A teenager has become the youngest woman to fly around the world solo.Zara Rutherfordtook off on August 18th, 2021 and spent 155 days in her small plane, wrapping up her epic 41-country trip when she landed in Belgium yesterday (Thursday). “I made it!” she told the crowd welcoming her on arrival.
The 19-year-old Belgian-British pilot’s journey took her 32-thousand 300 miles and in addition to beating the record held by Shaesta Waiz since 2017, she broke two Guinness World Records in the process:
- Rutherford is now the first woman to circumnavigate the world in a microlight aircraft.
- She’s also the first Belgian to fly around the world alone.
But her epic adventure wasn’t without its challenges. Rutherford’s travels were supposed to take about three months, but bad weather and visa issues kept her grounded for weeks sometimes, adding about two months to her trip. And while she’s flown to destinations including Singapore, Egypt and Greece, she couldn’t explore any of them because of Covid restrictions. The timing of the trip fit perfectly into her gap year and she plans to go to university next year to study computer engineering. Rutherford dedicates her journey to all young women trying to succeed in made-dominated fields, like aviation. “Go for it,” she says. “It takes a lot of time, patience, a lot of hard work, but it is incredible.”
Source:Associated Press
[Courtesy of Dr. Dave’s Ultimate Prep]
[Photo Credit: Getty Images]