How to Support the Earthrounder Mission
My Story and My Mission
Hello, World!! In 2020 I will fly solo around the world and I will give you motivational speeches for you in your country, I need your support!!
My name is Shinji Maeda, and I am a one-eyed pilot from Washington state.
You may say “what!! A half-blind pilot trying to fly around the world???? He’s crazy…. That’s a MISSION that *IS* IMPOSSIBLE!!” It sounds like just another stunt that Tom Cruise should be doing, right?
Well, I’m not crazy...mostly. And I’ve heard “IMPOSSIBLE” a lot in my life…
Let me explain WHY I am making this flight and why you should be a part of it.
Everything that I’ve done has become POSSIBLE...
Let me explain WHY this flight isn’t crazy...and WILL BE POSSIBLE… AND WHY YOU SHOULD BE A PART OF IT...
BECAUSE IT ISN’T JUST A FLIGHT...IT IS A MISSION!
I was born and raised in Japan. In 1998, I was involved in an accident…and I died...and fortunately I came back to this world somehow. In coming back, I lost my eyesight in one eye and that condition resulted in me being labeled “handicapped”, which meant that by law I could never pursue my dreams of working in Aviation in Japan, or teaching others to fly, or flying for the sheer joy of it.
I was completely destroyed
I was told to accept my fate and I was treated as damaged, and less than whole. My future was empty and I was told it was empty by many. I had to find the strength inside me to take the word “IMPOSSIBLE” and change that word to “I AM POSSIBLE!”
To achieve my dreams, I became a US citizen, I received a college degree in the US and pursued my aviation career. I became a pilot, and now a flight instructor, and I share my love of flight with student pilots everyday. I work for a large aircraft manufacturer and along the way I became a husband and father.
While finding the inner strength to leave my family in Japan, and achieve my dreams, I discovered that sharing my journey and encouraging and motivating others to achieve their dreams - especially young people - became my other true passion. So “YOU ARE POSSIBLE” became my mission.
Since 2008 I’ve been giving motivational speeches to thousands of young people in the US and Japan. I’ve flown to most of these talks on a commercial jet. This time will be different.
I’ll be flying around the world and giving motivational speeches from here to your countries sharing this aviation experience.
Impossible? NO, not at all! I AM POSSIBLE….and THIS IS POSSIBLE...but only with your help.
This project is bigger than me, bigger than you, and will impact tens of thousands of people through VLogging, In person speeches, and promotional materials. This project will work because “WE ARE POSSIBLE” through your contributions.
We will use all donations to our 501(c)3 non-profit for aircraft preparation and flight operations to get to as many presentations as we can while I fly around the world. And you will be flying with me in my heart.So thank you very much, and see you soon somewhere on this joyful earth.
Let’s make this happen together.
Shinji Maeda
President
Aero Zypangu Project NPO
