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Despite all the progress we’ve made around the world, there are still few role models for female pilots. However, Zara Rutherford, 19, wants to change all that. She’s about to become the youngest woman to ever fly around the world alone!
Youngest Woman To Fly Around The World
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Zara Rutherford might seem like your ordinary Belgian-British teenager – however, she will soon become the youngest woman to fly around the world alone. That’s right! She started the journey in Kortrijk, Belgium, and will travel over five continents and 52 countries in total. In total, the trip will take Rutherford around three months. Over those months, the list of stops will include airports in the United Kingdom, the United States, Iceland, Canada, Columbia, Russia, China, Indonesia, India, and the middle east. Finally, it will conclude on November 4 at Popham Airfield in Belgium, exactly where Rutherford started her trip.
When she completes the flight, 19-year-old Rutherford will be not only the youngest woman to ever fly around the world, but also the youngest to use a micocraft. Currently, the record holder is Shaesta Waiz, of the United States, who completed a solo flight in 2017, at the age of 30.
So, how did Rutherford become a pilot? Well, as you might imagine, she took after her parents! She started studying piloting at the age of just 14, while at Saint Swithun’s School in Winchester. By 2020, at 18, the young woman earned her pilot’s license. Now, during her gap year, the 19-year-old decided to change history! After her flight, Rutherford plans to attend university, to study computer science or computer engineering. Thankfully, despite her age, Rutherford knows just how dangerous this mission is…
Confident In Her Skills
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On her flight, Rutherford is using the world’s fastest light-sport aircraft, a Shark Ultralight. Of course, the training also had to include training of what to do in an ocean crash, as she spends long hours over the oceans of the world. And those days are not exactly fun! “It’s kind of freaky, it’s weird — you start getting optical illusions,” Rutherford said in an interview. “When you’re in the air like that for three, four hours, you start thinking you’re seeing land and then you start struggling to differentiate between the water and the sky, or the water and the clouds.”
However, flying over Greenland was the most challenging part for the young pilot. There, she needed to battle terrible winds and high altitudes. “I think now I’ve really got the confidence to get me going,” Rutherford stated after landing in Greenland.
Despite her incredible talent, Rutherford says her goals have nothing to do with breaking records or becoming famous. “At first I was planning to fly around the world as an adventure during my gap year, not realising I would become the youngest woman to do so if I achieved it,” she stated. “It was only when I started researching more that I noticed could be the first Belgian and the youngest woman to solo circumnavigate the globe.” Instead, her goal is a simple one: inspire other young women!
“I’m hoping to get more girls interested in aviation,” Rutherford finished by saying.
