Record attempt
Once around the world, please: 19-year-old wants to be the youngest female pilot ever to circumnavigate the world
In mid-August, the 19-year-old took off to circumnavigate the world in Wevelgem, Belgium
© John Thys / AFP
19-year-old Zara Rutherford wants to achieve great things – namely the whole world. As the youngest female pilot in aviation history, she wants to circumnavigate the world all by herself. Since its start in August, however, its trip has not been free of turbulence.
Zara Rutherford is freezing. “It’s pretty, pretty cold here,” says the 19-year-old into the camera of her laptop. No wonder: the pilot, who is the youngest woman who wants to circumnavigate the world alone, has been stuck in Alaska for a few days at the time of the conversation with the German Press Agency. The reason: Your visa for the onward flight to Russia had expired because the previous trip was not without turbulence.
However, the turbulence hardly seems to bother Rutherford. Never again in her life will she have the chance to spend a while in Nome in the US state of Alaska. “It’s a really cool place. It’s breathtaking, really beautiful,” she said in an interview. On the zoom screen, she shows a video of a glistening landscape that she recorded from the cockpit. Just mountains and nothing behind them for a long time. But is that even possible to film and to steer an airplane at the same time? “You can make a video, but just relaxing and enjoying yourself is pretty rare – because something is always there.”
Rutherford’s microlight is one of the fastest in the world
In mid-August, Rutherford, who is the daughter of a Belgian mother and an English father and has both nationalities, took off from the Belgian town of Wevelgem. First it went via Iceland to Greenland and then further west to the USA, to South America and finally back north – often more turbulent than the young pilot had imagined.
She reports of severe turbulence when she had to deal with heavy smoke from the forest fires in California, and technical breakdowns in which the wheels of the aircraft did not extend. But she also enthusiastically tells how she flew over the Statue of Liberty and landed at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. “I never thought I’d do that one day.” The microlight she uses is one of the fastest in the world.
“It’s definitely a big challenge,” explains pilot Justin Steinke, who works at a flight school in Germany. “Such a small plane wobbles a lot more than a big one.”
The previous record holder is eleven years older
Rutherford’s goal is to be the youngest woman to ever fly around the world alone. So far, this record has been held by the Afghan-born American Shaesta Waiz, who circled the planet at the age of 30. “So I have eleven years,” says Rutherford and laughs. The male record holder is an 18-year-old – for them also a sign of inequality between the sexes. The young pilot hopes to get more girls interested in science and aviation and is supporting two non-profit initiatives.
By the time she left, the school leaver, who wants to become an astronaut one day, had planned everything precisely: organized sponsors, completed emergency training, and did technical exercises. At school, too, people were constantly preparing for something in the future, tasks for the next week or exams in six months. “Now I live completely in the here and now. That has never been the case. There is only today and tomorrow, I don’t plan for the other days.”
The record contender actually wanted to be back in Belgium at the beginning of November. It is now aiming for the beginning of December, but whether that will work is an open question. What she looks forward to the most, however, is clear: her family, the cats and home-cooked food. “You are surprised how quickly you can get fed up with restaurants.” But first of all, if everything works out, it will go to Russia – and then to Japan, Indonesia, Thailand and the Middle East.