American Cinematographer - November 1983 - 55

He had obtained

a

clearance

fly around the Eiffel Tower, but low
clouds prevented this from happening.
to

After
and
TV

fuel stop at Lyon, on to Rome
waiting crowd of reporters and

a

a

crews.

While in Rome he

was

pre¬

sented with the

Explorers Club flag,
especially sent from New York, in rec¬
ognition of his efforts. The flag was
carried on the remainder of the trip.
En route to India, the trip
settled down to a boring and fatiguing
routine: Up at 4 a.m., flying for nine
hours, plus the tiring chore of hours
spent filing flight plans, and customs
and immigration procedures. Travel¬
ing along the Burmese coast he experi¬
enced the difficulties of the

monsoon

which had just begun. Spend¬
ing a little time off to try and discover
the fate of a lost flyer's plane - Kingsseason,

going to be with him all the way. In
the south of Baffin Island, while trying
to reach Frobisher Bay he was forced
down by bad weather.
He rigged a small tent and
installed a sleeping bag for the overnighter. During the night hearing dis¬
tant barking he thought there might be
wolves nearby. However, on reaching
Frobisher Bay next morning he was re¬
lieved to learn it was only the barks of
seals he had heard,

but

-

there

were

polar bears roaming around, capable
of disabling the aircraft, then eating
Smith, and his tent!
Apart from the terrible
weather, the remainder of the Atlantic
crossing was uneventful. However, on
arrival in Scotland, he discovered two
bullet holes

on

the starboard side of

the machine. One had

nearly hit the
pilot, and the other had gone into the
fuel tank. Smith suspects an
irate Icelandic fisherman.
reserve

Normally, aircraft are not al¬
lowed within five miles of Balmoral
Castle in Scotland.

Smith, however,
had an appointment with Prince
Charles so he came screaming down
over the roof of the castle, filming as
-

he

went.

he landed

ford Smith

-

wait

rain

on a

beach

to

Unfortunately,
the right hand skid sank into the soft
sand, and the helicopter started to tip
over. Quickly scooping the sand away
from the skid, he took off and landed
further away on firm sand. A 100 hour
out a

overhaul

was

storm.

made

on

the aircraft in

Djakarta, in record time. The flight
across the breathtaking sce¬
nery to Bali and Kupang.
The most difficult parts of
the whole trip were yet to face him on
the home leg. From Kupang to Darwin
he was obliged to make the longest
across-water hop: 450 nautical miles,
flown in just under four hours. A huge
continued

crowd welcomed him at Darwin, at
the tip of Australia's Northern Terri¬
tory,

and he landed

on a

specially

con¬

structed helipad. Following a day's
rest he continued on and after a short

leg landed on a cattle property and
camped out for the night - no polar
bears in this hot environment, only
wild dogs.
Up to this point he had not
needed any special fuel supplies to be
placed on his route. With all tanks gas¬
sed, his range was seven to eight hours.
His route had taken him from airport
to airport. The Northern Territory leg
was the only place where he was in
need of a fuel dump - a supply was
placed by his ground support crew at a
small survey camp. Two years of plan¬
ning had gone into the flight organiza¬
tion, organizing the fuel and making
sure

Sydney was reached on Oc¬
Smith was granted a rare priv¬
ilege: approval to land on the
Northern shore of Sydney Harbour,
and pass beneath the Sydney Harbour
Bridge to touchdown. A few brave,
foolhardy flyers have done this in the
recent past, but the aviation au¬
tober 3.

thorities frown

on

the

and

stunt

a

heavy fine and cancelling of flyer's li¬
cense automatically follows.
With such a huge venture it
would have been easy for a small
equipment malfunction to prevent
success. Neither aircraft nor pho¬
tographic gear gave any problems. The
Jet Ranger was wheeled-out stock,
standard from the factory and per¬
formed flawlessly in conditions from
sub zero Atlantic conditions to tropic
heat in Asia. Flying hundreds of miles
across water he was obliged to rely on
an accurate navigation system. The
Collins VFL Omega system provided
this precision - he was never more
than 2 miles out, even after a hop of
hundreds of miles.

Filming and flying

was

achieved with the aid of another Col¬
lins unit,

the auto pilot. He

fly with

one

was able to
hand while filming with

the other.

The purpose of the trip was
twofold: make the first solo journey,
and make three documentary pro¬

the

Many airport au¬
importation of
16mm or video equipment; the
Chinons caused no problems, and op¬
erated perfectly under all conditions.
In Saudi Arabia, importation
is strongly forbidden of any video
equipment, authorities asking Dick
Smith on arrival, 'Do you have a video
grams on

thorities do

way.

not

allow

camera?' He learned later that the

has a big problem with the
importation and production of porno¬
graphic videotapes, to which strong
Moslem codes object.
country

Permissions

were not

hard

to

obtain from aviation authorities when
a circuit over a landmark was required.
When formal, advance OKs were not

granted Dick found the personal ap¬
proach on the intercom invaluable. He
was told by flyers that circuits over
Washington were out of the question,
but when only a few miles away from
the capital he asked ground control

that wherever he landed there

would be fuel available.

fuel is available

even at

Luckily, jet
places such as

Rangoon.

November 1983

American

Cinematographer

53
American Cinematographer - November 1983

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