Ravinder Bansal

Bansal was recruited by Linde and moved to the Buffalo, NY area in 1977.^[4] He co-founded a medical and industrial oxygen concentrator company, AirSep Corporation, in Amherst, NY in 1987 and served as CEO until its acquisition.^[8] For his work at AirSep, he was awarded the 1993 Entrepreneur of the Year award in Upstate New York.^[2] AirSep was also awarded the U.S. Department of Commerce's Export Achievement Award in 2002.^[3] At its peak, AirSep employed 700 people and had $110 million in revenue in 2006.^[8] AirSep was acquired by Chart Industries in 2012 for $170 million.^[9][10]

Bansal was awarded the Walter P. Cooke Award in 2009 from the State University of New York at Buffalo for his philanthropic contributions.^[3][11]

Bansal was awarded a State University of New York Honorary Doctorate of Science on 21 May 2022 for his accomplishments as an entrepreneur, humanitarian and researcher.^[12]

In August 2017, Bansal completed a solo circumnavigation of the globe in an airplane with a single, reciprocating engine, becoming the first person of Indian origin to do so.^[1][6][7] Bansal departed on his circumnavigation from Buffalo, NY, USA on 4 July 2017, and returned 47 days later on 20 August 2017. He completed his circumnavigation in his own Cessna 400 single-engine piston aircraft.^[13] His trip consisted of 36 stops in 19 countries and covered a total distance of 21,738 nautical miles with a cumulative flight time of 135.9 hours.^[14] The flight required six months of preparation with his logistics team of Eddie Gold and Ahmed Hassan at GASE.^[4][15]

Bansal, inspired by the passing of his sister-in-law to complications from breast cancer, set out to raise awareness and money with his circumnavigation mission for the Rotary Cancer Hospital in his hometown of Ambala.^[16] As of August 2017, the mission had raised $160,000 towards the purchase of an MRI machine to allow for early detection of cancer at the hospital.^[17]

Bansal was recognized for becoming the first person of Indian origin to fly solo around the world by the Limca Book of Records in its 2020 edition.^[1] The State of New York Legislature of the County of Erie recognized Bansal for his record solo flight and efforts in the fight against cancer by passing a resolution on 7 September 2017.^[18]

Bansal published a book in 2019, Cleared Direct Destination, detailing his solo circumnavigation mission.^[19][20]