This chat starts well but gets progressively better. The last third of this conversation was touching, inspiring and emotional. I genuinely loved this episode. Ryan Campbell was born to fly, with a passion for aviation running deep in his family. At only six, on his first commercial flight, he knew what we wanted to do for the rest of his life. He could fly a plane before he could drive a car and at 15 Ryan became the youngest pilot in Australia, at 18 he had a commercial pilot’s licence and a little over a year after that he made international headlines. In June 2013, just 19 years old, Ryan set off from Wollongong in NSW in a bid to become the youngest pilot – and first teenager – in history to circumnavigate the world solo in a single engine aircraft. Seventy days later, on 8 September 2013, after stopping 34 times in 15 countries and covering more than 24,000 nautical miles, Ryan’s Teen World Flight became a reality. Just two years later, the young Australian’s world changed in an instant. While piloting a vintage biplane, Ryan suffered a mechanical failure that left him paralysed. Ryan’s story of how he has defied the odds to walk and fly again is truly inspirational. It’s a story of the highest of highs and the lowest of lows and how determination and courage can drive success.
