Lachlan’s higher calling

A small aircraft, a 45,000km journey, a dream to be the youngest person to circle the globe solo. Talk about ambition.

Determined: Lachlan Smart, 18, with his Cirrus plane at Sunshine Coast Airport. Picture: Eddie Safarik

Visibility is zero inside this dense body of rain clouds as the four-seater plane tracks away from Sunshine Coast Airport and over coastal waters. Pockets of air within the grey mass buffet the plane unpredictably, as if a higher power is shaking the Cirrus SR22 like dice inside a giant fist. It's the sort of uncomfortable ascent that would make the pilot's mother worry.

But on this Thursday afternoon in early June the fresh-faced, blue-eyed young man in the cockpit has absolute faith in the technology that powers his plane through this brief moment of turbulence and into clear air. He has faith in a higher purpose, too, and it has driven him to attempt to achieve something remarkable.

Lachlan Smart, 18, is leaving home behind and striking out on his own. Next month, he will set off from this same airport towards Nadi, Fiji, a 10-hour trip. From there, it's on to Christmas Island, then Hawaii, Iceland and France, followed by Egypt, Sri Lanka and Indonesia; 24 legs in all, on a journey that will circumnavigate the planet and - all going well - claim a world record.

Smart's only companion throughout the trip, covering almost 45,000km on five continents across seven weeks, will be Freddy the Teddy. The handsome bear wears a brown aviator's jacket and goggles and sits on the dashboard facing the pilot, his mouth a single black line fixed in a smile.

Underneath Freddy's furry feet is an array of screens and instruments that all make perfect sense to this adventurous teenager.

A fortnight ago, Smart clocked up 40 hours while heading west to Alice Springs, then southeast to Launceston before returning home. All up he has logged 210 flight hours, more than half of which were solo. If all goes to plan, his around-the world trip will roughly double that number by the time his wheels hit the tarmac in late August.

Through gaps in the clouds, Smart can see the endless swell of the ocean and streaks in the aqua indicating sand bars off Stradbroke Island. Sometimes he can spot dugongs, but not today. There is, however, a full rainbow. To his right he can see the built-up areas of his home on the Sunshine Coast, then the state capital, and then the high-rises of Surfers Paradise bordered by white caps and a long, unbroken line of yellow sand.

Through his headset, he hears the air-traffic controller at Gold Coast Airport tell another pilot there's a Cirrus in the queue ahead of him. "He's done pretty well," says the fast-talking male voice, offering a rare compliment amid the businesslike call-and-response. Hearing this, Smart can't help but crack a smile. "Thanks, mate," he says. After touching down flawlessly in the wet conditions, he taxis his leased aircraft to a nearby hangar, where he drops into technical support centre Complete Avionics and banters with the owner about a minor issue with an instrument that appears to be malfunctioning, emitting a series of loud beeps whenever autopilot is disengaged.

Service notes duly logged for the technicians' attention, Smart heads back to the airstrip towards another Cirrus SR22 that's almost identical to the one he flew. Its white-haired owner, Rodney Peachey, 69, offers the pilot's seat to his young friend, who powers up the aircraft, submits a flight plan, gains clearance and takes off into what has become a beautiful early winter afternoon.

Five decades and 4000 flight hours may separate the pair but the mutual respect is evident.

The Cirrus shudders and bumps as it descends through clouds before touching down at Smart's home runway just before 4pm. "Very well done, Lachie," says Peachey, grinning as the taxiing plane eases to a stop outside Aero Dynamic Flight Academy's hangar. "I think you're just about ready to fly around the world!"

This journey began while watching Sunday night television. In September 2013, 15-year-old Lachlan and his mother, Vanessa Sprague, 47, were watching 60 Minutes at home in Nambour.

The program profiled Ryan Campbell, a 19-yearold pilot from the NSW South Coast town of Merimbula, who had recently become the youngest person to circle the globe, solo and unassisted.

As the segment ended, Smart turned to his mother and said: "Mum, I'm going to fly around the world on my own." Sprague knew her only child was determined and mature beyond his years, but even she rolled her eyes.

But the seed was planted, and over three years it has grown into a slick campaign named Wings Around The World, an impressive support network of friends, family, sponsors and financial supporters, with a broader goal to inspire young people to exceed their own artificial horizons.

Energised by Ryan Campbell's story, Smart threw himself and his income from working at a fish-and-chip shop and the family business into learning to fly, after receiving his first lesson as a gift from his father, Will.

Smart quickly sought out the man who inspired him, sending an email that outlined his plans and asking for advice. Campbell has become accustomed to queries from adventurous youngsters and the pair quickly struck up a friendship. It helped that they lived about a kilometre apart at the time.

"Lachie is one of the very few who actually stuck with it," Campbell says. "He's really worked hard to get where he is now. The more I saw of him, the more I understood he was one of the few who had a good chance of seeing it through." In Smart, Campbell recognised some of the personality traits that allowed him to achieve so much, so young. "I saw Lachie as a very mature young kid," he says. "I'm an old soul - everyone said that about me - and Lachie was the same. He wasn't fazed by the media; he wasn't in it to try to be wellknown and get awards. He has a sense of adventure, and he wanted to take on the challenge for the right reasons. He's got his head screwed on right." Campbell's successful campaign, Teen World Flight (teenworldflight.com), achieved its goal when the 19-year-old touched down at Illawarra Regional Airport in September 2013. His world record stood for 10 months until it was eclipsed in July 2014 by another 19-year-old, US pilot Matt Guthmiller, who is just 10 days younger than the Australian.

Neither of these adventurous young men attracted the public rancour and debate that surrounded the solo circumnavigation of the southern hemisphere by sea that fellow Sunshine Coast resident Jessica Watson completed in May 2010, aged 16.

Management and publicity for Campbell's trip was handled by David Lyall from Sports Communications Australia, and in time the Smarts sought him out, too. Lyall, 43, met the pilot and his father outside Brisbane Airport during a layover. "My first impression was, 'Gee, this kid's young, and gee, he's very, very intelligent'," he says. "He and Will were really listening and trying to take in as much information as they could. They initially planned to do it this time last year, but I suggested they slow down and take their time. It's a marathon, not a sprint."

Inside a brick house framed by palm trees at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac, Smart prepares for a farewell dinner to be held at his former school.

He lives in this house with his mum - his parents separated when their son was two but they remain on good terms and work together at Will's manufacturing business. Sitting at the kitchen table, the teenager displays his flight itinerary on an iPad spreadsheet, which details exactly how far away from home he will be between July 4 and August 26. For Vanessa, those seven weeks will feel like an eternity. She will stay busy with work and rock'n'roll dancing, and try to distract herself from imagining the worst possible outcome as she live-tracks her son's progress into aviation history on his website.

Later, at Smart's old school, Nambour Christian College, dozens of friends and family members arrive dripping wet from a storm that has struck the coast this Friday evening. On each table at the Whipbird Restaurant sits an inflatable plastic Earth topped by a toy plane. Gold stickers affixed to the globe illustrate the pilot's approximate path from Sunshine Coast Airport, across the Pacific Ocean and beyond. A table at the back of the room is stocked with Wings Around The World merchandise. Every dollar counts: his journey will cost about $400,000. Most of that amount will go on aviation fuel - which costs up to $5 a litre in some far-flung locations - and leasing the Cirrus aircraft.

Will Smart - a tall, powerfully built man of 47 years - shares some insights into his son's character.

"Lachie has determination, for sure," he begins. "Patience and a long-term view: he can

see past the hills and valleys. He's a fantastic opportunist; he doesn't miss a chance to gently and modestly introduce what he's doing, and people respond to that. And he's way more organised than me!" says Smart Sr, laughing. "He never, ever swears, raises his voice or loses his temper. I can promise you that in the whole time I've known him, he has never hurt himself and thrown a spanner. He's a completely methodical, self-controlled person, and that's something I admire in my son, more than anything." Once all the guests are seated, former head of middle school Warren Best begins his MC duties.

He mentions a week-long mission trip to northwest Queensland in 2012, which is where he first identified Smart as a young man of substance. "It's an incredible dream that he had, and it's all just so close now," says Best, smiling at the guest of honour.

Sprague takes the microphone. Wearing a green poncho and knee-high black boots, she draws laughter while recounting an embarrassing story from her son's childhood, then changes tone.

"One day I was having a moment, thinking about what Lachie's going to do - this whole world trip thing - and I remember saying that God had big plans for him," she says. "It was a lightbulb moment.

Surely, this is the beginning of that big plan. God's got it under control. I thanked God for that little reminder, and just handed it all over to him." She reads a quote from a book by American spiritual teacher Marianne Williamson. "We are all meant to shine, as children do," it concludes. "It is not just in some of us, it's in everyone, and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same." When Sprague read that passage, she says, she immediately thought of her son. "You're letting your light shine," she says, smiling before tears overtake her. "I'm going to miss you so much while you're away, and I'm so proud of you," she says, her voice wavering. "I just pray that this trip is everything you've imagined it to be, and that in the times you feel alone, you realise that Jesus is in the cockpit beside you." The teenager rises and hugs his mother. "Thank you for that, Mum," he says, smoothing out his white polo shirt bearing gold pilot's wings on the shoulder. "Thank you for the shower I just received with the cuddle." Smart is a picture of calm as he holds the microphone in one hand and the cable in the other, confidently unspooling the highlights of a story he has told many times before and will tell many more times to come.

He describes his recent trip across the Bass Strait to Launceston, where he attempted to fly around storm clouds while being "thrown around like a bath toy". During that flight the autopilot cut out, followed by engine instruments and the second alternator. In zero visibility, his only choice was to revert to navigation by using the plane's artificial horizon, an instrument that displays the aircraft's orientation relative to the ground. Smart was concerned that ice might soon form on the wings, too. With permission from Launceston air traffic control he was able to land in 40 knot winds, earning congratulations from the ground staff. As soon as he touched down, the technology came back to life. "It turns out that it had the same effect as a balloon being rubbed against your head; it just builds up too much static electricity," he says, to awed sighs from his loved ones. "That was a big experience boost for me, because I'd never flown through these conditions before. I just happened to lose all my engine instruments at the same time, which is a bit of a bummer. But it's all been a learning opportunity. I see setbacks as the foundations to success." The teenager describes his planned itinerary, concluding with the Bundaberg to Sunshine Coast leg. "As you can all imagine, by that time I'm going to be quite tired and ready to have a snooze in my own bed for about the next month," he says, which prompts his mother to interject: "And that's OK with me! You can even leave your dirty clothes on the floor, I don't care!" Smart segues into a lively Q&A with the crowd, which he handles with the skill of a stand-up comic. He explains that in order to achieve the Guinness world record, he'll have to cross the equator twice and cross all longitudes. If all else fails, the Cirrus SR22 is equipped with a rare and potentially life-saving feature: a whole-aircraft parachute system. Under instrument flight rules, he is required to maintain continuous two-way communications with air traffic control, but he might get a chance to listen to music (he's a big jazz fan) or Hamish and Andy podcasts.

On the Hawaii to California leg - at 14 hours, the longest on his itinerary - Smart plans to do small in-cabin flight maintenance tasks every 15 minutes to combat fatigue. Most of his flying will take place during daytime, and his team has scheduled plenty of rest days between flights, including a week off in the United Kingdom, where his father will meet him.

Following auctions, raffle prizes and dessert, Best invites Smart and members of his family to stand at the front of the room. "We're going to pray for Lachie in this adventure, for all the preparations, for his safety, and that all the bits and pieces in all of these airports, all around the world, come together," he says.

Smart takes his place at the centre, his mother holding one arm and resting her head against his shoulder, his father behind him and his grandparents on either side. They bow their heads, close their eyes and let the hopeful words wash over them. "We pray, Lord, that there won't be an issue with ice, or any element that could be a potential danger," says Best. "We pray, Lord, that at the end of it, everyone will be able to say, 'It was good, it was good, it was very good.' "

 Follow Lachlan Smart's journey from July 4 at wingsaroundtheworld.com.au