Pilot urges teens to pursue dreams
As an African-American teen, Barrington Irving assumed sports was his best chance at getting out of his inner-city Miami neighborhood.
“I thought football would be my way on to college,” said Irving, a high school standout who received several scholarship offers.
But his passion was flying and he rejected scholarships to work toward his dream of flying solo around the world. And this year Irving, 23, became the youngest pilot and first African American to do so, a three-month trip that ended June 27.
“I really encourage you all to pursue your dreams,” he told an enthusiastic crowd at the IdeaFestival in Louisville yesterday. “Don’t let anyone stop you.”
The crowd, which gave Irving a standing ovation, included students and teachers from the Shawnee High School Magnet Career Academy’s flight program, who said they were inspired by Irving’s one-hour talk.
Irving drew laughter from the crowd when he described washing airplanes and other menial jobs to earn money for flight school to get his pilot’s license. “I did whatever it took,” he said.
Early on, Irving decided he was going to fly solo around the world — but lacked an airplane. So he began persuading manufacturers to donate parts and convinced a company to build his plane.
His biggest feat, Irving said, was talking his way into a five-minute meeting with the president of an aircraft engine company where he asked for an engine. The president listened to him in silence and walked out, Irving said.
Two weeks later, the company agreed to donate an $83,000 engine.
He crossed the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and his route took him to such places as Canada, Spain, North Africa and Hong Kong. At times, he wondered if he would survive flying through thunderstorms, monsoons and sand storms — often in desolate areas.
“I’m very fortunate to be alive,” he said. “Honestly, I shouldn’t be alive.”
Irving said his goal now is to encourage young people, especially minority youths, to consider careers in aviation. He said an airline pilot who befriended him as a teenager was his inspiration.
He has opened the Experience Aviation Learning Center in Miami, where youths can learn about flying, and plans to expand into other cities. And he hopes to continue telling young people that sometimes they have to pursue their goals even if no one else believes in them.
15/09/07 Deborah Yetter/Louisville Courier-Journal, US