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Apr 16, 2008 1:21 pm US/Eastern
Young Pilot Lands His Own Day For Historic Flight
TALLAHASSEE (CBS4) ―
The Florida Legislature has recognized a South Florida man for his record-breaking flight that made him the youngest pilot and the first African-American pilot ever to fly around the world.
Lawmakers passed a resolution honoring Barrington Irving and have declared April 16, 2008 "Barrington Irving Day" in Florida.
Irving was 23 years old when he started his 26,000-mile journey in March 2007 and convinced friends, politicians and corporate sponsors to believe in his aviation dream. He flew a plane named "Inspiration" and amassed thousands of fans who followed him on his blog and flight tracker. Teachers across the country even taught geography lessons based on his travels.
Irving, who lives in Miami Gardens, returned in June.
In February of 2008, Irving was presented with a Congressional Resolution which encourages youth and underrepresented groups to pursue careers in aviation.
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 Irving on a tour of a 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.
During his historic 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.
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