A teen pilot has become the youngest person to fly around the world solo - at the age of just 18 years and five months old.
Former Great Marlow school boy Travis Ludlow covered over 25,000 miles alone in a single-engine aircraft over six weeks in a bid to break a Guinness World Record.
The gruelling expedition saw him spend up to eight-hour days manning his Cessna 172 N5010 aircraft, sometimes travelling as far as 1,000 miles in one day.
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The teen, from Ibstone, landed at Teuge Airport yesterday in the Netherlands officially marking the end of his round-the-world journey before travelling back to Wycombe airpark.
Travis had his Guinness World Record verified on arriving back to Bucks and at 18 years and 149 days old beat the previous record holder who was 18 years and 163 days old.
He said: "It was amazing.
“Some of the views I got to see were absolutely awesome.
"I think the best bits were flying over the Canadian Rockies, and also over the Siberian wilderness - it was really striking."
Watch Travis in action below:
But his flight wasn't all smooth sailing as he had to contend with all weathers - including thunderstorms, snow, and dramatic mountain air that caused his plane to plummet over 2,000 feet in just five seconds.
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He said: "It was really tiring - after a few weeks up there by myself all day every day, the loneliness really started to hit me.
“I did miss my family and friends quite a lot.
"But luckily, I had some great teams of people meeting me at a lot of the airports when I landed - and some really great hosts when I stopped in the USA for a few days after my second jab."
He set off on his world record attempt journey just 44 days ago from Teuge in the Netherlands on May 29 after coronavirus delayed his original take-off date in June 2020.
His route, which started and finished in the Netherlands, saw him stop in 13 countries around the world - Netherlands, Poland, Russia, USA, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, UK, Ireland, Spain, Morocco, France, and Belgium.
In order to break the world record, Travis' route had to cover at least 24,520 miles - a distance he surpassed last Friday as he flew the 1,300 miles from Donegal in Ireland, to Gibraltar in southern Spain.
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He said: "Landing in Gibraltar was a dream come true. It's somewhere I've always wanted to fly into.
"It was also the same day I reached a total of 24,972 miles flown overall - which is 71 miles more than the circumference of the Earth at the equator.
"So it was two major milestones in one day.
"I was also really excited to get to go to Russia earlier on in my trip. I had a lot of fun there.
"When I was in Yekaterinburg, Russia's third largest city, I got to go for dinner at the British Consulate in Russia, which really made me feel like a VIP."
Travis has now completed the journey he has been dreaming about since he was ten years old and planning for the last four years of his life.
The 18-year-old took to Facebook to thank supoprters saying: “I’m home and had the most amazing welcome from friends, family and well wishers.
“I will thank you all properly and will post more tomorrow. First I want to spend a bit of time with my family. Be back soon. Thank you all for your amazing support.”
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