Rutherford Sets New Record as Youngest Woman to Fly Around the World Solo – AMAZING!

Automologist Kathleen is inspired by this 19-year old’s courage in achieving what she once dreamed of too. 

Belgian-British teenage pilot, Zara Rutherford, in front of her Shark Ultralight, waves Belgian and British flags after completing her around-the-world flight on January 20, 2022. (Photo by JOHN THYS / AFP).

A solo round-the-world flying odyssey was undertaken by a 19-year-old Belgian-British sensation who can now claim to be the youngest woman to have circumnavigated the globe by herself. “It was very difficult but very rewarding,” she described the feat.

As her Shark Ultralight touched down at the airfield outside the Belgian town of Kortrijk, just over five months after first taking off on 18 August 2021, she was welcomed by a crowd of journalists and her family.

“It’s very strange being back here. I’d like to do nothing next week. It was harder than I imagined,” she laughed.

The scariest part of her journey was the vast frozen expanse of Siberia in Russia where temperatures fell to minus 30 degrees Celsius (-22 degrees Fahrenheit).

“I’d be going hundreds and hundreds of kilometres without seeing anything human — I mean no electricity cables, no roads, no people — and I thought ‘if the engine stopped now I’d have a really big problem,” she recounted.

Riding and navigating the world in a tiny 717-pound single-propellor plane meant that she had to circle around clouds and not fly at night. She had to ground the plane in Dubai to avoid a thunderstorm and spent a three-week stretch in Ayan, an eastern coastal town in Russia, last November because of the weather. And there were difficulties brought about by the ongoing pandemic – China banned her from its airspace due to virus curbs – and detouring to avoid North Korea took her six hours over water.

Her 32,000-mile trip was all caught on camera and it had its share of unique experiences, including flying over the Statue of Liberty, having a glimpse of a SpaceX launch in California, winging over Colombia and Saudia Arabia’s diverse landscape and even catching sight of an isolated house on an Icelandic island.

“I’ve been through some stuff. So many countries, so many kilometres, but every single one was amazing,” Rutherford said. “It will be very strange to not have to fly every single day anymore — or try to fly every single day.”

However, Rutherford is not the youngest person to have flown around the world solo. 18-year-old male Briton, Travis Ludlow, completed a similar endeavour in July 2021. But, if confirmed by the Guinness World Records, Rutherford will assume the title of the youngest woman to do so, a title presently held by Afghan American pilot, Shaesta Waiz, who circumnavigated the world in 2017 at age 29.

Rutherford encourages young women to venture into aviation, which traditionally has been dominated by men. Through her journey, she has proven that no dream is too expensive, too dangerous or too complicated – just seize it and make it happen. “I want to encourage people to do something crazy with their lives — to go for it,” she said.