(KAIR)--Atchison native Amelia Earhart mysteriously disappeared over the Central Pacific ocean over seventy years ago, but her spirit lives on in a woman that not only shares her name, but her passion for aviation.

Amelia Rose Earhart recently became the youngest woman to complete a global circumnavigation in a single engine aircraft, completing the flight of her namesake.

Earhart says that she had always been asked if she flew throughout her entire life. She finally grew tired of the question, and decided to do something about it. It was a decision that had a large impact on her life.  She saved up her money, took that first lesson, and that was all it took for her. She adds that “the more I started to go for it, the more I flew, the more I knew it was a part of my destiny to recreate and symbolically complete Amelia's flight after she disappeared”.

Earhart says that she had always thought about undertaking the flight, but it was not until recently when she felt the timing was right. She said it was when she had been flying for about ten years she thought that the window of opportunity was right there in front of her to complete the flight.

Earhart says when she passed the point where Amelia disappeared, she really started to feel Amelia's spirit with her. Up until that point, she said it was Amelia's flight, not hers, since they were simply retracing her path.

Now that her flight is complete, Earhart says she will focus her attention on the Fly With Amelia Scholarship Foundation, which awards scholarships for flight training to teen girls who aspire to become pilots.