Bell 206 CowanSim VH-DIC Solo Around the World

ON JULY 22, 1983, Dick Smith completed his first solo around-the-world helicopter flight. For the ambitious journey, Dick flew his helicopter – in which he usually took his family ‘helicamping’ around Australia. The trip across the globe turned out to be much more than a leisurely activity, though, as he battled exhaustion, freezing temperatures, torrential rain, turbulence, extreme heat, dust and tropical storms. He was even mysteriously shot at when he was over Alaska, with bullets hitting the helicopter’s reserve fuel tank. Dick believed that a helicopter was a better way to record his flight through the various stages of his trip and he later turned his remarkable journey into a documentary.