they are part of GA. I would wager they would feel better with GA gone.

Just imagine it. Liz running around demanding that CASA put in E airspace everywhere. :rolleyes:

From a personal point of view....

Many on here know I do not agree with ...er...anything(to be honest) that Dick has been involved with in aviation over the years.( Not withstanding the work he did getting Victor 1 up and access into the harbour as well as heli routes around the SY basin.)

However, as a man, he is a giant. For all the big deals he has done, he still finds a way of making a gesture count. He shows that with hard work, sound business judgement..and maybe just a very small bit of luck... that even a start from fitting radioes can still result in huge success.

BUT...what makes him such a great person amongst our great businessman...HE answers his own phone when a nobody calls him. Even knowing he cannot help, at least he listens. Thanks Dick, you deserve this gong:ok:

Qlink and Rex maybe.

The rest of them ARE GA - RAAA stands for REGIONAL Aviation Association of Australia.

Hardys, RFDS, Sharp, Airlines of Tas, Skippers, WestWing, GAM, Corporate, Airlink, Aviator Group/SchlongAir, Rossair, AirSouth, Airspeed, Skypac, McDermott, AAA, Basair, Professional Pilot Training, UNSW Aviation, UNiSA.

Stop playing us-and-them politics against the airlines Frank, it was what lost AOPA the industry's support in the Airspace Reform debate and you will lose it again very quickly now. :suspect: