Dick earned his Dirigible Pilot Certificate (which was signed by Orville Wright) as a young M.I.T. grad working for the Goodyear Zeppelin Corporation in 1930. In 1934, Dick was assigned to the Zeppelin Company of Friedrichshafen, Germany. He was the only non-Luftschiffban employee aboard the Hindenburg on its first flight, and the only American to make twenty-two transatlantic crossings in the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelin. Dick authored The Golden Age of the Great Passenger Airships in which he outlined the design, construction, performance and operating procedures of the Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg. Following the destruction of the Hindenburg and the end of the airships as a viable transportation system, Dick moved to Wichita where he resided until his death.