Flying ace and 2013 Australian Geographic Young Adventurer of the Year, Ryan Campbell, has a message to take to the world and nothing can stop him.
FOR RYAN CAMPBELL, every up and down in life is an opportunity, every bump in the road a chance to change direction and evolve for the better. It’s hard, in fact, not to think of every corny aphorism you’ve ever heard when you talk with him. ‘You get knocked down, you get up again.’ ‘Every cloud has a silver lining.’
“I’m a very ‘glass half-full’ kind of person, always have been,” he agrees with a laugh, adding his cliché of choice to the list. “You won’t get me to tell you all the negative stuff – I’m not that person.”
That’s not to say he hasn’t had some “very low moments” since his body was shattered when the Tiger Moth he was piloting crashed, due to engine failure, on the Gold Coast just after Christmas 2015.
“At 100 foot, the engine stopped and three seconds later it was all over,” Ryan recalls. “How it didn’t burn I don’t know.”
It was two weeks before his 22nd birthday and he would celebrate that milestone as a paraplegic.
I FIRST MET RYAN at Australian Geographic’s annual awards ceremony in 2016, 11 months after the accident; he was hobbling on crutches and dragging his mostly unresponsive legs. But he was still the tall, strapping pilot I recalled from media shots when he became the youngest person to f ly solo around the world as a 19-year-old, in 2013. He was wobbly but had that air of humble invincibility I’d sensed in every great adventurer I’d met, from 20th-century pioneering aviatrix Nancy Bird Walton, to mountain climber Greg Mortimer, to solo Antarctic sailor Lisa Blair.
This story is from the September-October 2018 edition of Australian Geographic Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the September-October 2018 edition of Australian Geographic Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
DESERT DELIGHT
The Great Victoria Desert, Australia's largest, defies expectations. Visibly rich in biodiversity, it challenges preconceptions about how a desert should look.
A NEW BROOME
New experiences with First Nations people on Country are transforming \"flop-and-drop\" tourism in this tropical getaway.
THE BREAKFAST CLUB
For six days last autumn, a ragtag band of walkers came together to tackle the famed Overland Track and explore central Tasmania's spectacular flora, from the tiniest fungus to its towering King Billy pines.
BACK FOR THE FUTURE
Bathurst is one of several regional inland cities holding historic-trades fairs, tapping into growing enthusiasm for a slower, more sustainable way of living and of making things..
HELPING HANDS
These bizarre, shy fish that walk instead of swim face a precarious future in the waters of southern Australia.
COMMEMORATING BROTHERS IN ARMS ON COUNTRY
The military service of two First Nations World War II soldiers, long overlooked by history, is celebrated annually on an outback pilgrimage by an Aussie music legend.
UNEXPECTED PACIFIC PARADISE
Visiting Micronesia's islands and atolls offers an unexpected rare glimpse into remote communities steeped in centuries-old cultural traditions.
THE PATRIOT CONVICTS
A little-known group of political prisoners, transported from Canada to the Australian colonies, had far-reaching effects.
NEW SPACES FOR OCEAN LIFE
In an alliance between Australian marine ecologists and industrial designers, science and art meet to restore ecological function at some of the world's most altered coastal landscapes.
RESCUING AN EMBLEM
Nothing says an Aussie Easter quite like the bilby, but this symbol of the outback is facing a tough struggle for survival.