Travis has already achieved flying success when he became the youngest person, in the UK, to fly a glider solo on his 14th birthday. Even then, on that cold morning in February 2016, he was thinking of the real dream… to fly around the world at 17.

Unfortunately, due to COVID Travis was not able to take-off as planned, in June 2020 but he has continued training and is still set to beat the current world record.

Every kid has a passion for something, for some it’s tanks, trains or tractors, then later it’s computer games, racing cars or football (or all three); for Travis, it was always aeroplanes.

Travis’s love of flying started when he was 4 years old, never going to sleep without reading something from his stack of airplane magazines by his bed. Since then he has watched every program on TV and YouTube to do with flying and can tell you, in detail, the cause of every accident on every episode of ‘Air Crash Investigators’… seriously, if you ever meet him, ask him.

He had his first gliding lesson at the age of 12 and throughout his glider and PPL training he was often described by his instructors as a natural pilot. Travis flew solo the day after his 16th birthday and went on to passed all nine of the ground school exams with half a year to spare. Travis went on to completed his Private Pilot’s Licence (PPL) that summer, months before he could legally his licence.

Although he had passed, the CAA/law doesn’t allow him to hold a PPL licence until he is 17, so he had to wait until 8am on the morning of his 17th birthday to pick up his licence from the CAA. He then flew to the US the next day to do his (IR) Instrument Rating. After completing his IR he returned to the UK to complete his Night Rating and is now well on the way to logging the 350+ hours he wants before take-off.

Many people have asked “why Travis, he is very young, how do we know he will really do it”? Well Travis has a long and successful history in achieving what he sets out to do and he is more serious about this world record flight, than anything he has ever done before.

And Travis is not taking the task ahead lightly, it is not just about getting all the flying qualifications he needs, he has also done training in all areas of safety for his journey as safety is the main priority.

It is not just his commitment to flying, and his early flying success that shows that he is a very dedicated young man, who sets out to achieve whatever he starts.

He started kickboxing at the age of 5 and received his black belt 7 years later, his continued dedication saw him go on to win 5 British Kickboxing Championships, with 4 different governing bodies, over the next two years. In fact, Travis was due to go to the WAKO World Championships in 2019 but he chose instead to concentrate on his flying, and his plans for these world record flights.

Another fun example, was when his dad bought him an old unicycle off eBay and he taught himself to ride it in three days, then went on to do the Henley Triathlon on it six months later; that was the first time they had seen a unicycle at the triathlon.

Although Travis’ was disappointed that his world record flight has delayed by Covid-19, this only motivated him more and has allowed him to get many more hours and much more, valuable, flying experience.

Now Travis will take-off, even more prepared, on May 29th 2021