A 19-year-old woman sets record for solo global flight
BRUSSELS — Home! And no longer alone.
The 19-year-old BelgianBritish pilot Zara Rutherford set a world record as the youngest woman to fly solo around the world, touching her small airplane down in western Belgium on Thursday — 155 days after she departed.
She made it count for herself, her family and dedicated it to all young women trying to succeed in male-dominated sectors like aviation, and the exact sciences that drive the industry.
“Go for it. It takes a lot of time, patience, a lot of work, but it is incredible,” she said after an adventure that gave her as many thrills as scares — from the frozen tundra in Siberia to typhoons in the Philippines and the stark beauty of the Arabian desert.
One time, her one-seater Shark microlight plane filled up with the stench of California wildfires. Often she was flying in absolute solitude over seas or desolate land, any potential rescue hours away. She had to spend weeks isolated in the tiny Siberian village of Ayan with barely any contact with her family or the world she knows.
So little felt as sweet as Thursday’s embrace with her pilot parents and brother.
“We will celebrate this by being as a family together, at first,” her mother Beatrice said. “I think Zara wants to celebrate by sleeping about two weeks.”
When she wakes up, she will find herself in the Guinness World Records book after setting the mark that had been held by 30-year-old American aviator Shaesta Waiz since 2017.
The overall record will remain out of Rutherford’s grasp, since Briton Travis Ludlow set that benchmark last year as an 18-year-old.
Her global flight was supposed to take three months, but relentless bad weather and visa issues kept her grounded sometimes for weeks on end, extending her adventure by about two months.
On Thursday, rain, drizzle, sunshine and even a rainbow over Kortrijk airport exemplified the changing, often bad weather she had been facing all too often.
After she was escorted by a four-plane formation in a huge V across much of Belgium, she did a flyby of the airport before finally landing. After waving to the jubilant crowds, she draped herself both in the Union Jack and Belgian tricolor flag.