Kid “With Nothing” Plans Round-The-World Flight

Growing up poor on the streets of Miami, Barrington Irving had no reason to expect to set an aviation record. Later this year, however, he hopes to be the youngest pilot to fly solo around the world. ”A part of me is like there’s no way I’m about to do this — a kid with nothing, on an airplane worth $600,000,” he told the Miami Herald. “Then a part of me feels like you waited long enough, you busted your butt. I’ve paid the price for this.” For a couple of years Irving, who paid for his private certificate by washing airplanes and mowing lawns, has been hitting up anyone and everyone he could think of in aviation to fund his record bid, which he estimates will cost $1 million (including a brand-new Columbia 400 being supplied by Columbia at a “significant discount.” The sponsorship drive is paying off and he’s now about $350,000 shy of his goal. He expects to have the full amount in time for a September launch. He expects the trip to take about a month and the longest flight will be a seven-hour trip from Alaska to Japan. Another 22-year-old has circled the earth but that was in 1929 and his plane was shipped over the oceans.