Michael Smith
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Trail Blazing Aviator, AG Adventurer of the Year 2016, Indie Cinema Owner, Film-maker
Engaging Keynote Speaker with fascinating stories and images of the World’s first solo circumnavigation of the world in a sea plane.
In 2015, Michael Smith set off in the tiny single engine amphibious plane ‘Southern Sun’ to retrace the historic 1938 Qantas Imperial Sydney to London route. Upon arriving in London with little fanfare after 8 weeks he just “kept going”, crossing the Atlantic via Iceland and Greenland, arriving in New York by landing on the Hudson River. From there, he flew the full length of the Mississippi river on the way to Alaska, before the incredibly arduous north Pacific crossing via the remote Aleutian Islands, flying 25 hours straight, solo without an autopilot, to reach Japan, and back to Australia. The seven month journey was rich with tales of adventure, excitement and fear, planning and problem solving, travelling to villages rarely visited, being touched by the generosity of strangers, and returning home with a great sense of positivity of the world and the people in it.
www.southernsun.voyage
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