Meet Lola Odunjinrin, First African Pilot To Fly Around The World

Meet Lola Odunjinrin, First African Pilot To Fly Around The World

Meet Lola Odujinrin a Nigerian British pilot who recently made history as the first  African pilot in history to fly solo around the world. On March 29th 2017 Lola Odujinrin 38, successfully  landed safely at Washington Dulles International Airport travelling through more than 25 countries and five continents a record breaking accomplishment that is very unusual for a black man probably the reason why this story has not gone fully global as one would imagine even not well heard of among the afro-Caribbean community in the UK where he lives with his family. Presently Lola  ranks as the 115th person in the world to complete the journey.

The journey begins when Nigerian pilot Ademilola Odujinrin, uses one plane to take Africa on its very first round-the-world solo flight in the promotion of one world.

The solo expedition is set to take off from Lagos then continue through Central Africa, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates, India, Australia, the United States of America, Canada, the United Kingdom, Iceland and then return to Lagos via Algeria and Niger Republic.

Ventures Africa reports,

Nigeria was chosen as the launch pad for the solo flight because of the country’s potential to lead Africa – whose people are capable of achieving extraordinary feats creatively and fearlessly – into a new era of global recognition for notable achievements. The expedition will offer a host of activities including educational opportunities for students concentrated around the 6-week solo excursion before, during and after the flight.

One of the key objectives of the Transcend project is to help people overcome limitations. Since 1933, only 114 people have appeared to be successful in a solo round the world flight, and these include flights made using helicopters and balloons. Lola, as the pilot is fondly called by friends, will be the 115th person to accomplish this feat in the entire world upon its completion, with the help of his team led by Project Director Ladi Ani-Mumuney, and Ireti Bakare-Yusuf, Head of Marketing and Project Management. He would also be among the top 100 in the category of pilots who used aeroplanes.

When Lola was asked how his dare devil dream will affect his wife and kids, he said:

I met Cynthia when I was quite young and she accepted me as a dare devil. We kind of complemented each other in that way because she was never scared to try anything, and I shared my dream with her right from the beginning. In fact, I’m worried that she doesn’t try to stop me enough. 

The expedition will offer a host of activities including educational opportunities for students concentrated around the 6-week solo excursion before, during and after the flight.
As Nigerians this could be the beginning of a generational revolution – intrigued by his optimism one can only anticipate a full report of Ademilola Odujinrin journey later on this year.