An Aviation Adventure Like You've Never Read Before
Life on a Wing and a Prayer is the true story of Australian pilot Peter G Dickens, whose aviation career spans fighter jets, test flying, and international aircraft ferrying across some of the most remote, unpredictable, and politically volatile regions in the world. What began as an eighth birthday joy flight in a Chipmunk would take him into the cockpit of Sabres, Mirages, ultralights, and nearly everything in between - more than 140 aircraft types in total.
From the moment Peter earned his RAAF wings at nineteen, his life accelerated into a whirlwind of high-speed training, operational missions and international postings. He flew Sabre fighters in Australia, Malaysia and Thailand during a turbulent era, before being selected for the prestigious Empire Test Pilot School in the UK, a path that placed him at the sharp end of aviation innovation. His years as a test pilot were filled with intense training, calculated risk, and the responsibility of pushing aircraft to their limits so that others could fly them safely.
But one of the most extraordinary chapters of Peter's life began after the Air Force. A harrowing ferry flight across the Pacific, surviving on mere minutes of fuel, opened his eyes to the dangers of poorly run aircraft delivery operations. Determined to do it better, he founded Southern Cross Aviation, a company that would grow into the world's largest aircraft ferrying service. Peter soon found himself flying alone across oceans, deserts, mountain ranges and borders that weren't always friendly, navigating storms, bureaucracy, war zones and the full spectrum of human unpredictability.
Throughout his career, Peter witnessed the world from a vantage point few ever experience. He crossed into more than 130 countries, landed in places most travellers avoid, and encountered people ranging from military officers and political rebels to smugglers, hustlers and unlikely heroes. Some journeys tested his endurance, some pushed his skill to the very edge, and some, retold here with humour and humility, nearly cost him his life.
Told with clear-eyed honesty and a natural storyteller's touch, Life on a Wing and a Prayer is more than a memoir of aviation. It is a chronicle of courage, instinct, resilience, and the unbreakable pull of adventure. Whether you're an aviation enthusiast or simply love a true story that feels larger than life, this book invites you into a world where the sky is both playground and adversary, and where one man's passion carried him around the globe, again and again.
