Barrington Irving
Quick Facts
Biography
Barrington Antonio Irving, Jr., C.D. (born November 11, 1983) was the youngest person to pilot a plane around the world solo, a feat he accomplished in 2007. He is also the first black person and first Jamaican to accomplish this feat. As of 2007, he was an aerospace student at Broward College. His airplane, a Columbia 400 (Cessna Corvalis 400), is named the "Inspiration", and was manufactured and assembled by the Columbia Aircraft Mfg. Co. in 2005, classified as a standard aircraft in the utility category using over $300,000 in donated parts.
Irving was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and grew up in Miami, Florida. He is a graduate of Miami Northwestern Senior High School. He 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.
Irving's record was broken in 2012 by the 22-year-old Swiss Carlo Schmid.