18-y/o solo pilot RTW in a C-172

Many (myself included) consider an attempt to break the "youngest pilot to fly around the world record" to be a pretty bad idea, apart from the fact that there is no official record along those lines defined by the FAI (for good reasons). The experience an 18-year-old has in terms of flying, meteorology, life in general, foreign countries/languages/cultures/local habits etc. is a real limitation on those trips which are not really about stick-and-rudder skills but a lot of other things.

I wish him luck, but I would not encourage anyone to try this solo at such a young age.

- Martin
 
Martin Pauly said:
Many (myself included) consider an attempt to break the "youngest pilot to fly around the world record" to be a pretty bad idea, apart from the fact that there is no official record along those lines defined by the FAI (for good reasons). The experience an 18-year-old has in terms of flying, meteorology, life in general, foreign countries/languages/cultures/local habits etc. is a real limitation on those trips which are not really about stick-and-rudder skills but a lot of other things.

I wish him luck, but I would not encourage anyone to try this solo at such a young age.

- Martin
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Was waiting for someone to say it more eloquently than myself. I wish the young man luck, but we've seen a few of these "youngest" whether it be in air or sea end poorly. I certainly had some naivety at his age that would have ended the attempt prematurely in some form. I truly wish the young man luck.
 
Friend of mine was looking at flying around the world. When the cost of permits, fees, fuel, etc. hit $100k he bailed on the project. Now he was running 100LL so there was probably some additional cost at getting fuel to where he would need it. And I think he was using someone who takes care of making all the arrangements.

Still has to be a ton of money to undertake a trip like this. Makes you wonder who's writing the check.
 
donjohnston said:
.Makes you wonder who's writing the check.
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Daddy is, and a professional flight support company are doing all the organisation, arranging hosting on the ground etc. All he has to do is turn up and fly the flight plan he's given.

The hard part about a round the world flight is the financing and the logistics. If someone else does all that for you, then it's happy days.
 
As of 2021-06-20 he is at KGTU, Georgetown, TX. Doing a lot of zig-zaging (N & S) across western US.
 
Young males do adventurous risky stuff. It’s normal. I wish him luck but as risky stuff goes it’s a lot tamer than say, yeah I wanna sign up to go to war. Or, sure I’ll fly on the first manned rocket launch.
 
ETres said:
No one can fold a paper chart. NO ONE!
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Lol. That one made me scratch my head too. It's a piece of paper. You fold it. It's not that tough, and in the grad scheme of important aviation skills, I'm putting "folding a piece of paper" pretty low on the list.
 
Pilawt said:
https://www.azfamily.com/news/teen-...0-11eb-a9fd-1b0f59f1f455.html?block_id=997197

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N5010/history

He's flying a C-172R with a Thielert diesel engine. That makes it a lot easier to find fuel everywhere around the world.
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I enjoyed the series by Louis and JP going around the world in their Cessna 210. But the fun part was watching all their planning, last minute diversions, and their personalities. The flying part was no different than any other routine cross country flight. There is not much to see when you are above 10k ft (which is the case in most of these flights).
 
sarangan said:
I enjoyed the series by Louis and JP going around the world in their Cessna 210. But the fun part was watching all their planning, last minute diversions, and their personalities
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agree! That was a really fun series on YouTube

JP started another channel but it seems to have gone quite
 
Yep, I lived north of Denver at the time. The crash was all over the news.
 
A1Topgun said:
The shortest distance between two point is a .....
Is this a Round the World Flight or a Round the World Tour?
Enjoy it while you can.
View attachment 97535
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I don't think it was a record attempt or anything, so good for him. Also, he's raising money for UNICEF, so a tour might actually be a good thing.
 
For FAI to recognise it as a round the world flight you need to fly a minimum of 24,000 miles - hence, criss-crossing the USA where the flying is easiest and cheapest.
 
Lindberg said:
He's an adult
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Sort of. He’s 18. At my age now I have trouble thinking of 27 year olds as fully adult.

and has been a licensed pilot for more than four years.
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How so? In UK you can’t solo until 16 and you get certified at 17. He’s been a licensed pilot for one year. Am I missing something?

And flying solo does not imply that he's going at this completely on his own; he's clearly not. So I just don't understand all the criticism.
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I agree with you. There’s a universe of difference between an 18 year old male and a 7 year old girl. Sorry to sound sexist but it’s true. The odds that this boy is driving his own train are way higher than the odds Jessica was.
 
Martin Pauly said:
Many (myself included) consider an attempt to break the "youngest pilot to fly around the world record" to be a pretty bad idea, apart from the fact that there is no official record along those lines defined by the FAI (for good reasons). The experience an 18-year-old has in terms of flying, meteorology, life in general, foreign countries/languages/cultures/local habits etc. is a real limitation on those trips which are not really about stick-and-rudder skills but a lot of other things.

I wish him luck, but I would not encourage anyone to try this solo at such a young age.

- Martin
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o_O

Experience he will certainly gain on a RTW flight, quickly, and far more quickly than any of us "worldly crudgeons" attained it.

Should he succeed in his venture, and not wind up in some gulag, youtube durka-durka video, or plunked into the ocean, he will return with these skills far in excess of most of us. I expect you'd interview him willingly to extract and memorialize his experience.

Good for him for having an idea and acting on it. I can't imagine a bleaker thing to wish on a youngster than a risk-free and tribulation-free existence. Yuck.
 
Rushie said:
Sort of. He’s 18. At my age now I have trouble thinking of 27 year olds as fully adult.
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Nevertheless, he is one.


How so? In UK you can’t solo until 16 and you get certified at 17. He’s been a licensed pilot for one year. Am I missing something?
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Actually, he's been flying gliders since 12, soloed at 14. He might not be certified in them though.

I agree with you. There’s a universe of difference between an 18 year old male and a 7 year old girl.
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So much so that it's not even worth discussing.
Sorry to sound sexist but it’s true. The odds that this boy is driving his own train are way higher than the odds Jessica was.
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It's already been discussed that he's got organizational sponsors and is working with professional logisticians. And even more importantly, he's already past the difficult parts.
 
Yeah I was surprised at all the criticism of this.. 18 years old is plenty old enough legally and psychologically to do plenty of adult tasks

Flying an airplane great long distances, especially if you have a good support system, doesn't seem unusually crazy

I'm sure many of us, including myself, would have absolutely jumped at the opportunity to do this

And so what if he has good avionics, don't most of us fly something with at least a 430 at this point??

Good for him!
 
He managed to pick up 8,931NM crossing Canada and USA.
Looks like he is headed home.
map01.jpg
 
A few decades ago such an attempt ended with fatal results and they weren’t even on a long leg over water. Think long and hard about this before proceeding.
 
He's now asking for donations to pay the Greenland airports after-hours costs. I avoided those costs by just taking off at 9am instead of later in the day. I told him about those costs before he took off...
 
The flight support company that were doing the planning, logistics etc have just pulled out, citing the fact that the pilot and "home base" team were now ignoring them and refusing to communicate. Guess that explains stupid stuff like the Greenland situation...



I do think Travis himself has shown decent judgement and airmanship for his age, from what I have seen.
 
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Katamarino said:
He's now asking for donations to pay the Greenland airports after-hours costs. I avoided those costs by just taking off at 9am instead of later in the day. I told him about those costs before he took off...
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What kind of fees would he be assessed. Couple hundred?? Or couple thousands?
Plus could it be right that leg from goose bay to Greenland took 7h snd 38 min??!!
 
G.A.S.E….seems like a chicken **** organization putting something like that in writing…just my take…reputation lol…
 
Warlock said:
G.A.S.E….seems like a chicken **** organization putting something like that in writing…just my take…reputation lol…
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it seems like a good move to me. I have used handlers and logistics teams to fly GA in Africa and Central America. To ignore your logistics team is bizarre.
 
benyflyguy said:
What kind of fees would he be assessed. Couple hundred?? Or couple thousands?
Plus could it be right that leg from goose bay to Greenland took 7h snd 38 min??!!
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$1,100 for arrival after hours and another $1,100 for departure on a Sunday.
 
Warlock said:
G.A.S.E….seems like a chicken **** organization putting something like that in writing…just my take…reputation lol…
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G.A.S.E. are an extremely competent group, and have been supporting this kind of flight for well over a decade. They do it for the love of GA and don't really charge, typically just passing on any direct expenses; they're not making any money off this.

I think they've shown huge patience in sticking with it as long as they have. At some point you need to speak out; because when most people read about a screw-up like Greenland their first thought is to assume the support company messed up. That absolutely isn't the case here.
 
Katamarino said:
The flight support company that were doing the planning, logistics etc have just pulled out, citing the fact that the pilot and "home base" team were now ignoring them and refusing to communicate. Guess that explains stupid stuff like the Greenland situation...

I do think Travis himself has shown decent judgement and airmanship for his age, from what I have seen.
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I've only casually followed Travis' journey... however it seems to me that Katamarino has it correct... the young pilot Travis seems to not be the problem, but rather the intermediaries (father? other family member?) appear to be the core of the problem. How on earth can GASE not be allowed to regularly (daily, hourly) converse with the pilot?! As DesertNomad says... "bizarre".
 
I wonder who’s the real pilot? One can’t let a support team or “intermediary” people make “pilot decisions”. Part of being a pilot is to get information, prioritize, and act. Handling the controls is the easy part. Sounds like the pilot needs to step up and be the pilot.
 
So solo is really not solo…cause you need a support team that looks like a moon shot…go figure…
 
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