Congress Honors Young Black Pilot

The U.S. Congress has honored Barrington Irving, the first black pilot to make a solo round-the-world flight.

Irving, in an appearance Tuesday before the House of Representatives, said he plans to have Miami high school students in his aviation program build his next plane, The Miami Herald reported.

The 24-year-old became the youngest person to fly around the world alone when he returned to Miami June 27, 2007. He had taken off 95 days earlier on March 23 from the Opa-locka airport in a single-engine plane named Inspiration.

Irving turned down football scholarships to study aviation at Florida Memorial University. After his historic flight, he started Experience, a program to get Miami teens interested in flying.

He said that after his students build the Inspiration II he will fly it himself.

I’m going to have complete trust in them, Irving said. Now it’s their turn to be the world’s inspiration.