A college student from Fort Worth became one of the youngest Americans to fly solo around the world, completing his trip Saturday to raise awareness for pediatric cancer research.
Logan Tinley, 19, a sophomore at Vanderbilt University, touched down at Meacham Airport just after 5 p.m after circumnavigating the globe in 30 days.
"None of the trip, nothing has kicked in yet – I still feel like it’s a dream," Tinley said.
The Fort Worth native says he had seen other pilots complete the accomplishment in a single engine plane, and said he wanted to try also.
"But I wanted a reason to do it," Tinley said.
He found it in 8-year old Ethan Lassiter, a family friend battling a rare form of pediatric brain cancer in Georgia.
"I just remember seeing how it affected his family – just wondering how I could help them," Tinley said.
So Tinley created the Ascending Frontiers Pediatric Cancer Foundation, planned the flight and took off from Fort Worth on June 1.
His journey took him across Canada, Greenland, Northern Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Japan.
"The hardest part was the 14-hour flight from Japan to Alaska," Tinley said. "The weather did not cooperate and I landed with much less fuel reserve than I was comfortable with, it was nerveracking."
Along the way, Tinley who has been a pilot for a little more than a year, captured moments on Facebook for people to follow his journey.
He completed his final leg on Saturday from Montana and when he landed more than just his parents and friends were waiting for him.
Ethan Lassiter and his parents were there too. Carrie Lassiter says she and her family had to be here to greet Tinley, who is doing so much to help kids facing a frightening disease.
"They are doing a fight that is so hard and they don’t have a choice," Lassiter said. To have a 19-year old stand up and say I’m going to do my part to fight for these kids – it’s a big deal, it’s huge.”
Tinley estimates he's raised more than $40,000 for cancer research but hopes to reach $500,000.
