Now Aloft: Sophomore Circumnavigates the World

MIT sophomore Matt Guthmiller, 19, is well on his way to setting a new record as the youngest pilot to circumnavigate the world solo. As of today, Guthmiller is more than half-way done with his 29,000 mile journey to 14 countries across five continents, a trek that began in California on May 31. Tomorrow, he is set to fly a 14.3 hour stint from Pago Pago, Samoa, to Honolulu. You can follow the rest of his trip online.

Why is he doing it? Although he was inspired to the challenge when he learned a 21-year-old had accomplished this feat, he says his goal goes beyond setting a new Guinness World Record.

“I want to inspire other people to do great things, and I believe computer science is the most powerful tool for enabling people’s dreams,” says Guthmiller, who is raising money for the trip and for Code.org, a nonprofit that supports computer science education. “Code.org is helping to ensure that opportunity is available to everyone.”

Guthmiller, an electrical engineering and computer science major who logged countless hours on flight simulator games as a child, landed safely in Austrialia last week. Guthmiller took a few moments between flights to respond to a Slice email interview:

What did you find particularly engaging during your first year at MIT?

Most of all, the people—the way you can have an incredibly interesting, deep conversation about absolutely anything as well as how approachable people are in the first place. It allows you to learn things you'd never come across in class and contributes to the general fun of just being at MIT. Additionally, the sheer quantity of material available to learn in each class is both inspiring and humbling.

Why do you say that the “best tool for people to achieve their dreams is computer science”? Over the past few years, I've managed to use computer science for a number of things, ranging from starting an iPhone unlocking company when I was 12 to predicting the price of oil and automating bitcoin arbitrage. As a result, I've come to find it as an infinitely extensible tool that can allow someone to implement a new idea without the need for lots of initial capital. In addition, I believe such limitless potential helps to illuminate the vast range of opportunities to explore. I'm able to circumnavigate the planet alone as a 19-year-old with three years of flight experience by believing it was possible when others told me it wouldn't be and by breaking it down and slowly putting together each piece. In the same way, computer science inspires the confidence to go out and attempt something big, while simultaneously enabling it.

What’s the biggest personal challenge of your circumnavigation quest? The biggest challenges so far have been finding a plane and raising money. The former I managed to solve after about nine months of constant searching, and the latter I'm still working on—anyone who wants to donate to my journey (and by so doing, benefit Code.org) can do so via PayPal at www.limitless-horizons.org.

But as with the enormity of such a trip, the most important thing is to not give up. That applies to everything from fundraising to staying alert and at the very top of your game during challenging and consecutive 12- to 14-hour flights sometimes on little sleep after solving logistical issues and dealing with time changes. There have been points where I just wanted to stay in bed or turn back instead of finding a way past weather, but if I had done that I'd probably still be in Canada. In addition, the simple lack of resources compared to flying in the U.S. makes everything more challenging and more risky, so continuously managing risk and tackling every problem throughout 160 hours of flying makes endurance and drive all the more important.

Guthmiller is due to land back in California on July 15, then home in Aberdeen, South Dakota, two days later, according to his itinerary. You can follow his progress on the live tracker on his website, Limitless-Horizons and on social media. Read his blog to learn how he finagled an airplane—ultimately he a leased a 33-year-old Beechcraft Bonanza—and what kind of upgrades it got.