Youngest ever man to fly solo around the world

Type the words 'young black men' and do a Google search and it's akin to lighting the blue touch paper of a firework, one should stand well back. The stuff coming back is all negative, over-representation in a range of categories, crime statistics, both as victims and perpetrators, prisons, HIV/AIDS, gang violence, educational underachievement, the list goes on, as one result states, 'Life keeps getting worse for young black men!' That being the case you'd think it only right that in addition to highlighting the bad, there should also be an acknowledgement of the good. So major props to this 23 year old young man Barrington Irving, who becomes the youngest ever to fly solo around the world. What an achievement but that's not all. He had all sorts of problems trying to get a plane to attempt this feat. Finally as a last resort he had to acquire the individual components to build his own plane. Read the story below and please let others know!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/outlook/news/story/2007/07/070717_irving_jamaica.shtml

The youngest man to fly solo round the world

Barrington set off round the world with only 600 previous flying hours experience.
The youngest man to fly solo around the world has spoken to Outlook.
Barrington Irving Junior, who is 23, landed a small plane in the US state of Florida in late June, three months after starting his journey from the same place.
Listen to Barrington on Outlook
Barrington explained to Outlook presenter Fred Dove that his motivation had been to combat what he saw as negativity in his community.
"I came up with the idea to fly around the world just to prove a point to other kids in the community that they too can do something amazing in aviation and follow their dreams," he said.
What makes the story even more remarkable is that, in effect, Barrington had to build his own plane.
"No-one wanted to rent me a plane, lease me a plane, let me borrow a plane," he said.
Barrington said that the most difficult part was flying over the north Pacific - because of the thick fog.
"That's when I came up with the idea of going after the individual components - the engine, the cockpit system and so forth for the Colombia 400 aircraft which I chose and then have it assembled by the aircraft manufacturer.
"First I was able to get the small things and then when I was able to get the engine, it was a snowballing effect.. Everyone wanted to jump on board."
Once the plane had been assembled and despite only having 600 hours flying experience, Barrington set off eastwards, confronting a dangerous flight across the Atlantic rather than an easier flight westwards across the United States.
"It's a good thing I didn't realise what I was getting myself into," he said.
The flights across open water - over eight hours across the Atlantic, nine across the north Pacific - were, according to Barrington, the most hair-raising.
Among the highlights was the food that he tasted in the Mediterranean.
Barrington who originally comes from Jamaica and who moved to Florida when he was six years old, had never previously travelled outside the United States and the Caribbean.
Barrington was in touch with his mentor Gary Robinson practically every day.
He was inspired by a commercial airline pilot from Jamaica, Captain Gary Robinson, who first showed him round a cockpit when he was 16 and then acted as Barrington's mentor.
On the world trip, Barrington says that he was in touch with Robinson practically every day.
In completing his flight, Barrington also became the first black man and the first Jamaican to fly solo round the world.