Hamish Harding (1964-2023) was a British businessman, pilot, explorer, adventurer and space tourist living in the United Arab Emirates. He is the Chairman of Action Aviation, an international aircraft brokerage company based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He holds three Guinness World Records, including the fastest speed by airplane around the Earth’s North and South Poles, the farthest distance traveled over all depths of the ocean, and the longest time spent over all depths of the ocean. He died in the catastrophic explosion of the Titan submersible in the North Atlantic on June 18, 2023, on his way to view the wreckage of the Titanic.
Wiki/Biography
Hamish Harding was born George Hamish Livingston Harding (aged 58; at time of death) in Hammersmith, London, on Wednesday 24 June 1964. He received his primary education at The Peak School in Hong Kong. He later attended King’s School in Gloucester, southwest England. He studied for a BA in Natural Sciences and an MSc in Chemical Engineering at Pembroke College, Cambridge. He later moved to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where he started his own business.
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′10″
Hair Color: Medium Copper Blonde
Eye color: turquoise
Hamish Harding and his son
family
Parents and siblings
There is not much information about his parents and siblings.
wife and children
He married Linda Harding. The couple have two sons named Rory and Giles. He has a stepdaughter named Lauren and a stepson named Brian Sasse.
Hamish Harding family photos
Profession
Logic
Harding began his career in 1988 at Logica, a multinational IT and management consulting firm based in London, England. There, he was assigned to various IT technical and management positions. In 1997, he was promoted to Managing Director of Logica India, Bangalore, India. He worked there for more than five years, leaving in 2002.
Action Team
In 2003, Harding founded a private equity investment company called “Action Group” in Dubai and the United Kingdom. The following year, he founded the aviation brokerage company “Action Aviation” and served as chairman. The company is headquartered in Dubai and the United Kingdom, with branches in the United States and India. The company also establishes and operates the national helicopter air ambulance service Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) in Qatar.
Others
In 2017, he cooperated with the Antarctic VIP travel company “White Desert” to launch the first scheduled business jet service to Antarctica, using a Gulfstream G550 business jet to land on the Langya runway. On June 4, 2022, Harding had the opportunity to fly into space as part of the Blue Origin NS-21 mission. The suborbital flight marks the New Shepard rocket’s fifth crewed spaceflight. In 2023, he joined Oceangate Expeditions as a mission specialist on the RMS Titanic mission.
Awards, Honors, Achievements
- Harding set a Guinness World Record in 2019, completing the fastest circumnavigation across the North and South Poles in 46 hours and 40 minutes. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, Hamish Harding led a group of pilots on “Another Orbital Mission” on a Gulfstream G650ER aircraft from July 9 to July 11, 2019. Flying around the earth. Landing at the Space Shuttle Landing Facility (Florida Space) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
Hamish Harding wins Guinness World Records certificate for another orbital mission
- In 2019, he received the Dealmakers Award at the European Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition (EBACE).
Hamish Harding after winning Dealmaker Award
- In 2021, he set two Guinness World Records, covering a maximum depth of approximately 100 meters. 36,000 feet, with the longest stay at all ocean depths, 4 hours and 15 minutes. On March 5, 2021, Harding and Victor Vescovo took a two-person submarine to dive into the deepest part of the Mariana Trench, the Challenger Deep. In an interview, Harding said of this achievement:
I have always been inspired by the spirit of adventure and exploration in the UAE because this country gives you a feeling that anything is possible and I am proud to represent this country by being the first person in the Middle East to sink to the lowest point on earth. “
- In September 2022, he received the Aviation Legend Award.
Hamish Harding wins Living Aviation Legend Award
die
On June 18, 2023, the Titan submersible operated by OceanGate Expeditions disappeared in the North Atlantic off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.
OceanGate’s submersible Titan
The submersible was carrying five people: Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood, his 19-year-old son Suleman, Paul Henry Na Paul-Henri Nargeolet and Stockton Rush. Titan had planned to give passengers a close-up view of the wreckage of the Titanic, but lost contact with the ship less than two hours into the voyage. On April 15, 1912, the famous British passenger liner Titanic sank in the North Atlantic after colliding with an iceberg. Passengers paid $250,000 for the trip, which was supposed to venture into the ocean at a depth of nearly 13,123 feet. The aircraft’s breathable air supply is expected to be exhausted on the morning of June 22, 2023. On the same day, the passengers were confirmed dead after a debris field was discovered on the Atlantic seafloor hundreds of meters from the wreckage. Titanic’s. OceanGate believes the passengers died in a “catastrophic implosion” and issued a statement shortly after the discovery of the wreckage, which read:
We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Ha Hamish Harding and Paul-Henri Nargeolet sadly passed away. These people are true explorers, with a unique sense of adventure and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans. Our hearts go out to these five souls and each of their family members at this tragic time. We grieve the lives lost and the joy they brought to everyone we knew. “
Facts/Trivia
- In 2016, Harding visited the South Pole with famous astronaut Buzz Aldrin. At the age of 86, Aldrin became the oldest person ever to reach the South Pole.
Hamish Harding and Buzz Aldrin
- In 2020, he took his son Giles to the South Pole, making him the youngest person to reach the South Pole when he was only 12 years old.
- Hardin played an important role in the Explorers Club as a board member and served as president of its Middle East Chapter.
- In September 2022, Harding’s airline “Action Aviation” provided a specially modified Boeing 747-400 aircraft to transport eight cheetahs from Namibia to India. The initiative is part of a partnership between the Government of India and Namibia’s Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) to reintroduce cheetahs to India, where they have been extinct since 1947. The Explorers Club recognized the project as a remarkable adventure, and Harding proudly carried the club flag on a flight to India, accompanied by CCF founder Laurie Markle.
- In 2022, he appeared in the weekly magazine of Khaleej Times newspaper “WKND”.
Hamish Harding featured in WKND magazine
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education