Dick Deaker is a legendary name in New Zealand aviation circles, especially in the Fiordland deer recovery scene.

He began his working career straight out of school as a deer culler for the NZ Forest Service, purchased his first aircraft (Tiger Moth ZK-AIW) at the age of 21, and in the years since has amassed six decades of helicopter flying in NZ and in various countries overseas.

In this interview we discuss Dick's early flying years, some of his amazing helicopters stories, and he also passes on various simple, common sense gems regarding safety and managing risk.

This interview refers to stories from the book "Aerial Hunter: The Dick Deaker Story", by Graeme Marshall.

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0:00 Introduction

2:20 Early Years

9:31 First Deer

11:22 School Exams

15:58 Pilot Exams

20:30 Deer Culler NZFS

46:37 Learning to Fly

49:22 Tiger Moth ZK-AIW

1:15:23 Piper Cub ZK-BPM

1:19:32 Sax and Gordon Anderson (Spunky)

1:27:45 Grebe Strip

1:34:25 Kea Damage up the Forgotten River

1:36:12 Managing Risk1:43:19 Helicopter Flying

1:52:53 Live Capture

2:00:04 Engine Failures

2:05:20 Family Life

2:11:28 Sports Illustrated Article

2:23:19 Gary Hollows

2:26:43 Morgan Saxton

2:30:17 Helicopter Safety

2:33:34 British Columbia

2:36:30 Mexico Accident

2:48:41 Takahe

2:50:30 Kakapo

2:59:08 Final Questions