Teen pilot attempts world record by circling globe before 16th birthday

At 15 years and 10 months old, Byron Waller can’t legally purchase alcohol or drive a car, but on Wednesday afternoon, he safely landed his small aircraft at an airport in Brighton, on England’s southern coast. This marked roughly the 16th stop—he can’t recall precisely—of an extraordinary journey by air that could make him the youngest supported pilot to circumnavigate the globe.

The trip began four weeks ago at his home in Brisbane, Australia, and has taken the teenager across the Indian Ocean, through the Middle East, and into Europe. From there, he will continue across the other half of the world before returning home. While aviation regulations require an instructor to accompany him—preventing children from flying solo around the world—Byron handles all the flying in their small single-engine Sling TSi plane.

During flights—the longest so far being a 10-hour leg from Singapore to Sri Lanka—the teenager and his instructor pass the time chatting, contacting family, or sometimes listening to music when possible.

His playlist? "Usually some Top Gun music at the start of the flight, then switching to something else. I prefer silence during takeoff and landing to focus on air traffic control."

This isn’t how most teenagers spend September, but Byron’s life has never been typical. Struggling with illness from birth, he spent much of his childhood in and out of hospitals—“sometimes weekly, sometimes daily, sometimes monthly”—before being diagnosed with Crohn’s disease at 14. “It had a big impact on my life,” he said. “I missed birthdays, school, sports—just normal activities.”

Despite—or perhaps because of—his health struggles, he developed a passion for flying early on after a Scouts activity at age four, which included a ride in a small plane. “That ignited something in me—it just kept growing.”

His first lesson at 13 became an obsession. “It felt like a fresh start. It motivated me to push forward and leave the hospital behind.” By the following year, finally in remission, he wondered: “How can I raise awareness for Crohn’s and the Queensland children’s hospital, where I spent so much of my life? I decided to fly around Australia.” After completing that journey last year, he set his sights on the world.

How did his parents react? “I had to convince them a little. At first, they were concerned, but after seeing the safety measures we put in place, they felt at ease. Now they fully support me.” He stays in regular contact with them, even mid-flight, while his mother, Jeni Langdon, manages logistics and communications from Brisbane.