Amelia Earhart plans to complete her legendary namesake's
doomed final flight around the globe in just two weeks.
Back in 1937, trailblazing aviatrix Amelia Mary Earhart, 39,
mysteriously disappeared over the South Pacific, but her legacy still inspires
women (and men) to soar past boundaries.
Next summer, her distant 30-year-old relative hopes to
become the youngest woman to circumnavigate the globe in a single-engine
aircraft.
"I really started thinking about the possibility of
flying around the world when I was 18. My flight training intensified over the
last two to three years, so it was time to take it to the next level,"
Amelia Rose Earhart told the Daily News.
Earhart and co-pilot Patrick Carter will fly the Pilatus
PC-12 NG - cited as one of the safest single-engine turboprop planes on the
market - roughly 28,000 miles around the world in 14 days, making only 14
stops. Her proposed adventure begins and ends in Oakland, Calif.
"The flight around the world, for me, is one of the
true flying adventures that's really going to propose a challenge about the
thinking behind it," said Earhart, who needs to secure numerous
international permits to accomplish her goal.
The adventurer's parents named her after the high-flying
pioneer so she would always have a positive female role model in her life.
Even though she needs to clarify that, "Yes, that is my
real name" upon every introduction, Earhart considers the name her
parent's greatest gift: the woman's values, charity, work ethic and aviation
skills animate everything in her life.
"I think it was the time she was born," Earhart
said. "She was the one out there putting herself in situations where women
weren't invited, yet ... she pursued her passions on every level."
When not pursuing her passion for piloting aircrafts,
Earhart can still be seen hovering over the Denver skyline in helicopters as a
traffic reporter for Colorado station KUSA.
The trip will raise money for the Fly With Amelia
Foundation, Earhart's nonprofit organization that offers flight scholarships
for teen girls.
"I want to get people out to the airport, especially
girls who are at that age to build responsibility, to build courage."
No comments:
Post a Comment