Barrington Irving

Barrington Irving (born November 11, 1983) is a Jamaican-born American pilot who previously held the record for the youngest person to pilot a plane around the world solo, a feat he accomplished in 2007. He is also the first black person and first Jamaican to accomplish this feat. His airplane, a Columbia 400 (Cessna Corvalis 400), is named the "Inspiration", and was manufactured and assembled by the Columbia Aircraft Mfg. Co. in 2005, classified as a standard aircraft in the utility category using over $300,000 in donated parts.

Barrington Irving
Barrington Irving in 2008
Born
Barrington Antonio Irving, Jr.[1]

(1983-11-11) November 11, 1983[2]
Kingston, Jamaica[3]
NationalityAmerican[4]
Jamaican
Known forFormerly youngest person to circumnavigate the world solo[5]
First black person to circumnavigate the world[6]
AwardsJamaica - Order of Distinction, Commander Class (2007)[7]
United States - 110th Congress, House Resolution 601 (2007)[8][9]

Early life and education

Irving was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and grew up in Miami, Florida.[10] He is a graduate of Miami Northwestern Senior High School. He turned down multiple football scholarship offers with his sights set on aviation, studying at Broward Community College and Florida Memorial University, where he graduated with honors. [11]

Career

After graduation, he founded Experience Aviation, a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering minority youth to pursue careers in aviation. His airplane, the "Inspiration", has been registered to Experience Aviation since 2006.

Irving's record was broken in 2012 by the 22-year-old Swiss Carlo Schmid and in 2014 by 19-year-old Matt Guthmiller.[12]

Awards and recognition

In 2007 Barrington received a Congressional Resolution for his pioneering work in education in technology. In 2012 he was named a National Geographic Emerging Explorer. Among other honors, he holds the NASA Trailblazer Award, the Guinness World Record and the NBAA 2019 American Spirit Award.

References
  1. "H. Res. 661 [110th]: Honoring the accomplishments of Barrington Antonio Irving, the youngest pilot and first person of..." GovTrack.us. Retrieved 2011-10-31.
  2. Moore, Clayton (1983-11-11). "Airport Journals". Airport Journals. Archived from the original on 2012-03-23. Retrieved 2012-01-29.
  3. "Interview With Barrington Irving Who Will Fly Solo Around The World (Jamaica)". Jamaicans.com. Retrieved 2011-10-31.
  4. "NASA - NE@Experience Aviation". Nasa.gov. 2008-08-01. Retrieved 2011-10-31.
  5. "Young Pilot Ends Round-The-World Solo Trip". CBS News. 2007-06-27.
  6. Samuels, Robert (2007-06-27). "Young pilot completes round-the-world flight". Miami Herald.
  7. "Barrington Irving Inducted into African American Library", November 9, 2007.Archived January 16, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  8. "H.Res.661: Honoring the accomplishments of Barrington Antonio Irving, the youngest pilot and first person of... OpenCongress". Opencongress.org. Archived from the original on 2011-07-27. Retrieved 2011-10-31.
  9. Published 18-Feb-08 (2008-02-18). "Youngest Pilot Jamaican Barrington Irving Honoured by US Congress". Caribbeanpressreleases.com. Retrieved 2011-10-31.
  10. "Pilot Eyes the World". Associated Press. 2007-03-23.
  11. https://www.coseboc.org/gol18-barrington-irving
  12. "MIT student finishes record flight around the world - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  • Experience Aviation - includes GPS-enabled flight tracker
  • uVu - exclusive video highlights of historic trip; keyword search: Barrington


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.