A trip of a lifetime turned tragic after a 17-year-old boy who was flying around the world with his father in a single-engine plane was killed when their plane crashed Tuesday night near American Samoa, ABC News reported. The journey, months in the planning, would have taken the pair on a 26,500-mile odyssey, with an aim to raise funds for a charity in Pakistan that helps poverty-stricken children go to school.
Babar Suleman, 58, and his 17-year-old son, Haris Suleman, took off on June 19 for an aerial endeavor around the world in just 30 days, hoping to "break the record for the fastest circumnavigation around the world with the youngest pilot commanding a private, single engine airplane," the Indianapolis Star reported. But instead, the Indiana teenager is now confirmed dead by the U.S. Coast Guard while his father remains missing.
The pair, who left on their around the world adventure from Greenwood, Indiana, wanted to raise money for The Citizens Foundation, a nonprofit that builds schools in rural Pakistan, the newspaper reported. Their 25 stops included 15 countries including England, Egypt and Pakistan, according to CNN.
"We don't really know what happened with the plane," Hiba Suleman, Haris' sister, said in a press conference Wednesday. She said the plane took off at 9:50 p.m. local time and at 10:15 p.m. the air traffic controller saw the lights of the plane go down about 23 miles off American Samoa, adding that her father wouldn't have let Haris take off if the weather was bad.
Babar Suleman had flown for more than a decade and had experience with emergency landings. In 2008, he landed his plane on an Indianapolis highway after its single engine died, the Associated Press reported. His son had flown with him since the age of 8 and received his pilot's license and instrument rating in June.
Hiba said she had talked to her brother Tuesday. "He had asked me for dad's credit card info, which apparently my dad wouldn't give him. He wanted to book a hotel in Hawaii himself. He apparently didn't like dad's selection," she said with a chuckle.
But their father, also a pilot, has not been found, she confirmed. "Dad talked for years of going on this trip. We believed in it. We knew there was a risk," she said. "We're hoping my dad is alive and well, and we're going to keep praying until we have a definitive answer."
It remains unclear why the plane crashed or why the duo took off at night. "He was doing something that he loved. He was doing something adventurous," she said of her brother, who received his pilot's license in June. And he was doing it for a good cause, she added. However, an inspector for the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration in American Samoa will be looking into the cause of the accident, with the National Transportation Safety Board agency working with local authorities on the investigation as well, spokesman Terry Williams said.
Azher Khan, a family friend, told reporters that he received an email from Babar Tuesday morning talking about how they were on their way back. "We were organizing welcome banners," he said. "We're still hopeful we will have Babar coming back."
He said the pair had raised over $500,000 "for building schools in impoverished neighborhoods, for children who had nothing."
The Coast Guard was searching for Babar Suleman late Wednesday.
