Matt Guthmiller

Early life Born and raised in Aberdeen, South Dakota, Guthmiller took an interest in aviation from a young age. Growing up he gradually drifted more toward math and science, in particular computer science, which led him to pursue several business ventures.

He started his first company, AnySIMiPhones, at age 12, selling software to unlock the newly released iPhone, which at the time was only available in the U.S. and only on AT&T, so that it could be used with any (GSM) cell carrier worldwide. After being in business for only a few weeks, Guthmiller sold his company to a similar company, FreeIt4Less, and joined their team. Together they unlocked around 20,000 iPhones in dozens of countries. He was instantly hooked. Soloing just a couple weeks later, he earned his private pilot certificate on his 17th birthday before going on to pursue an instrument rating, glider rating, his commercial pilot certificate, and a seaplane rating.

After reading a May 3, 2013, article about 20-year-old Californian Jack Wiegand, who was about to become the youngest person to fly solo around the world, Guthmiller decided he wanted to attempt the same record. After a year of planning, Guthmiller left Gillespie Field in El Cajon, California (San Diego) on May 31, 2014, and 44 days, 12 hours later landed back at Gillespie on July 14, 2014, to become the youngest person to ever circumnavigate the globe by aircraft at 19 years, 7 months, and 15 days old. . Guthmiller and the plane have since been featured at EAA Airventure Oshkosh and the National Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center, and he shares his story with audiences around the country in various speaking engagements and in popular aviation media content.