Young Australian of the Year 2027
Byron Waller has been named a Queensland nominee in the 2027 Australian of the Year Awards, presented by the National Australia Day Council.
Patient
to Pilot
Pilot
'Round the
World · 2025
The nomination is for the mission, not just the flight
Byron Waller has been named a Queensland nominee in the 2027 Australian of the Year Awards. The recognition is for what happens around the cockpit: giving young people a reason to look up.
A flight between the poles, and a challenge for everyone
Byron’s next mission is a 2027 pole-to-pole flight for the Teen Pilot Foundation, flown to raise awareness of the young people carrying something heavy — a screen they can’t put down, depression, an illness, a hard start.
His challenge is simple: look up from whatever is holding you down. One thing, today. And if what is holding you down is serious, looking up means telling someone — that counts too.
Look up
for Byron
A practical campaign inviting young people to step away from the screen, reconnect with someone they trust and take one positive step beyond illness, depression, isolation or hardship.
From a hospital bed to the cockpit
Diagnosed with Crohn's disease at fourteen, Byron Waller refused to let chronic illness write his flight plan. By fourteen he had become the youngest pilot to circumnavigate Australia.
A year later, at fifteen, he flew around the world in a four-seat Sling TSi, the youngest person in history to pilot a plane around the globe. 39 legs. 5 continents. 19 countries. One teenager flying for the millions of young people living quietly with invisible illness. Now based between Los Angeles, USA and Brisbane, Australia.
Next: North Pole to South Pole, 2027.
Byron's next adventure is a pole-to-pole crossing of the planet in 2027, flown for the Teen Pilot Foundation — a registered Australian charity (ACN 700 252 562 · ABN 31 700 252 562) built for the kids on the other side of the ward door. Planning is underway now. If you want to be part of the mission, contact us at ops@byronwaller.com — or keep checking this website to learn more.
Arctic to Antarctic in a single mission. Routes, aircraft and weather windows in planning now.
Hospital programs, STEM lessons and lived-experience mentoring in every host country along the route.
Founding partners, hospitals, schools and country hosts are being signed for 2027. There's a seat at the table.
