An Australian teenager attempting to become the youngest person in history to fly around the world in a single plane hopes that his quest will inspire other youngsters to be motivated to reach their dreams and goals.
Eighteen-year old Lachlan Smart, fresh out of high school, landed around 2:30p.m. Tuesday at Pago Pago International Airport in a single engine propeller driven aircraft after departing Queensland, Australia on July 4 (July 3 local time) with a stop in Fiji.
He was met at the airport by American Samoa Visitors Bureau executive director David Vaeafe, whose office is hosting the young man. Smart is spending two days in American Samoa, before he departs this morning heading to Christmas Island in Kiribati.
Vaeafe told Samoa News that he was informed by Smart that the flight from Fiji to Pago Pago took about five hours, and the next leg of the trip—heading to Christmas Island—will take about eight hours.
While on the ground for two days, Smart filled out various paperwork for clearance, as well as filing a flight plan with the federal government as his flight will enter Hilo, Hawai’i—the next stop after Christmas Island—and then on to the mainland US.
“We will also take Lachlan on a tour of the island for a ‘taste of American Samoa’,” Vaeafe said before a news conference at the Tradewinds Hotel, two hours after Smart landed at the Tafuna airport.
Speaking to reporters, Smart says planning the “Wings Around the World” trip began two and half years ago and the cost is around $350,000, which includes in-kind donations from various sponsors and supporters.
He said the planning included talking to aviation experts and others before coming up with the route, and he is looking at a journey of seven and a half weeks, covering 45,000 kilometers (about 30,000 miles), 24 locations in 20 countries on five continents.
He says his journey is not only a trip around the world but is also meant to make a difference in the lives of young people.
“I want to see more young people get out there and achieve their dreams and go for their goals as well, because as a generation of young people, often we tend to get sidetracked and lose that motivation and self-belief, and that's what stops us from achieving our dreams," he said. “I want to show that with a bit of determination, hard work, and motivation you can achieve anything."
Asked why he chose the locations which he did to land during this trip, Smart first pointed out that a lot of hard work went into the planning, which included logistical issues such as the type of fuel for the plane, accommodations, and airport transfers.
“During the stops, I do get to see a lot of different cultures, experience a lot of those great things, which I’m very excited about,” he said, adding that he does want to see first hand some of the locations on his route. “And I think they are incredible places.”
He acknowledged that despite all the preparations, things could change very quickly. For example, there was originally a stop at a location in Indonesia, but two weeks before departing Australia, his team received word that the type of fuel needed for the aircraft is no longer available there, and therefore changes had to be made.
He admitted that this type of trip “does present a lot of challenges” and it’s not going to be easy. “It wouldn’t be a world record if it was easy,” he said and identified two of the challenges— one being the weather—“one of the few things that we can’t control in aviation.”
While he can control the maintenance schedule for the plane, the fuel issue and how to pilot the aircraft, Smart said, “Weather is something that presents a big challenge.”
The National Weather Service in Tafuna, in its weather bulletin yesterday morning, stated that today’s forecast is mostly cloudy with isolated showers; with southeast winds of 15-25 mph. Wind speed is forecast to reduce tonight to 10-15 mph.
Another challenge he noted is that “political situations” in countries “tend to change” and cited for example, his predecessor, Ryan Campbell, also an Australian, who had to change his route during his trip because there was a “political uprising” in a couple of countries he was planning to go stop in.
“It’s just something that we’ve got to monitor very closely and I have a ‘great team’ behind me... making sure that everything goes as planned. If we do need to change something, they will let me know straight away,” he said.
The “great team” referred to by Smart is the seven-member team—most of them based in Australia— who are monitoring his flight and updating trip information online (www.wingsaroundtheworld.com.au), as well as a company in Great Britain looking after necessary flight permits, especially for flying through international airspace.
Flying by himself on this long journey is something Smart says is not new to him, because as “an only child, with my parents divorced when I was two-years old... I’ve been used to being on my own a bit and spending time on my own. So spending long periods of time alone is okay, and I’ve also travelled internationally on my own.”
“There are times you get homesick and there are times it’s going to be difficult, but I’m going to embrace the fact that I’m very luck in today’s age that we have this technology, and I can always communicate back home from pretty much anywhere in the world,” he said.
“As much as I am alone in the cockpit, the amount of support I have been receiving from back home in Australia and all around the world has been absolutely incredible and I always felt very supported, knowing that other people believe in me, and this has given me that extra confidence to go out and achieve a little bit more,” he said.
Asked what he would learn most from this journey as a teenager, even if he doesn’t succeed in the around-the world-trip, Smart responded, “even if I don’t succeed, the whole trip in its entirety has been a learning experience for me, because I had freshly finished school and I didn’t have much time to have a break” —to go party as a teenager, or go to work.
“So I’ve enjoyed it. It’s been a lot of hard work, and I love working hard,” he said. “If I have to say one thing, that I do want to learn on this trip, is being able to adapt because there are so many things that are constantly changing. You’ve got to be able to learn very quickly on the go and that’s something that I very much enjoy doing.”