10-Year-Old Pilot Lands in Florida and Record Books

Ten-year-old Christopher Lee Marshall landed in the record books Wednesday as the youngest pilot to fly across the United States when he safely guided his single-engine Piper Warrior through clear skies to the ground near Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The red-haired fourth-grader from Oceano, Calif., was welcomed at the airport by about 50 cheering spectators to celebrate his successful five-day journey, which he plans to resume next week with a flight back to California. His mother, Gail Marshall, flew commercially from California to meet her son and greeted him with a hug.

“The trip was so, so, so much fun. I can’t believe I really did it. The mountains and valleys I saw were real neat. I’ve never seen anything like that before,” said Christopher in a telephone interview from his hotel room. “I especially like New Mexico.”

The 4-foot, 11-inch pilot, who snacked on candy bars and cereal while in flight, needed to sit on three pillows to see out the cockpit window. He said a thunderstorm encountered Tuesday night over Mississippi, which reduced visibility to 50 feet, was the highlight of the trip. “It was so cool,” he said.

“I wanted to keep on going, but my instructor said we better stop before we get hurt.”

Christopher, who was accompanied on the 2,700-mile flight by his instructor, Rowe Yates, landed that night in Meridian, Miss., about 120 miles short of his intended stop in Montgomery, Ala. He also overnighted in Palm Springs, Albuquerque, N.M., and Dallas.

Yates said in an interview that Christopher flew the whole way, averaging 120 m.p.h.

Christopher’s father, a Delta Airlines pilot who is divorced from Gail Marshall, was on a flight and could not meet his son’s plane. Christopher said Thursday that he wants to fly for Delta when he grows up.

Christopher took off Saturday afternoon with Yates from an airstrip in Oceano, near San Luis Obispo. His cross-country flight breaks the record of 11-year-old Texan pilot John Kevin Hill, who inspired his adventure. Three weeks ago, John flew with his instructor in a Cessna 210 from Los Angeles to Washington.

Hill climbed aboard Christopher’s plane Monday in Dallas to wish him good luck, but the words exchanged between the two young pilots’ parents since have not been so friendly. John’s father, Johnny Hill, called Christopher a “copycat”.

“I’m not impressed at all with Chris,” Johnny Hill said.

“We wish him the best of luck, but there’s no way Chris is qualified to be considered in the same class as my son,” he said. “Doesn’t the son of a Delta pilot have anything better to do than copy other people’s records?”

Christopher’s mother said she is disgusted that Hill sees the two boys in competition. “I’ve never been a Little League mom, and I’m not about to start now,” Marshall said. “I’m proud of both John and Chris, and we just wanted Chris to have some fun.

“The record is great, but it’s secondary. This is all a part of an ongoing education for Chris.”

But Christopher’s spokesman in California, Jeff Kolkmann of Diamond Aviation, which owns the plane, said it is hoped that the flight will make the Guinness Book of Records.

“It’s the Guinness record that Chris is going for,” he said. “When I talked to them, all they said was to document the flight plans, and that’s what we’re doing.”

Christopher was born with severe clubfeet and spent three years in leg casts. His mother said doctors predicted that he would never walk, but two operations performed when he was 3 helped correct the condition.

Christopher, who has been flying since age 7, said he plans to return home after a weeklong cruise around the British Virgin Islands.