10-Year-Old Pilot Wings His Way Past Quarter Mark of His 5,000-Mile Flight

Ten-year-old Christopher Lee Marshall completed more than a quarter of a 5,000-mile journey late Monday afternoon that he hopes will land him in the record books as the youngest pilot ever to fly across the United States and back.

With a back seat full of candy bar wrappers and a half-eaten box of Frosted Flakes cereal, the tired, 4-foot, 11-inch fourth-grader from Oceano, Calif., safely guided his single-engine Piper Warrior to the ground in Childress, Tex.

“I can’t believe all of the hundreds and hundreds of miles of great land--just like in the song ‘America the Beautiful,’ ” Christopher said in a telephone interview.

“I’m especially surprised by how many mountains there are. I’m most impressed with the valleys, because they are so neat and long and really deep. I love watching them out the window,” said the enthusiastic pilot, who planned to get to bed early after a swim in the hotel pool.

Christopher was greeted at the Childress airport by 11-year-old John Kevin Hill, the Arlington, Tex., boy who earlier this month became the youngest person ever to fly across the country. John, with his flight instructor, flew in hops from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C.

Christopher’s father, Delta Air Lines pilot Lee Marshall, 53, saw news reports of John’s record-setting flight and got the idea for his son’s adventure. Marshall is paying the $15,000 cost for Christopher’s flight.

Sits on Pillows to See

Christopher, who sits on three pillows to see out of the plane’s cockpit, took off Saturday afternoon with his instructor, Rowe Yates, from an airstrip in Oceano, near San Luis Obispo. They stopped briefly in Bakersfield, then headed toward Palm Springs, where they spent the night.

On Sunday, the team flew almost 700 miles to Albuquerque, N.M., where they began Monday’s flight to Childress. They plan to stop today in Montgomery, Ala., before reaching the turnaround point, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Christopher’s longest previous flight was 79 miles.

Christopher’s mother, Gail Marshall, 39, said she was relieved that her son landed safely in Texas.

“When he called me and I heard, ‘Hi, mom,’ I felt like a million dollars. I had been waiting all day for that phone call,” she said. She plans to meet Christopher on Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale.

The red-haired boy, who is on vacation from Shell Beach Elementary School, said he is carrying on board a brown teddy bear, a present for his principal, who collects stuffed animals. “There’s a lot of neat things about flying,” said Christopher, who has been at the controls since age 7. “Once you’re off the Earth, you’re free. You’re like floating in the air. When I’m up there, I pretend that I’m a Delta pilot.”

After reaching their Florida destination, Christopher and Yates said they plan to spend a week on a cruise around the British Virgin Islands before flying back to Oceano on Aug. 4.