Meet the Pilot
Behind the Stories
Peter G Dickens was born in Victoria, Australia in 1945 and grew up in the quiet suburb of Croydon. His life changed forever on his eighth birthday when his father organised a flight in a Chipmunk aircraft. An hour of sweeping over Melbourne and looping through basic aerobatics lit a fire in him, a fascination with aviation that would shape every year that followed.
Straight out of high school, Peter joined the Royal Australian Airforce as a trainee pilot. He earned his wings in 1964 and, at just nineteen, became an operational fighter pilot flying the Avon Sabre. His early career took him to 76 Squadron in Darwin, 77 Squadron in Malaysia, and 79 Squadron in Thailand during the Vietnam War era. After completing an advanced instructor course, he trained new pilots at RAAF Bases Pearce and Williamtown before being selected to attend the prestigious Empire Test Pilot School in the United Kingdom in 1971.
Returning to Australia, Peter began test flying some of the RAAF's most advanced aircraft with the Aircraft Research and Development Unit at Laverton. In 1976, with thousands of military flying hours behind him, he left the Air Force and headed to the United States to pursue new aviation challenges.
A chance 23-hour ferry flight across the Pacific in a Cessna 172, under the guidance of a so-called 'expert' ferry pilot, ended with Peter landing in Hawaii on fumes. It was all the proof he needed that he could run things far more safely, and far more professionally. He founded Southern Cross Aviation, which grew rapidly into the largest aircraft ferrying company in the world. Over the decades that followed, Peter delivered aircraft across continents, oceans, and conflict zones, flying to more than 130 countries and piloting over 140 different types of aircraft.
From ultralights cruising at 60 km/h to Mirages and Lightnings roaring past Mach 2, Peter has flown almost everything with wings. His career has been described as 'part Top Gun, part Raiders of the Lost Ark' - a blend of precision flying, dangerous encounters, international adventure, and the kinds of stories that only come from a lifetime lived far above the ground.
