As you read this, a young pilot named Barrington Irving is making his final preparations to depart on a once-in-a lifetime journey to promote aviation careers. His mission is to fly around the World to meet with children to discuss the various career possibilities in aviation and aerospace. The physical demands of Barrington’s aeronautical feat are impressive but even more so when you also consider the importance of his journey. After all, this young pilot wants to inspire kids to dream and plan for their future. Best of all, you’ll be able to virtually fly along with him thanks to some valuable help from high-tech supporters.

We’ll talk more about the virtual side of Barrington’s trip in just a bit. First, however, let’s explore the fire within Barrington that pushes him to fly around the world? He tells us that it’s about showing kids (and the adults alike) that aviation is more than just a mode of transportation. “It’s a lifestyle for many of us,” he explains.

Born To Fly
The eldest of three brothers, Barrington was born on November 11, 1983 in Kingston, Jamaica. At the age of six, he moved to Miami, Fla.’s inner city. Despite the prevalence of drugs and crime, Barrington chose to follow the positive standard of living set by several role models in his life. In addition to recognizing his father’s hard work and dedication to succeed, the young boy was further motivated by the elder Irving’s sacrifice to help him get an education.

At the age of 16, Barrington was encouraged to pursue an aeronautical career by a United Airlines pilot he just happened to meet. Capt. Gary Robinson met Barrington in a bookstore and offered him the opportunity to tour Capt. Robinson’s Boeing 777 stationed in Miami. He immediately fell in love with the thought of becoming a pilot. By coincidence, Barrington later met another pilot, Robert Girdler, who owns a Cessna 172 and offered the opportunity to fly every other week.

Back at school, Barrington declined numerous football scholarships to pursue a career in aviation – a decision he does not regret. “The joy and excitement I felt every week with thousands of football fans cheering my team onto the Florida State Championship could not compare to a simple flight in a Cessna 172,” Barrington tells us. “At the time, I did not know how I was going to pay for my flight training but I decided to follow my heart and continued to work with Capt. Robinson to pursue my dream to fly.”

After earning his private pilot license, Barrington began to visit schools and youth centers to speak about career opportunities in aviation. Barrington researched the aviation industry and discovered there is a significant shortage of younger technically skilled professionals. He started a company called Experience Aviation and pushed his message while continuing to work with disadvantaged youth. In the meantime, Barrington received the Florida Memorial University/U.S. Air Force Flight Awareness Scholarship (worth $100,000). This paid for his flight training and studies at Florida Memorial University. Barrington completed the first year of Air Force ROTC, while earning his instrument rating, commercial license and multi-engine instrument rating. He is currently in his senior year and is completing his certified flight instructor training. In October 2006, Barrington held a press event (complete with the Miami-Dade mayor and several other local leaders attending) to officially open his new learning center, which will house his main educational initiative called Get A Life & Fly. It is designed to provide eight students from low-income families the opportunity to earn their private pilot license while in high school.

While only 21 years old, Barrington’s future goals include becoming a commercial airline pilot, developing an educational institution that will inspire youth to pursue careers in aviation and aerospace, and continuing to enhance minority achievements in aviation. “As a volunteer in the Miami area, I find the greatest career challenges facing today’s youth is that they are uninformed, misinformed, and lack self-confidence,” Barrington claims. “Some career counselors only introduce jobs that aren’t technical and challenging. Many youth are afraid to think outside the box and venture into career fields like the aviation/aerospace industry.” By reaching 5 percent of America's youth, Barrington believes he can create a significant change for today’s kids.

To learn more about Barrington Irving and track his record-setting flight, please visit his website at www.experienceaviation.org and click on the video screen tp the right to watch an interview with Barrington.

Next Stop - The World 
In 2003, Barrington developed another idea to spark the minds of impressionable youth.  He believed that if he could fly around the world at the age of 21, he would inspire youth to pursue their dreams in aviation and other related fields. If Barrington accomplishes this feat, he will become the youngest pilot, and the first African-American, to fly solo around the World. His chosen aircraft is the high performance, piston-powered Columbia 400. The single-engine, fixed-gear, low-wing general aviation aircraft is built by Bend, OR-based Columbia Aircraft. The mostly composite built airplane is considered one of the fastest FAA-certified piston aircraft in production today, reaching a speed of 235 knots at 25,000 feet.

Attempting a flight around the world is a challenge, but getting sponsorship turned out to be a major hurdle early on. Barrington soon realized many individuals did not believe he was capable of accomplishing the record-setting flight. In the end, however, his project gained much exposure and he was able to gather the necessary funding to make the trip possible. He received his first big break with the Florida Lotto and later Miami Executive Aviation. The Lotto launched a massive advertising campaign profiling Barrington’s trip statewide in more than 100 newspapers and magazines. The organization also filmed a 30-second commercial, which was aired on television during weekly lotto drawings. In total, Barrington has received about $260,000 of financial support. He’ll need every bit of it to make his dream a reality.

A Virtual Adventure
The best part of Barrington’s adventure is that you will be able to track his progress online in real-time thanks to Microsoft and Sky Connect LLC. The latter is a small company that has installed over 2,000 satellite tracking and voice systems for general aviation aircraft. SkyConnect has supplied Barrington with such a tracking system (without cost) to help make the online tracking feature a reality. Microsoft Web designers will use the data captured from the tracking system, translate it and then populate an online map with Barrington’s position, speed, direction, and altitude.

Mike Singer, Microsoft’s Flight Simulator X Community Team Experience Architect told Avjobs Weekly his team will create the Web interface to be located on Microsoft’s FSInsider.com and Barrington’s Experience Aviation website. “We’ll also provide information on how users can use Flight Simulator to follow in Barrington’s footsteps and fly each leg on their own, using real-world weather,” he tells us. “This will likely include flight plans for each leg, etc.” Singer also advised the Flight Simulator team plans to work with Barrington after his flight to help develop educational packages incorporating Flight Simulator X. “His commitment to education and inspiring young people to careers in aviation is quite impressive for someone of his age,” Singer added.

Thanks to Sky Connect’s Mission Management Unit (MMU) Barrington will also be able to send and receive text messages with children based at various schools. These messages and Microsoft online map will refresh every 5 minutes or so.

Motivating Factors
It’s fair to say the 22 year-old pilot has a lot of work ahead of him but Barrington Irving understands that every bit of effort helps. “I’ve learned the following three things,” he explains. “Great ideals are easy to conceive but hard to deliver; Keep knocking on doors and eventually the door of opportunity will open; and Persistence and passion is the fuel necessary to drive any great dream. Kids either have no idea of the career opportunities in the aeronautic field or have a lot of misconceptions, especially when a piloting career is discussed. There is no doubt aviation is a unique field but often times our kids must be encouraged and lack the self confidence to pursue something totally different from their friends. Any career is attainable by any child. The sky is the limit!”