Teenage pilot from Berkshire attempts solo world record
18-year-old Travis Ludlow is hoping to become the youngest pilot to fly solo around the world
Last updated 11th Jun 2021
18-year-old Travis Ludlow is living his dream.
A year later than he planned he's attempting to become the youngest person to fly solo around the world.
He took off from White Waltham aerodrome near Maidenhead on 29 May and expects his epic journey to last up to six weeks.
Originally he had planned to complete the record while he was 17-years-old but the pandemic forced him to wait, despite that he still expects to take the record with three weeks to spare.
He's making the 24,520 mile journey in a tiny single engined Cessna 172 stopping around 50 times along the way.
Travis says he wants to demonstrate to his peers that anything is possible:
"The amount of challenges this project has faced, its kind of crazy, and the fact that I've still pulled it off its insane. The amount of messages that I've received saying 'wow it's so cool you're so inspiring and stuff like that' and that's what I'm trying to do, inspire other people, especially young people, to just do what they want to do and follow their dreams"
Travis had already achieved flying success when he became the youngest person in the UK to fly a glider solo on his 14th birthday.
He had his first gliding lesson at the age of 12 and throughout his glider and powered flight training he was often described by his instructors as a natural pilot. He says he thanks his godmother for getting him into the air:
"My godmother got me a trial gliding lesson when I was 12 and basically from then I was hooked and started glider training. I went solo on my 14th Birthday!"
Travis flew solo in a powered aircraft the day after his 16th birthday and completed his Private Pilot’s Licence (PPL) months before he could legally be issued with it. Although he had passed, the Civil Aviation Authority doesn't issue licences until someone is 17.
At 8am on the morning of his 17th birthday he went to the CAA offices at Gatwick airport to pick up his licence. Travis recalls the moment:
"yeah I think they were pretty confused they were like 'why are you here? And I was like 'oh I'm here to pick up a licence' and they said 'what? You?' it was quite funny but they wrote 'Happy Birthday' messages on the envelope of the licence was in which was nice of them."
Straight afterwards he carried out further training allowing him to fly just using the aircraft's instruments and at night.
"in the distance I could see two Russian fighter jets practising manoeuvres. I circled back round and they were just gone and I couldn't see where they'd gone and I was looking around to see if they had headed over to me - that scared me a little bit"
Travis says the year delay has actually helped him:
"It's allowed me to gain a lot more experience, a huge amount of experience, I'm now flying in a safer aircraft a Cessna 172 which is actually the most produced aircraft ever built so there are parts every where, it's (the pandemic) actually helped me out a huge amount."
The teenager is around two weeks into the record attempt and has been flying over Russia - he says he's already had a scary moment when trying to get instructions from air traffic controllers:
"I couldn't really understand what they were trying to tell me to do so I was just circling over a small village and in the distance I see two Russian fighter jets practising manoeuvres. I circled back round and they were just gone and I couldn't see where they'd gone and I was looking around to see if they had headed over to me - that scared me a little bit"
Travis flies as high as he can to stay clear of bad weather and get the best out his aircraft in terms of performance. He admits he often thinks about what would happen if he had to make an emergency landing:
"I remember on yesterday's leg just looking down and seeing nothing but trees and forests it's kind of daunting, but I'm so high up in the air because the higher you go the more efficient the aircraft is and you get stronger tailwinds let's say something goes wrong, I'd have 15-20 minutes before I'd have to land so I've got plenty of time to plan"
Plenty of time on the individual legs as well - some of them lasting up to 7 hours. Like any teenager Travis has thought of plenty of ways to stop himself getting bored as he cruises the empty airspace:
"I've got 100% global coverage on my phone to call my friends and family while I'm flying so talking to them keeps me entertained, I can also listen to music as my headphones have bluetooth and when there is a low workload in the cockpit I sometimes put Netflix on my iPad and watch Netflix (chuckles)"
Travis says he's most looking forward to flying in the US where he did some of his training, but he also knows he faces potentially one of the most dangerous parts of his challenge when he returns to the UK via Greenland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands.
You can follow Alex on twitter https://twitter.com/aroundt60695534
And on his website https://aroundtheworldsolo.co.uk/