Mr. Barrington Irving has just set a new world record, actually 2 of them. The records are for being the youngest to fly solo around the world. This young pilot, only 23, has just finished his world hopping flight after starting 93 days ago. He is also the first African American to make the trip.
Mr. Irving is a senior majoring in aerospace at Florida Memorial University, who started to learn to fly when he was just 16. His motivation to take on and create this world record?
“…inspire other young people to resist the negative influences of the streets and work toward their dreams.”
Mr. Irving did it, and he is no rich celebrity. He went to a community college with a partial Florida Bright Future Scholarship before his work and dedication prompted community leaders to provide him joint Air Force/Florida Memorial University Flight Awareness Scholarship to further his education and flight training. He has earned his Private, Commercial Pilot, and Flight Instructor licenses. In addition he founded a nonprofit organization, Experience Aviation, Inc.
I, for one, and truly impressed and filled with respect for Mr. Irving. His plane, called Inspiration, was built from donated parts he collected. He had Chevron donate the fuel for his trip, Microsoft donated free Flight Simulator software to students of Experience Aviation, 2 satellite companies provided tracking software so people could follow him on his trip, and a software development company is making a flight simulator based on him.
All this came to Mr. Barrington Irving, who was born in Jamaica and raised in the inner-city of Miami, because he went for it. This is a story that needs to be covered more. Kids in cities can succeed. Black men can be more than a rapper, athlete, or drug-dealing pimp. Education, dreams and a will for more, when coupled with hard work can get you wherever you want to go. Don’t believe that because I said so, know it because Mr. Barrington Irving did it.
This is what I think, what do you think?
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