Louisiana Teen Becomes Youngest Pilot To Fly Solo Around The World

An 18-year-old from Louisiana has become the youngest pilot to fly solo around the world, beating out the previous record holder by 71 days. It took Mason Andrews 76 days to complete the journey in his single-engine Piper PA-32 Lance, which he named The Spirit of Louisiane. 

Mason told the Associated Press that his favorite part of the trip was landing in Paris at night and seeing the Eiffel Tower as he made his final approach. 

"The highlight was flying into Paris. I saw the Eiffel Tower on the approach — I landed at night," he said in a telephone interview from Louisiana Tech in Ruston. On the ground, "I went and saw it all lit up and walked along the Seine... I was able to realize, 'I just flew across the Atlantic Ocean!'"

His attempt to circumnavigate the globe was not without setbacks. The trip was originally supposed to take 40 days, but he got stuck for three weeks in the Philippines due to three major typhoons. When he was flying through Saudi Arabia, he spent over ten hours navigating through a sandstorm using only manual instruments. He also had a run-in with a Chinese F-16 when he inadvertently veered into Taiwanese airspace. 

Was it scary? "A little bit. It was cool to see." Andrews said he'd have liked to take a photo, but "I didn't want to provoke the guy. I knew he could see me."

Andrews corrected his course and flew back into Japanese airspace and continued on his trip.  

Andrews wrapped up his trip on Saturday at the age of 18 years, 163 days old, dethroning Lachlan Smart of Queensland, Australia, who completed the feat at 18 years, 234 days old in 2016. 

Andrews isn't done flying and has big plans in the works.

"I will be attempting another aviation world record. No details yet. But there are more plans in the future," he said.