Pilot, 23, leads new era of aviation pioneers

Justin Coons, Rocky Mountain News

Friday, June 22, 2007

When Barrington Irving's plane swooped into view, the seven men in crimson blazers stood and stared into the sky.

Irving's red, white and blue single-engine plane buzzed along the cloudy, gray backdrop Thursday afternoon at the Front Range Airport in Watkins, dipping to make a landing. The men rushed to the tarmac.

Before Irving had time to get out and stretch his legs, the men were shaking his hand.

To the men in the red blazers, the Tuskegee Airmen, Irving represents the future.

Irving, 23, is attempting to become the youngest person and the first black person to fly solo around the world.

"My whole purpose and mission is to target students and show them that there are available opportunities in flying," he said.

As he was growing up, aviation never really struck Irving as something he saw in his future. In Miami's Carol City neighborhood, Irving didn't see much of a future for himself at all.

"I wasn't sure I'd make it to 25 years old," he said.

That all changed when a pilot with United Airlines invited him to tour a jet and explained how to get into the business.

Ever since, Irving has been hooked on flying. And now he has dedicated his career to spreading information on how youngsters can get involved.

"It's worth my life," he said. "It's truly worth my life."

Irving began his journey March 23, flying from Miami to Cleveland. In the three months since, he's leaped from country to country, flying through Greece, Italy, Egypt and Japan, to name a few.

Irving has two flights left on his itinerary, to Houston and then to Miami, before he completes his lap around the globe.

At every stop in America, a local chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first black pilots in the U.S. military, has met him.

"It's actually pretty humbling," Irving said. "Those guys, they are the real heroes."

Ronald Hilliard, president of the Hubert L. Hooks chapter of the Airmen, said Irving's tireless campaign will help bring more young people and more minorities into aviation.

Irving will speak at the Front Range Airshow in Watkins this weekend.

"It is a major event," Hilliard said. "This man is lighting the way for kids to find their futures. In our time, we were the trailblazers. We need someone to blaze the trail now."