Born To Fly

In Born to Fly, Ryan recounts his remarkable journey from a boy with a dream to becoming, at age 19, the youngest person ever to circumnavigate the world solo in a single-engine aircraft, and shares with us the joy of flight.

Showing maturity, determination and courage beyond his years, Ryan fundraised $250,000 from scratch and drew on the advice of renowned aviators such as Jim Hazelton ('a man who has more hours adjusting his seat in a plane than I do total flying time') and Dick Smith before setting out on his thrilling 70-day odyssey. In Born to Fly, Ryan captures all the dry-mouthed excitement of flying alone above the earth with only one engine and recounts his adventures from staying calm with iced over wings, landing in a country where you are not welcome and dealing with international media when still a teenager.

Ryan landed 31 times in 15 countries and covered more than 24,000 nautical miles, while trying to avoid that 'alternative aerodrome', the ocean.