On this day in 1927, Charles Lindbergh completed the first nonstop transatlantic flight, landing at Le Bourget airfield near Paris.
This from Wired’s Wired magazine’s today in tech:
Late in life, “Lucky Lindy” became an outspoken environmentalist, warning, among other things, of blindly embracing technology. “All the achievements of mankind have value only to the extent that they preserve and improve the quality of life,” he said. In a 1967 interview, he elaborated: “The human future depends on our ability to combine the knowledge of science with the wisdom of wildness.”
In the conception, preparation and planning for his flight, Lindbergh had to be a constant cheerleader for his unorthodox idea of making the first solo, nonstop transatlantic flight. Just goes to show that with a great idea, the right tools and tremendous determination — plus the vision that you can accomplish a task — you have a recipe for success. Passion, follow through and tenacity are also great traits. 😉
Much like Lindbergh, a young flier today is Barrington Irving, a 23-year old senior majoring in aerospace at Florida Memorial University, who concerned himself with the planning and building of an airplane built from scratch (with each individual piece donated by the manufacturers) to kick off an around the world flight that his site notes “will make him the first person of African descent and the youngest person ever to fly solo around the globe.”
“Barrington was just 15 but had found his passion. He started spending afternoons and weekends at the airport, washing planes for private aircraft owners in exchange for half-hour flights or money he could use for flying lessons. Every evening he practiced flying on his own using $40 Microsoft Flight Simulator software. Focused on the dream of becoming a pilot, he turned down college football scholarships and enrolled in a community college where his tuition was partly covered by a Florida Bright Future Scholarship based on his high marks in high school.”
And some people think that playing video games will net today’s youth no usable or valuable skills. Good for him.
You can follow Barrington’s flight on his blog at http://barringtonirving.spaces.live.com/ (a little behind schedule due to weather) and on his site at http://www.experienceaviation.org/.
