de Crespigny decided he wanted to become a pilot after touring RAAF base Point Cook in Victoria when he was 14. He went on to enter the RAAF at age 17 in 1975. During his first training flight the instructor did not stop him from putting the plane into a downward spiral, after which he left de Crespigny to stop the plane from plummeting to the ground alone. The incident left him terrified but heightened his awareness of the dangers of complaceny and human error in flight. In 1982 he was posted to the Air Force VIP jets for a short time, but soon he became certified as a helicopter pilot and was deployed to El Gorah, Egypt. While he was accepted into training to fly the F-111, he never went on to become a fighter pilot.
Civil aviation
Shortly after leaving the military for Qantas in 1986 he took a break from flying to establish Aeronaut Industries Pty Ltd due to a recession in the aviation industry reducing the amount of jobs available for pilots. During this period he did complete an annual flight check during the two-year break. Not land after returning to Qantas full time he converted to flying the 747-400, having previously been a pilot of the 747-200 and 747-300 "classic" aircraft. In 2004 he switched to flying the Airbus A330, and in 2008 he was certified to fly the A380.
Qantas 32
On 4 November 2010 de Crespigny was serving as pilot-in-command of Qantas Flight 32 while also undergoing a route check. The A380 under his command suffered an uncontained engine failure several minutes after leaving Singapore Changi Airport. Despite facing over 50 ECAM warning checklists and having limited use of many critical systems on the aircraft, including brakes, hydraulics, and electronics, the crew managed to bring the plane back to the airport and make an emergency landing. After the landing one engine had to be forcefully shut down by firefighting foam before passengers could disembark safety since it was not responding to inputs by the flight controls and the pressurized water failed to shut it down. Once in the airport terminal he reassured the passengers and answered questions. While a passenger on a 747 flight home he experienced another engine failure, albeit a much less severe engine failure, that forced the plane to turn around and left him in Singapore for a few more days.
