View source for Michael Smith (aviator)

{{short description|Australian aviator}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{Infobox person
|name                = Michael Smith
|image               = 
|caption             = 
|birth_date          = 1968
|birth_place         = 
|death_date          = 
|death_place         = 
|nationality         = [[Australia]]n
|alma_mater          = 
|occupation          = Aviator
|footnotes           =
}}

'''Michael Smith''' is an [[Aircraft pilot|aviator]] who became the first person to solo navigate the world in a single-engine [[flying boat]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/flying-solo-around-the-world-in-sea-plane-lands-melbourne-pilot-adventurer-of-the-year-20161026-gsaynz.html |title=Flying solo around the world in sea plane lands Melbourne pilot Adventurer of the Year |work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |last=Wright |first=Tony}}</ref> Smith was named [[Australian Geographic]] ''Adventurer of the Year'' in 2016.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/society/awards/2016/10/michael-smith-adventurer-of-the-year-2016/ |title=Adventurer of the Year 2016 |date=13 October 2016 |publisher=[[Australian Geographic]]}}</ref>

Smith took off from [[Melbourne]], [[Australia]] in his [[Progressive Aerodyne SeaRey|SeaRey]] aircraft named ''Southern Sun'' in April 2015, intending to retrace the historic 1938 [[Sydney]] to [[London]] route of the [[Qantas]] ''Empire'' Flying Boat service. He reached London 8 weeks later, but  did not receive much media attention. Smith decided to just "keep going". He crossed the Atlantic Ocean via Greenland, and arrived in New York, landing on the Hudson river. He then flew the entire length of the Mississippi river - a distance of 3,766km/2,350 miles. Then, starting from Alaska, he then began a challenging flight across the north Pacific ocean, crossing via the Aleutian Islands. This section of the journey involved flying for 25 hours straight, without the use of autopilot. He arrived in Japan, and from there flew on to Australia, landing at [[Longreach, Queensland]] on 11 November 2015. He thus became the first person to navigate solo around the world in a single-engine flying boat. The 210-day journey required 480 hours flying, 9,700 litres of fuel and stops at 80 cities along the way.<ref>{{Cite book
  | last = Smith
  | first = Michael
  | author-link = Michael Smith (aviator)
  | title = Voyage of the Southern Sun: An Amazing Solo Journey Around the World
  | publisher = Black Inc.
  | year = 2018
  | location =
  | pages = 352
  | url = 
  | doi =
  | isbn =978-1863959308}}</ref>

==References==
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[[Category:1968 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Australian aviators]]


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