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Record setting pilot visits Naples

Posted at 10:52 PM, Mar 19, 2016
and last updated 2016-03-21 09:16:37-04
At 19 years, 7 months and 15 days old, Matt Guthmiller etched his name into the 2016 Guiness Book of World Records.
 
He became the youngest person to fly around the world.  He started the journey in July of 2014, 44 days and 30,000 miles later he finished.
 
"Flying has just been something I've been interested in for about as long as I can remember," said Guthmiller, an MIT student.
 
"When I was going into Cairo I got to fly right over the pyramids, got a great view of the pyramids, I saw some crazy things there, I saw a family of 5 riding a motorcycle, in six lanes of traffic."
 
He completed the trip in a Beechcraft Bonanza with top speeds of 200 miles per hour and a cruising altitude of 7,000 feet. He had to get radar communications relayed to him from larger aircraft.
 
"These guys up in these airliners at 30,000 feet would be asking me, what on earth are you doing down there at 7,000 feet, in the middle of the ocean."
 
Since the historic trip Guthmiller has traveled the country, sharing his experience.  He recently spoke to the Naples Circumnagivgator's club.  A group that is only open to those who have flown around the world.
 
"When I started this, I didn't want it to be just about me, I wanted it to be about something bigger."
 
Guthmiller is raising funds for Code.org, a non-profit trying to expand access to computer sciences in the classroom.