Travis Ludlow

Travis Ludlow (born 13 February 2003) is an English aviator. In 2021, he became the youngest person to fly solo around the world at age 18 years old, a record he held for 1 year.

Early life Ludlow was born on 13 February 2003. He is from Ibstone in Buckinghamshire. Ludlow also earned a black belt in kickboxing aged 12 and completed a triathlon, using a unicycle, when he was a teenager. He obtained his private pilot licence at age 16 whilst preparing for his Advanced Level qualifications at Great Marlow School in Buckinghamshire.

Solo flight around the world

Ludlow aimed to break the record for the youngest person to fly unaccompanied around the world, which was at the time held by American Mason Andrews. Andrews was 18 years and 163 days old when he finished his journey in October 2018. Ludlow could not take off in the first week of June 2020 as he had intended. In addition, his flight route was changed to avoid virus hotspots such as South America in exchange for more stops in the United States to make up for lost distance. when a rapid downdraft pulled him towards a mountainside. When Travis flew from County Donegal in Ireland to Gibraltar on 9 July 2021, his trip's total flight distance exceeded that of the Earth's circumference at the Equator. This was the minimum distance needed to achieve the world record. He landed in the Netherlands to complete his circumnavigation, before returning to the United Kingdom to receive his world record certificate. Ludlow also stated that the next world record he was aiming to achieve was for flying around the world in an electric aircraft.