Robert DeLaurentis: The Peace Pilot Who Circumnavigated Between the South and North Poles.

it is April 26th and we tip our hats skyward for World

Pilot's Day, celebrating the skill and dedication of aviators globally.

This dedication day was established to commemorate the inaugural flight

Well, it is an honor to celebrate pilots worldwide, especially my

guest today, Robert DeLaurentis.

It was like living in a fuel tank so your eyes would burn,

your sinuses would burn, and when you would swallow, you could taste the fuel.

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I'm Catherine, your host of this Variety show podcast.

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What's your pi?

Wow.

Oh my gosh.

Today's guest is already a legend, a legacy filled with brilliant

and inspiring positive imprints.

Setting records certainly draws attention.

So who is this remarkable figure?

Robert DeLaurentis is an author, entrepreneur, exceptional pilot,

and a retired veteran lieutenant commander in the United States Navy.

As the solo pilot, he flew from the South Pole to the North Pole and everywhere

in between navigating his twin engine propeller plane, powered by biofuels,

which I am really excited about.

And during his journey as peace pilot, he also gathered data for research in

collaboration with Scripps Institution of Oceanography and also nasa.

He embarked on this adventure as a global citizen on a mission to inspire,

change and leave even more positive imprints while facing what he calls

his greatest challenge of all fear.

While maneuvering through the notorious Drake passage, his peace

mission extends beyond just humanity.

It encompasses harmony with

all of nature.

Well, Robert is indeed a legend having been inducted into the legends of

Flight Hall of Fame at the Air and Space Museum in San Diego, and I am

thrilled, , I am honored to welcome.

Robert DeLaurentis here to the show.

Robert, welcome.

Thank you, Catherine.

You did that quite well.

Sometimes I hear these introductions and I go, wow, who is that crazy

person they're talking about?

And it just happens to be me, I guess.

It is.

And I, I have loved researching you and the introduction could

have been an hour or two hours.

You just have so many positive imprints and I'm excited and I'm just

so thrilled to have finally met you.

Thank you again.

We're, uh, we're really happy with the

I reflect back and there's a lot in the world and.

It, uh, all connects together almost perfectly with the completion of the

movie, , DeLaurentis International Airport, and eventually, uh, in the next

year putting the citizen on of the world on display in front of the airport.

So,

oh,

very happy.

So,

okay, so listeners, what Robert is talking about, about, he

owns a airport in Oak Grove, is it

Oak Harbor, Washington on Woodby Island, just off

the coast of Seattle, south of Canada.

Yeah.

And it, it's a, a nice quaint airport and you can certainly find that online

to learn more about the airport, , so you're going to have the plane.

And my goodness, you had this feat back in 20 19, 20 20 of flying.

But yet, when I was reading about you, you were not even a pilot in the Navy.

Yeah.

You got it right.

I, um, was not a pilot in the Navy.

I didn't have the vision that they required, the eyesight and, um,

but the desire to fly continued.

And funny thing about flying Catherine is you can't really do it unless you have

the time and the money at the same time.

And for me, that was kind of elusive.

And when I retired, for the second time, actually at age 43, those things

finally came together and I decided to focus my energies on flying.

Uh, a few years later I was doing my first equatorial circumnavigation, , in

a plane called the Citizen of the World.

So flying around the world along the equator.

doing a polar circumnavigation over the north and south poles and a much

more, uh, capable and complex plane called the "Citizen of the World",

which is what the movie's about in part.

Yeah.

Which we will get to.

And by the way, thank you for your service in the United States Navy.

We all appreciate, , our service personnel, so thank you for that.

And so growing up, you grew up in the United States,

uh, for a time, yeah.

I spent two and a half years in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Uh, with my family.

I went to a joint embassy school over there, and it was sort of

my first exposure to, , life beyond the United States.

I, I loved, uh, airplanes since the very beginning, and I remember my dad and I, we

went to the school that I was attending.

It was called, uh, JES, the Joint Embassy School, and we put together a couple,

uh, picnic tables and attempted to launch one of my, uh, strength controlled

gas planes and, uh, , bounced from one table to the next, to the next and

then into the ground and was destroyed.

So the first first attempt at, uh, flying wasn't necessarily

successful, but it was exciting and, , told me there was more to come.

But, , living overseas, uh, really opens you up to the rest of the world

and that there are other people.

And uh, maybe that was my first exposure to the fact that, uh, people are

more similar than different, right?

They, they focus on their families and their health and

their safety, , their joy, their happiness, their financial security.

And then all those other things are sort of secondary.

So, uh, yeah, we, you made international friends and saw the world was a big place,

you know, not without its challenges.

So it was a defining moment in my life for sure.

Well, and, and having those experiences, like you say overseas

and meeting people and seeing how they live and seeing their values

that shape them as a culture is truly that, is, that defines them.

It may not define you, but it's, you take that with you, , some of that.

Absolutely.

, I, I think getting out from behind our computers and going into the world, kinda

like you just did recently in Europe, , is the best way to learn about the world.

'cause you get to meet these people in person.

You get to, , watch their expressions when they're talking to you

and learn about their passions.

It's really, , I think something that everybody should have to

do at some point in their life.

Yeah.

So citizens of the world.

So, uh, I love that.

phrases, we are all citizens of the world trying and hopefully doing our part.

And you took your plane and, and you as a citizen of the world wanted

to bring hope and peace to citizens of the world, which is everybody.

And you met so many people on this.

So let's talk about, the flight and the research and the foundation.

I mean, there's a lot to cover in in this, so why Citizens of the World?

Why did you want that on your plane?

Yeah, the way we came up with that is, , my first book,

um, and Trip, I was the Zen pilot.

And then on the second one, um, I was the peace pilot.

It was sort of an evolution, but CitiZen, um, of the world seemed to make sense.

And the funny thing, Catherine, is I didn't see that connection until about

a year after we had named the plane.

Citizen of the world.

And um, I was on a qua wall and , uh, I believe it was Spain and they had

a picture and there was, uh, a person with one side of their face was

dark and the other side was light.

And it sort of spoke to me.

It was talking about the connection between people and that's in the movie.

You get to see that.

So yeah, it just seemed like a more ambitious project.

And when I was doing my spiritual psychology studies, I remember talking

to my instructor, a guy named Ron Nik about what the mission should be.

I didn't want it just to appear to be a guy flying around the

world, having a good old time.

, We had to have the science, we wanted to have the message for people and we

wanted to have some positive impact.

And he suggested global peace.

And at the time I laughed, I thought way too big for me.

And I think we were laughing for different reasons.

Laughed 'cause it was kind of an awkward moment.

And I was laughing 'cause I didn't think I was capable of that.

But, I was intent on having a positive impact on the world.

And that seemed to be the way I could do it by bringing together my passions, which

were business, spirituality and flying

and the spirituality part.

Zen.

I never, ever, until you said that the zen, that that never ever crossed my mind.

And you have the, you have the book Zen Pilot, which talks about the

spirituality and then you also have peace pilot, which talks more about,

um, not so much the spiritual part, but the documenting of the, the

trip and the meeting of the people.

And then there's a movie as well with the same name.

I would say, Catherine, that all these things,

including the three children's books and the Flying through life are really

deeply, deeply spiritual projects.

And we tried to go about it in a way so we wouldn't spook anybody, right?

We want it to be very subtle and peace pilot meeting the people,

but it's about connecting the north and south poles and everybody in

between and this concept of oneness.

And we used to say one planet, one people, one plane.

So yes, , it is about the journey, it is about the science.

Um, to me it's all about the spiritual side of life and you

know how we connect with that, how we connect with other people.

And that connection is one of the most important parts of life.

And you met an enormous number of positive imprints on your travels

so let's go to the science part.

Sure.

It was a turbine commander 900.

We had modified it in over 50 ways, , including predator B drone

engines, which were the most efficient engines even at the military uses.

, And we pushed the range of the plane from six hours out beyond 18.

And it's one thing to double the range of a plane, but to go beyond triple

is, , a story in a, in and of itself.

But, , the plane was really a vehicle for our message.

And like I said, connecting the north and south Poles, the two

places where pieces always existed.

And, , of course we were filming and our goal was legacy.

, It's a big part of the foundation and I believe, , people get to a point

in life where, , they've met their basic needs for example, they're maybe

retired and now there's this extra time or this extra responsibility

that they have to the world, I think.

'cause you're not just here for the ride, right.

, We like to think that we are giving back and making it a better place.

Mm-hmm.

Again, having a positive impact on the world.

Maybe that's another book in itself is the building of the plane.

Certainly for the pilots,, or people that are

really interested in aviation.

It's a pretty fascinating, uh, story about taking yourself and

your aircraft, , beyond its limits.

Mm-hmm.

. Okay.

So.

, You were working collaboratively with NASA and Scripps, so what was the

research and the data that you were trying to collect and what is it showing?

Well, it's interesting, , you bring that up because

there's a guy named Dr. Dmitri de Haine and I was at a celebration of life

ceremony for a guy named Walter Monk, who is considered the Einstein of the oceans.

He was over a hundred years old.

And Dmitri, one of his scientists, got up and said that

he was a citizen of the world.

And I was looking for an experiment at the time.

And Dmitri's experiment was to collect plastic particles in the,

uh, atmosphere to try and explain how plastic has gotten into, well,

specifically microfibers have gotten into every body of water on the planet.

And he was trying to show that they were, uh, in the air.

And surprisingly in my, , research, , and collection of data with the plane, uh,

we found there was more plastic in the air over the poles than there was over

the equator where the population was.

So it's really pretty groundbreaking.

, They've discovered plastics in the, uh, uh, water, these plastic islands,

but there's actually plastic in the air, and that's more important for us

as humans because we're inhaling it.

Mm-hmm.

Right.

And everything we wear, like this shirt I have on now has got some microfibers.

It doesn't wrinkle right.

It looks nice.

It's shiny.

We like to wear it.

But, um, I'm also putting down a trail of, uh, microplastics all over the place.

That's what we found.

And, um, groundbreaking stuff.

I think at some point that'll work its way into a Nobel Prize for this guy

because it's so important for humanity.

, The NASA wafer scale spaceship that I carried, uh, was very important.

It was the first time it made it outside the lab.

, It was a uc, SB uc, Santa Barbara funded experiment paid for by nasa,

and it's the future of space travel.

So we see, let's say Elon Musk sending his rockets up with some astronauts.

, That's really not the future, , because it's expensive to push

a huge rocket, the motor, the fuel, the astronauts in the space.

Instead, what they're doing is they're taking these little, , wafer

scale, . They look like circuit boards and they're blasting 'em out

into space using electromagnetic cannons and then using lasers to

push 'em either even further out.

And the support for that is on, it's all ground based, so you're not pushing

something heavy into space, and they can launch those every 15 minutes.

So it's really the, the future of space travel.

I carried it with me and it took, , over 30,000 pictures.

It measured temperature, speed, altitude, location, and it's actually in our museum

at, , DeLaurentis International Airport

Airport.

Oh, awesome.

So now NASA obviously is using that data to better their research.

I read about what Scripps was doing, with the research, the microplastics now

it's in the air, we have to do something.

And I think that we can do better and make some changes

There's hope, right?

Learning about this is maybe the first step in it all.

, We also, or I also carried, when I say we, it's myself and the citizen

of the world, but uh, also carried the biofuels like you had mentioned.

Mm-hmm.

First time using those over the north and south poles.

And then, uh, special type of tracking system, which tracked me.

All the way around the planet within like 30 feet.

And we have all that data that was used as well.

So , the trip was really pretty rich in terms of science and that was important

so that it wasn't just about promoting aviation, technology and safety, but it

was, , how does this benefit the planet?

So let's talk about the biofuels.

Those were plants, animal waste, algae material,

yes,

yeah, it's not a hundred percent biofuels.

Nobody has a hundred percent.

But, um, those were provided, to us by Gulfstream.

And then when I got over to Europe, they're actually using that already.

So they're steps ahead of us, but we were really happy to help, you know,

draw a little bit of attention to that.

And there was actually a benefit.

The, the jet fuel made from biofuels doesn't gel at, , a certain temperature.

You can actually get it a little bit colder.

And since I was flying over, uh, a cold region of the plaintiffs and

minus 60 Celsius, any help we could get was, , greatly appreciated.

I'm glad to hear you say that there are places in the world that

are already using the biofuel, such as Sweden, and they had it available for you.

Because you lost, , one of the tanks.

That was over the South Pole.

I had to draw from all the tanks.

I had planned to save some of that fuel for later, but there

was this issue of survival.

, So I had to burn it, get back over the Drake passage, actually.

Well, and you mentioned your fear factor.

, We all have fears , I was glad that you were honest about how you were feeling

Yeah.

On my first trip in the book, uh, Zen Pilot, I talk about fear

being my constant companion.

And I actually used fear, to tip me off to the issues that I would have.

Like for example, on that first trip, , I was waking up with panic

attacks, not because what other people had told me was their concern.

Like my dad said, you're gonna die.

, A gal I was dating at the time said, you're gonna, , have

to ditch in the Pacific Ocean and, , suffer and die by yourself.

That that wasn't my concern.

My concern was, , landing at a remote airport in the middle of the night

with weather on an island, , with mountains, and that just terrified me.

So what I would do is I would go up at night, , I went over to, , the Truckee

airport near Lake Tahoe where they have water and mountains and terrible

weather, and it's a non towered airport.

And I would do practice approaches at night in the absolute worst conditions.

And I finally got quite proficient at it and I thought, well, maybe this is it.

Maybe I don't have to deal with this anymore.

But, , going into American Samoa, I was certainly tested and, , experienced

those conditions, , in the darkest place I think I've ever been.

I remember looking out the window and just seeing total black, and then I closed

my eyes and there was no difference.

Right.

By yourself, right?

I could have been on the sofa watching Netflix with, , a friend

of mine back in the United States.

So.

It's, it's kind of interesting to pull yourself outta your comfort zone and,

uh, deal with those fears directly.

At DeLaurentis Airport, we have a plaque and it's a quote, , from Peace Pilot

and it says, if you're not afraid, maybe your dreams aren't big enough.

So we have to take some risks out there.

Robert DeLaurentis: Absolutely, absolutely.

You said that you were solo, but you also took your mom with you,

, her ashes, some of her ashes, and that that was a, certainly a comfort for you.

For sure.

. And, and the spiritual, inner spiritual part.

And I think that, that, that was another important part for you in this legacy.

It was certainly a very emotional, moment for me.

And, um, what I did is I took crashes with me and I had them and a little, , vial,

glass vial, and it was in my backpack.

And the night before I set out for the South Pole on that 18.1

hour flight, I reached into the backpack and , I pulled my hand out

and there were ashes on my hand.

And it was, , it freaked me out.

I was like, oh my God.

It's like she's reaching out to me, touching me, comforting me in this

time of need like a mother would.

, I had been carrying that vial for months and months.

And on that night, at that moment, , I had the experience,

so, , she was definitely with me.

We did, , this is gonna make me sound even crazier.

We did use some psychics and, what they would always say is that your

mom's looking out for you on this trip.

In the film it was, it was emotional, I think for anybody

watching it, , knowing that this occurred and you said in the movie,

peace Pilot, this isn't fun anymore.

I'm scared.

You know, it's funny because , you have your

supporters, you have your doubters, and then you have, , the rest.

Some people call 'em the haters.

And I had one friend of mine who said I was on a, sponsor funded vacation.

And it was so far from the truth because I mean, I was suffering on

a daily basis when the fuel tanks.

A burst inside the plane and the jet fuel, , sprayed on my eyes, my face, my

shoulders, groin legs, , and jet fuel is not a pleasant experience, highly toxic.

, And my skin was burnt, , and we couldn't get the fuel out of the plane.

It was, , beneath the floorboards.

I ended up flying the remainder of the trip with, uh, close to probably a hundred

gallons of jet fuel in the floorboards.

And it was like living in a fuel tank so your eyes would burn, your

sinuses would burn, and when you would swallow, you could taste the fuel.

And I really didn't understand, , why I needed to be suffering so badly.

But, , I eventually figured it out with the help of one of my friends.

And it's that all living things suffer.

I mean, you can.

Walk in the park here at Balbo Park and you see animals that are,

, injured, maybe a bird with like a, a bad leg or some plants are, , got

a, some sort of fungus on them.

I mean, there's homeless people.

We're all in this constant state of suffering.

And that's very much a Buddhist concept, but, um, true.

And what I was trying to figure out and still haven't figured out

is, , what was I being prepared for?

Like, is there something in the future that I'm gonna be called to

do just like I was on this mission?

, Or is it just so that I could connect with humanity?

'cause I don't know anybody who's just got the free ride, right?

There's always challenges.

, Catherine: I didn't see a vacation in there.

Yeah.

Uh, 18 hours alone sitting on the plane, being the one that's in charge.

And it's not a computerized plane, it's you have the gadgets,

although you had your iPad.

I found that interesting that the iPad, you could actually get some information

that you were losing from the controls on the airplane itself because of

the magnetic anomalies that were occurring in the north and south poles.

So that was incredible for me.

But blood clots, what did you do for blood clots?

You can't exactly stand up in that plane and walk around.

Yeah.

I had, uh, compression socks.

Mm-hmm.

Uh, which helped with that.

And I was trying to, , do some exercises in my, , seat.

Uh, , part of the trip is preparing for it.

Mm-hmm.

So like, for example, my eyes, I had, surgery.

, Done on my eyes so that if I lost my glasses, , I wouldn't be blinded

and I'd still be able to, , land the plane there was working out,

becoming more of an athlete, right?

And eating well.

It's, it's a full body experience.

It's not like the, the guy that just hops in the plane and goes for a spin.

I had been preparing for that trip for 18 months and the, the first trip along

the equator took six months to prepare for, and I had expected another six

because the trip was three times harder.

, That, , I was, uh, more experienced, had more sponsors, had better support,

but it turned out to take 18 months to prepare for the polar trip just

because of the complexity of it.

So, , I was under extreme stress.

I was waking up, having panic attacks.

I had some internal bleeding.

My hair was falling out.

I mean, it's one thing to make promises to people, but then when

you actually have to deliver.

And it starts getting close.

It gets real.

It gets real.

And at one point, you know, during one of these panic attacks, I was up in

the middle of the night journaling.

One hand was me, the other hand was, , God responding hopefully.

And I said, , I need help.

I can't do this alone.

And the message I got back was, I'm sending angels.

And it was funny 'cause the next day I had an event over at the Gillespie

Field at Allen, Airways Museum.

And three people in that, uh, morning, uh, used the word angels and one of 'em

had a big cross and a white, , outfit on.

And, , that was the person, uh, Claudia Allen introduced me to the

people at the Smithsonian that would eventually do a 30 minute segment on

the trip for kids called stem and 30.

, I, I never felt like I was alone in terms of my preparations or the flight.

Certainly my mom was with me.

, I used to say it was a mission of many, not one.

And it's easy to watch that film and go, oh, it was Robert.

He was solo, , on this polar flight.

But there was so many people supporting me.

, I had a, a scientist guy named Brian Keating, , nominated for the Nobel Prize.

He was helping us deal with some polar issues.

A wonderful spiritual woman, , mentor of mine, Susan Gilbert.

, She was the one who got my text over the Drake passage when I

didn't think I have had enough fuel.

I texted her and said, I don't think I'm gonna make it.

join me next time for part two with Robert as he shares more of his

peace pilot Peace, mission, adventures.

Learn more about Robert DeLaurentis from these sites.

Polltopoll.flyingthrulife.com

and through is spelled THRU and also.

Flyingthulife.com.

And again, THRU, also DeLaurentisfoundation.org and that

is spelled D-E-L-A-U-R-E-N-T-I-S.

The DeLaurentis Foundation inspires people and organizations to live

their impossibly big dreams through the wonder of aviation and courage.

And of course, peace Pilot film is available to watch on Amazon Prime

Video, Apple TV, and Google movies.

And you can also find Robert's books on Amazon.

Thank you again,

If you'd like to buy me a coffee to help fund the production

of this podcast, here's how.

Go to buymeacoffee.com/Yourpositiveimprint and any support you offer

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