Aero-TV: Leadership by Example -- Barrington Irving Inspires

Where Will The Aviators Of Tomorrow Come From? Here's One Flyer Trying to Affect Our Future... Positively

He's made quite a name for himself in his 25 years... and we surely haven't heard the last of this aviator. Barrington Irving is reportedly the youngest person to pilot a plane around the world solo. He is also the first African American and first Jamaican to accomplish this feat. He accomplished his amazing adventure in a Columbia 400 named the "Inspiration."

Over the course of the trip he got to know Mother nature very well. Of the over water portions of his flight, Irving (above) added "My hats off to Charles Lindbergh. I don’t know how he did it but I know why his windows were so small, when you’re flying over that much water, you don’t want to see it."

Born in Jamaica and then raised in Miami inner-city, Irving and his friends didn’t have many routes "out." Good grades and athletic prowess in football promised Irving a future in sports and a way to shed Miami’s influence.

One day when he was 15, his life turned to aviation. A customer in his parent’s Christian bookstore was Jamaican Airlines Captain Gary Robinson. Robinson invited Irving to see the Boeing 777 he flew. The aviation bug snagged Irving, who became the airport kid -- washing planes for money for lessons or rides. The football team lost a star as Irving turned down all the scholarships and turned his dreams skyward. Few people understood his choice, including parents, friends and coaches... but Irving knew his path.

Irving attended Florida Memorial University and has worked his way an instructor rating. Throughout his training Irving started speaking at schools, churches and community groups about aviation careers. In 2005 Irving founded Experience Aviation, Inc. on Opa Locka Airport (FL). The program is designed to offer information and guidance to young people in the South Florida area about aviation careers.

Mr. Irving was born in Jamaica, and grew up in the Miami, Florida.[12] He is a graduate of Miami Northwestern High School. Mr. Irving turned down multiple football scholarship offers with his sights set on aviation. He later 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.

His message echoes Lindbergh’s. "It doesn’t matter where you’re coming from, what you have or what you don’t have all that matters is your passion." Irving never thought he was smart enough to be a pilot so one of his goals is to make sure young people realize their dreams in aviation are attainable. In the future, Irving will be working with NASA to encourage students into engineering.

And just recently, sixty high-school students participating in aviator Barrington Irving's "Build and Soar" program got a special thrill, when the plane they assembled was successfully test flown by Irving himself in mid-October.

Hundreds of students, supporters and onlookers gathered last Wednesday morning at Miami's Opa-Locka airport to witness the event. Just before take off, Irving told the crowd, "I'm not nervous about flying this aircraft because I believe in our students. I'm about to do something monumental."

An exemplary flyer, we're proud that Barrington is one of "us" and can't wait to see the effect he's going to have on our industry.

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