The Challenge
Barrington Irving grew up in inner city Miami, and as a college student had a vision to fly solo around the world in hopes of inspiring other inner city kids to dream big. There were just a couple of problems: he had no plane, merely 600 hours of flight time and no money. While the flight would break records, the challenges to get the effort off the ground were significant.
Solution Implementation
PFD’s founder, Ethan Martin, reached out to Barrington and helped him develop a strategic plan, create a clear corporate and donor value proposition and recruit a senior leadership team to mentor and support his vision. The supporters represented a diverse background of individuals from aviation experts to corporate sponsors but shared a common passion to show the world what an inspired inner-‐ city student could achieve.
The Results
On March 23, 2007 Barrington departed Miami, Florida for his record
breaking around the world flight. When he touched down 97 days later
back in Miami, he not only broke multiple records and is listed in
Guinness World Records, but he inspired 300,000 young people who were on
his blog and many more through the extensive media coverage the flight
accrued.
The flight motivated Barrington to launch other groundbreaking
initiatives including: a summer program that allowed Miami kids to build
an airplane and the development of a flying classroom to commence in
2013.
For more on Experience Aviation’s vision please see Barrington’s TedX talk.
Client Feedback
“I really enjoy working with Ethan for not only his
creative strategic insights, but also for his ability to recruit and
inspire diverse teams for lasting results.”
-Barrington Irving, CEO & Founder, Experience Aviation
