Nineteen-year-old Ryan Campbell will leave Australia on June 30 in his attempt to become the first teenager to fly around the world.
Ryan will depart from Wollongong at dawn in his Cirrus SR22, with the first stop at Norfolk Island, 933 nm away.
His route will take him to the USA, then across the North Atlantic to the UK, then back to Australia via the Middle East and Indonesia, entering Australia at Port Hedland.
The ten-week journey is scheduled to conclude back in Wollongong on September 7, with Campbell having covered almost 24,000 nautical miles including 28 stops in 14 countries on five continents.
Currently, the record for the youngest person to fly solo around the world belongs to 21-year-old Malaysian James Tan, although American Jack Wiegand will shortly lower that to 20.
“What I am setting out to achieve is not going to be easy," the young pilot from the Sunshine Coast acknowledges.
"Fewer people have flown solo around the world than have been into space, but I have a great support team around me and have planned very well.
“There’s a couple of reasons that I am doing this and have been planning to do it almost full-time for two years .
“Firstly, I just love flying and it has been a part of my life since I dreamt of being a pilot as a six-year-old. The second reason for my journey is to inspire young people to chase their dreams like I am pursuing mine.
“I want to show other young people by my example that there are ways to have the adrenalin and excitement they are looking for whilst achieving something they may never have thought possible.
“Really, not only am I trying to inspire youth to take flight, but for their dreams to take flight too, in whatever field that may be."
Ryan's chariot of choice is a Cirrus SR22 converted to a single-seat aircraft. Normally holding a mere 348 litres of avgas, Campbell's has been modified to include a 605-litre tank behind the pilot's seat. This is expected to keep the plane aloft for nearly 15 hours.
Ryan Campbell's Route - Main Waypoints
- Wollongong
- Norfolk Island
- Pago Pago
- Kiribati
- Hawaii
- Los Angeles
- Tucson
- Kill Devil Hill, North Carolina
- Oshkosh
- Goose Bay
- Iceland
- Stornaway, Scotland
- Cannes, France
- Rhodes
- Aswan, Egypt
- Sri Lanka
- Padang, Indonesia
- Port Hedland
- Alice Springs
- Broken Hill
- Wollongong
Campbell is also determined to encourage other young people to aim for the stars, using the publicity from his trip to promote Youth in Aviation and World Youth International’s ‘Dare 2 Dream’ scholarship fund.