Compton’s Own, 16-yr-old Isaiah Cooper, Makes History as Youngest Black Pilot to Fly Across America

Here’s a young man who has become a hashtag for all of the right reasons! 16-yr-old Isaiah Cooper made history recently after completing his record-breaking flight across the continental United states. His trip lasted approximately two weeks, Cooper flew 8,000 miles, and he overcame rough weather according to his flight instructor. Robin Petgrave, Isaiah’s flight instructor told NBC LA:

“He was able to execute the emergency procedures flawlessly, got it on the road, landed, didn’t damage the houses, the schools, the construction crew, nothing. I mean, he got out of that thing safely,”

Now that Isaiah has concord the U.S., he is already planning for his next big goal: Becoming the youngest pilot to fly around the world. He has already established a GoFundMe account and talk about the impact flying has made in his life, Isaiah explains:

“I began attending an aviation youth program in Compton at Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum (TAM) when I was 5 years old. But as I got older, I began hanging with the wrong crowd, doing seriously self destructive things. Realizing that this was not how I wanted to live my life, I returned to TAM. My main goal is to become a productive young man with a future in aviation, and not a statistic.”

The record for the youngest person to fly around the world is currently held by 19 yr-old Matt Guthmiller of South Dakota. Isaiah will be 18 yrs-old when be embarks on his new goal. Cooper has grabbed some major media attention since accomplishing his goal, becoming a trending topic on twitter and even getting a shot out from P Diddy and other celebrities. Thank you Isaiah for giving us a great story to share and good luck!

This is beautiful!! #IsaiahCooper You are a shining example of believing and achieve your dreams!! Shine on young K… pic.twitter.com/H58HwESXfm

— Sean Diddy Combs (@iamdiddy) July 25, 2016