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Rutherford, 19 years old and dual Belgian-British nationality, is the youngest pilot to achieve such a feat, in which she toured 52 countries on five continents for five months. The previous record, set in 2017, was held by Afghan-American Shaesta Wais, who accomplished the feat at the age of 30.
A cloud of cameras welcomed Zara Rutherford, after her journey of 52,000 kilometers across five continents. The young pilot landed this Thursday, January 20, around 1 p.m. at the Kortrijk-Wevelgem airport in Belgium, in the same place where she took off five months ago with her two-seater Shark ultralight plane.
She was cheered as she left the booth, and was greeted on the tarmac by her parents, who hugged her. “We will celebrate it by being together as a family, at first,” his mother Beatrice said. “I think Zara wants to celebrate it by sleeping for about two weeks,” he added.
After greeting the jubilant crowd, he covered himself with the British flag, the Union Jack, and the Belgian tricolor. “It’s really crazy, I haven’t assimilated it yet,” he told reporters.
An adventure that caused him joys and scares
His global flight was supposed to last three months, but he had to face several obstacles on his way, such as visa problems before entering Russia and some quarantines for health reasons, which delayed his return.
During the trip, she spent a month trapped in the city of Nome in Alaska, and 41 days in Russia. His favorite flyovers were New York and an active volcano in Iceland, but there were times when he feared for his life.
“The hardest thing was flying over Siberia: it was very cold and if the engine stalled, I was hours away from being rescued. I’m not sure if I would have survived,” she said.
On another occasion, he recalls that his plane was filled with fumes from California wildfires.
It flew visually when weather conditions permitted, although it indicates that it often had to slow down when passing through clouds and fog, and then let more sophisticated flight systems guide it.
155 days of travel and entry into the Guinness Book of Records
To meet the criteria of going around the world, Rutherford touched two opposite points of the globe: Jambi, in Indonesia and Tumaco, in Colombia. A 155-day trip that allowed him to visit 41 countries and earned him the inscription of his name in the Guinness Book of Records.
Until then, this feat was awarded to Shaesta Waiz, an American of Afghan origin, who circled the world alone on a plane in 2017, at the age of 30. At 19, Zara Rutherford has now become the youngest woman to complete this adventure.
As for the men’s record, it is held by Travis Ludlow, an 18-year-old Briton, who went around the globe in 2018.
“Young girls can be bold, ambitious and make their dreams come true”
Rutherford earned his pilot’s license in 2020, after training with his father from the age of 14. Now he wants to study electrical engineering at a UK or US university from September.
Huge congratulations to our 2021 Head of Finlay, Zara Rutherford, who has just set a number of world records by completing her round-the-world flight! Super proud of her work to promote STEM subjects to girls around the world. #StSwithunsgirlsflyfurther #GirlsWhoCode @fly_zolo
— St Swithun’s Finlay House (@StSwithunsFin) January 20, 2022
Rutherford dreams of being an astronaut and with her record she hopes to inspire other young women to pursue aviation, computing and science.
“Girls are often encouraged to be beautiful, kind, helpful and sweet. With my flight I want to show young girls that they can be bold, ambitious and make their dreams come true,” Rutherford said in a message on his website.
With AP, AFP and Reuters
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