Status: 08/18/2021 3:10 p.m.
In her microlight, Zara Rutherford started her flight around the world from Belgium. It is expected to be on the road for three months – and if everything goes according to plan, it will set a new world record.
19-year-old Zara Rutherford started her flight around the world from Belgium. The Belgian-British pilot took off in her microlight from the city of Kortrijk. If everything goes according to plan, she will be on the road for around three months and circling the planet in 90 stops.
“I’m very nervous, I think,” said Rutherford before the start, “my next step is to check the weather again”. Rutherford started under unfavorable weather conditions. She would normally reach Scotland in the evening, but she wasn’t sure that would work. “But I will do my best while I pay attention to safety,” the young pilot continued.
Five continents, 52 countries
Rutherford wants to break the record of the American Shaesta Waiz, who set the previous record for circumnavigating the world for women in 2017 at the age of 30. Rutherford wants to fly over five continents and 52 countries.
She would then be the youngest woman to succeed in a solo circumnavigation of the world, with which she says she wants to send a signal to all girls and women in the world. The male record holder is an 18-year-old Briton Travis Ludlow.
19-year-old Zara Rutherford started her flight around the world in the city of Kortrijk / Belgium.
Image: AP
Flying was born in the cradle
Rutherford himself was born to fly. Both her Belgian mother and her English father are pilots. So when she was just a few months old, she knew what the inside of an airplane cockpit looked like. Several air miles followed. At 14, the student learned how to fly a plane and worked towards her first license. “The moment I take off, I forget everything else,” said Rutherford a few days before the start.
The ultralight aircraft that the school leaver wants to fly around the world belongs to the “Shark” series and, according to the manufacturer, is one of the fastest in the world. It was specially converted for the circumnavigation of the world. Usually the model has two seats. One of them has an additional fuel tank in Rutherford’s plane. Rutherford will finance their trips with the help of sponsors and savings.