LONG BEACH, CALIF. — From Long Island, New York, to Long Beach, California, Middle Tennessee State University senior Collin McDonald has traveled 4,300 miles to promote aviation among young people and adults and work toward an Honors College thesis project.
In traveling the flight path aviation pioneer Cal Rodgers took in 1911, McDonald, 22, of Carthage, Tennessee, reached Long Beach Airport June 11. His mother, Lorrie McDonald, who had flown from Nashville, Tennessee, greeted him after his 25-day journey in the 21-year-old, family-owned Maule MX-7-160 airplane nicknamed “Molly.”
“The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul,” Collin McDonald wrote in his blog in summing up the experience. “It truly has been a remarkable adventure and it isn’t over yet (he has to fly back home). “
“All things considered, I have been blessed with safe flights the entire way and the chance to represent the Honors College and Aerospace Department in such a national way,” he added. “I have plenty of stories (left to tell) … and look forward to being home again.”
Collin McDonald carries a 4.0 GPA in aerospace maintenance management and is an Honors College Buchanan scholarship recipient.
After graduating from MTSU, he plans to become a missionary pilot. For more on his journey, visit https://vinfizflight.wordpress.com/.
MTSU senior Collin McDonald, left, receives a hug from his mother, Lorrie McDonald upon meeting him at Long Beach (California) Airport June 11. Collin McDonald, an MTSU senior aerospace maintenance management major from Carthage, Tennessee, completed a 25-day, 4,300-mile transcontinental flight quest from Long Island, New York, to Long Beach. (Submitted photo)
MTSU senior Collin McDonald, left, and his mother, Lorrie McDonald, both from Carthage, Tennessee, hold a sign the McDonalds had made to congratulate their son for accomplishing his cross-country goal to fly coast-to-coast for an Honors College thesis project and to promote aviation to young people and adults. Flying a plane nicknamed “Molly,” Collin McDonald landed at Long Beach (California) Airport June 11. (Submitted photo)
