A Dream Takes Flight : 17-Year-Old Sets Off on Solo Cross-Country Journey

Since he was 10 and first took the yoke in his hands, he has defined himself in the sky, losing himself among the clouds and in the hum of a Cessna 172.

Nobody has figured out what Kevin Gustafson has been chasing, not even he, but Tuesday morning he kissed his mother goodbye, waved a grown-up wave and flew into the overcast sky to find out.

The 17-year-old Seal Beach boy left about 10 a.m., headed for Kitty Hawk, N.C., where the Wright Brothers flew their first airplane. He’s flying alone, carrying only a map and some clothes. Although he won’t break any records--for speed or for age--the trip is notable because only a few this young have done it.

“I’m free when I’m flying,” Gustafson said before his flight. The boy is as brash as any 17-year-old, but he also is meticulous as he checks his instruments and makes sure no bolts are loose. Fiddling with the controls, he said, “There’s a world out there that [I] haven’t even begun to know.”

Gustafson, who left from Long Beach Airport, doesn’t have a definite flight plan; depending on the weather and how lonely he gets in the tiny cockpit, he figures he will stop in about 15 cities and fly over about 20 states.

His map reads, in neat, blocky handwriting, “Planned Route For Solo Coast to Coast Flight. By Kevin Gustafson--August 1999.” His 5,000-mile trip will take him through the belly of the country, through Arizona and Texas and Mississippi and Alabama and back through the upper half, through the wild prairies and humpbacked hills of Wisconsin and Nebraska. His trip will last about two weeks.

His parents and his older brother, who builds muscle cars and says he prefers to stay on the ground, watched proudly as Gustafson prepared for his flight and posed for the television cameras. As the family filmed their own video and snapped pictures, Gustafson’s father, Bruce, a fund-raiser for nonprofit corporations, said, “Kevin’s got more hours flying in a plane than he does driving a car. He’s safer up there than he is on the highway.”

Gustafson is, in part, making his trip to raise money for a children’s flying program called Young Eagles, which gives children a chance at flying a small airplane. Gustafson first flew a plane as part of the nationwide program.

Something can go wrong on any flight--whether it is piloted by a professional or by a child such as 7-year-old Jessica Dubroff, the Bay Area girl who died while trying to fly across the country in 1996--and Gustafson dismisses concerns that young people should not fly. With the right training, age does not matter as much as instinct and determination, he said.

Gustafson has wanted to fly across the country since he was a little boy and first flew his instructor’s Cessna 172, the same plane he chose for this trip.

When he left, he hugged his family goodbye and told them he would call from every stop. As his plane rose from the ground, he didn’t look back.

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Solo Journey

A 17-year-old Seal Beach pilot is making a coast-to-coast solo flight in order to raise money for a foundation that promotes opportunities for children to fly in small planes. The pilot, Kevin Gustafson, will travel to Kitty Hawk, N.C., and back, making local flights with children along the way. The planned route and stops: