Feb 12, 2008 10:59 am US/Eastern
Irving's Historic Flight Honored In U.S. House
WASHINGTON, DC (CBS4) ―
A 24-year old pilot who became the youngest and first African American to fly around the world solo will be honored Tuesday in our nation's Capitol.
Barrington Irving will be presented with a Congressional Resolution which encourages youth and underrepresented groups to pursue careers in aviation.
The resolution, introduced last year by U.S. Representatives Alcee Hastings of Miramar and Kendrick Meek of Miami, received unanimous U.S. House approval in December, 2007.
"Barrington Irving is one of the greatest young heroes of our time," said Hastings. "His triumph demonstrates that if you reach for the sky, you truly can make it, and in turn, make history."
"When the younger generation is looking for a role model and hero, they need to look no further than Barrington Irving," said Meek. "This young pilot proved that when you dream big dreams and work hard, the extraordinary is possible. I am honored to call Barrington Irving a constituent."
Irving, who was born in Kingston, Jamaica, was raised in inner-city Miami. He said his inspiration for making this flight was to inspire inner-city and minority youth, and other youth throughout the world, to consider pursuing careers in aviation and aerospace. In fact, he said he named his plane "Inspiration…because that's what I want my historic venture to be for young people. They can look at me and realize that if I can achieve my dream, they can too."
Irving was inspired at age 15 when a customer in his parents' Christian bookstore, Jamaican airline pilot Captain Gary Robinson, asked him if he had ever considered becoming a pilot. The next day, Robinson took the Irving on a tour of the cockpit of the United Airlines Boeing 777. After that tour, Irving said he was hooked. He began by washing planes and working odd jobs to pay for flying lessons. He even turned down a college football scholarship so he could enroll in a local community college to study aeronautics.
Soon he was awarded a joint Air Force/Florida Memorial University Flight Awareness Scholarship and transferred to FMU, where he excelled in academics and flight training courses. By age 19, he had earned his Private Pilot and Flight Instructor licenses and his Commercial and Instrument Ratings.
Irving's four month 30,000-mile "World Flight Adventure" began on June 23, 2007. During his history making flight, Irving clocked more than 130 hours of flight time and made 27 stops that included the Azores, Spain, Greece, Egypt, Dubai, India, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan before he returned to the U.S. via Alaska.
"I wish I had a chance to bring every child tracking the flight on my adventure, but I will be carrying all their hearts with me in the plane," Irving said when he left Miami. "This is what fuels me-having youth believe in what I can do, so they can also begin to believe in themselves."
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