 On 23 January 1929, Dickins delivered the first airmail to the Northwest Territories.Despite this early success Western Canada lost the government airmail contract to Commercial Airways, which had its own famous bush pilot in Wop May.He was also the first pilot to fly along the Arctic coastline, the first to fly over the Barren Lands in the Northwest Territories, and the first to fly the full 2,000 mile length of the Mackenzie River, which he covered in two days.