MIT Student Eyes Record For Youngest Pilot To Fly Solo Around The World

CAMBRIDGE (CBS) – An MIT student will soon take to the skies hoping to become the youngest person to fly solo around the world.

Matt Guthmiller, 19, will start in San Diego and make his way across the United States, the Atlantic Ocean, Africa, Asia, Australia and the Pacific Ocean.

Guthmiller is attempting the round-the-world flight to raise money for technology education.

Growing up in Aberdeen, S.D., Guthmiller was fascinated by planes. After finishing his freshman year at MIT, instead of heading to the beach he plans to fly a Beechcraft plane older than he is 28,000 miles over the next five weeks.

Calling the project "Limitless Horizons," Guthmiller plotted out each stop on his website, hoping people will follow along and donate to code.org. He is a self-taught software engineer who first began writing code in fifth grade.

Using his flight around the world, Guthmiller hopes to raise money to make computer science education available to other kids who dream big.

Bree Sison contributed to this report.

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