I had never heard of Barrington Irving before today, but he has fans all over the world.

They log onto his blog, at Experience Aviation, and read about his experiences as he flies across the globe in a single-engine airplane. By himself. Irving, a 23-year-old Miami native, plans to be the youngest person and the first African American to make a solo flight across the world. The plane he’s flying in, dubbed “Inspiration,” was built out of donated parts.

He’s still in college, majoring in aeronautics, but he has also managed to found Experience Aviation, an organization that encourages young minorities to pursue aviation professions. Read more about his flight after the jump.

Blistery weather delayed his flight from New York to Canada. He flew into St. Maria, Azores, the day after a mini-earthquake. And he was briefly stranded in Athens, Greece, last week due to a sandstorm in Egypt. From there, he flew to Cairo, then to Luxor, Egypt, and on Sunday to Dubai.

“In the original flight plans, we had eight cushion days. But weather is a very constant, moving and changing thing,” Arcia said. “It’s not something you can really rely on. You take it for what it is, and you have to respect it.”

Irving emphasized on his blog that meeting his 41-day deadline is not as important as completing the trip.

“I constantly remind myself that this is not a race,” he wrote March 28. “Instead it’s like I’m running a marathon so I must pace myself safely.”

A pretty interesting young man, but of course most of us have probably never heard of him. Or maybe it’s just me, and I’m not as up on the news as I thought I was. But I think it’s because Irving has gotten little to no press. With all of the drama about nappy-headed hoes, we can’t expect journalists to concern themselves with something positive.
[Sun-Sen]