Fly!

Melbourne born and educated, Richard Champion de Crespigny AM got his first taste of a future flying career as a 14-year-old when his father took him on a tour of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Academy at Point Cook in Victoria.

In 1975, aged seventeen, he joined the RAAF. One year later, he started flying. During his 11 years flying transport, jet and helicopter aircraft with the RAAF, he was seconded as Aide-de-Camp to two Australian Governors-General - Sir Zelman Cowen and Sir Ninian Stephen. Richard remained with the RAAF until 1986 when he joined Qantas, flying Boeing 747, Airbus A330 and A380 jet aircraft.

In 2010 he was the Captain on board Qantas flight QF32 when it suffered a catastrophic explosion. His multi-award-winning and best-selling book QF32 is a blow-by-blow story of what went right when things went wrong in the air.

Richard still flies the Airbus A380. He delivers presentations on the elements of resilience (knowledge, training, experience, teamwork, decision-making, crisis management, post-traumatic stress and risk) to governments, government agencies and Fortune 500 companies.

In the 2016 Australia Day Honours, Richard was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for his significant service to the aviation industry, both nationally and internationally, particularly to flight safety and to the community.

Richard and his wife, Coral, have two children, Alexander and Sophia.