Michael Smith is an

aviator An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators because they a ...

who became the first person to solo navigate the world in a single-engine

flying boat A flying boat is a type of seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose-designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for buoyancy. Though ...

. Smith was named

Australian Geographic Australian Geographic is a media business that produces the ''Australian Geographic'' and Australian Geographic Adventure magazine, australiangeographic.com.au and operates, either itself or business partners, Australian Geographic stores, Aus ...

''Adventurer of the Year'' in 2016. Smith took off from

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in his SeaRey aircraft named ''Southern Sun'' in April 2015, intending to retrace the historic 1938

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

route of the

Qantas Qantas ( ), formally Qantas Airways Limited, is the flag carrier of Australia, and the largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations in Australia and List of largest airlines in Oceania, Oceania. A foundi ...

''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 Longreach is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Longreach Region, Queensland, Australia. It is the administrative centre of the Longreach Region, Longreach Local government in Australia, Regional Council, which ...

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.

References

1968 births Living people Australian aviators {{Aviation-bio-stub