Pilot to Launch ‘Trip of a Lifetime’ from Western Pa.

A British engineer who works in Iraq will attempt to fly around the world in a journey that surprisingly will begin at a small airport north of Pittsburgh.

Ross Edmondson will take off in his single-engine Cessna on May 6 for the first of six-month-long flying trips. If he completes them successfully, he’ll be one of just 200 small aircraft pilots to circumnavigate the globe.

“This idea has been in my mind probably since I was 14,” he said recently via phone from Iraq. “I’m tremendously excited. I can’t wait to get back to the U.S. and then begin that final feverish week of preparation before I begin.”

Edmondson, 35, is a Shell Oil Company natural gas project engineer who was transferred to Pittsburgh in 2012 to work as part of the growing energy industry in Western Pennsylvania. A pilot since he was 21, Edmondson joined a local flying group – the Zelienople Condor Aero Club – soon after his arrival.

He kept his Cessna in Zelienople after being transferred to Iraq in 2017. He works one month on and one off, giving him time to frequently travel back to the Pittsburgh area to fly the plane.

Having extended periods of free time gave Edmondson the idea to finally make his dream trip a reality by breaking it into segments. He’ll fly the Cessna to various locales each month, fly back to work for a month, then fly back to wherever he left the aircraft to resume the flight.