Richard Rayward - From Cameraman to Venison Pilot to Air Safaris CEO

Richard Rayward has an incredible 60 years of aviation history that began back in 1966 when he quit his job and moved to live in a remote high altitude area of South Westland to hunt venison. With him he took his new wife, his new Cessna 180, and 70 hours total flight time. Since then he has created and stills runs (with his family) Air Safaris based in Tekapo. NOTE: I do apologise for the very average video quality in this interview. I am investing in new lighting equipment and upskilling myself to do my best to improve in the future. For this reason I have decided to not include the first few minutes of this interview which had some serious focussing issues due poor lighting conditions. Also available on Spotify and other major podcast apps. 0:00 Introduction 1:26 Previous career 7:56 Mark's Flat/Learning to Fly 26:38 Venison Recovery with C180 34:33 Tony Hawker 41:20 Formation of Air Safaris 1:03:53 Pilatus Porter 1:06:28 Ski Planes 1:08:54 GAF Nomad 1:18:01 Dealing with Civil Aviation 1:22:20 IFR Operations 1:28:06 Franz Josef Operation 1:31:52 1998 Accident 1:42:56 Airvan, Caravan, Helicopters 1:52:31 New Pilots/Training 1:57:46 Personal Involvement in Business 2:00:06 Coast to Coast 2:03:37 Safety Awards 2:09:52 Taking Risks in Life 2:13:36 Ethics & Leadership in Business 2:20:00 Final Questions 2:23:09 Original 1967/68 Footage 2:33:48 Air Safaris Facebook Photos