On August 11, the British Zara Rutherford wants to travel around the globe in a tiny plane – and set a record as the youngest female pilot
So far, so normal: 19-year-old Zara Rutherford has finished school and is taking a gap year, i.e. a year off. Then she thought: “Why not do something crazy?”, As she tells the British broadcaster Sky News. What a flight to the other side of the earth means for many young people in order to travel to Australia with “Work and Travel” and work in coffee bars or to support an aid project in South America – will set a record at Rutherford: It will soon be set out in Belgium and travel around the globe – only she will fly the plane herself when she is the youngest woman to circling the globe on her own.
This record was last set in 2017, when the 30-year-old American Shaesta Waiz traveled around the globe. The 18-year-old Brit Travis Ludlow, currently the youngest man, landed in the Netherlands at the beginning of July after his circumnavigation of the world.
“Flying is a very natural thing for me,” says Zara Rutherford. She is the daughter of two pilots and grew up flying. She is currently exercising a lot, the teenager says, around 40 hours a week.
When she lets the ultra-light Shark UL take off into the sky in Brussels on August 11, the most important thing is to be “as safe and prepared as possible”.
She finds the unexpected on the trip as frightening as it is exciting, she continues with a broad grin – but above all she looks as if she can’t wait for it to finally start.
Route and plane
19-year-old Zara Rutherford will be the youngest woman to fly around the world alone.
Her route takes her across the Atlantic, Greenland, Canada, South America, Alaska, Russia, Indonesia and back to Europe.
Shark UL is the name of the ultra-light sport aircraft with which the record is to be set. sovo
The 19-year-old only got her flight license a year ago, and has been training for it since she was 14. Fear? Oh well. She has respect for Greenland and Alaska. “It can be a bit weathered there.” The “really high mountains” there will also be a challenge, just as tricky weather conditions in South America and South Asia could become more complicated.
“In a bit of an uncomfortable situation,” she told the British broadcaster BBC, it could come if something went wrong in the very remote areas – Russia or Greenland. “Not very many people live there.”
The rest then sounds completely normal again: “Most of all, I am happy to meet a lot of new people, get to know the cultures and try their dishes.” Rutherford graduated from school in Winchester in the south of England and currently lives in Belgium. She says she saved the cost of her adventure herself. And the parents? “My mother had to be convinced a bit, but she was,” says the teenager. “My father supports me a lot and helps with the logistics.”
From Brussels she will fly a precisely defined route: first cross the Atlantic westwards to Greenland, Canada. Later from South America to Alaska, via Russia and Indonesia back to Europe.
She crosses the equator twice. “I am really lucky that many people from all over the world have offered their help and let me spend the night at their home.” This record trip will take her two to three months, after which she will have traveled to 52 countries.
What if Rutherford is back? First a little relaxation, then maybe: become an astronaut. “This is my dream that one day I will maybe get a little higher.”
