A 19-year-old woman from Brussels plans to take off Aug. 18, 2021, from Flanders International Airport in an attempt to become the youngest woman to fly solo around the world.
Zara Rutherford will be flying in a Shark, a light-sport aircraft capable of 150 knot cruise speed.
“It has very long range, is very safe and is extremely capable,” she noted. “It is usually a tandem two seater but one seat has been removed to accommodate an extra fuel tank.”
The current female record holder is American, Shaesta Waiz who was 30 years old at the time of her circumnavigation in 2017. The youngest male record holder is just over 18 years old.
“The gap in ages between the men and women is one indication of the disparity” between aviation opportunities for men and women, Rutherford said.
“I am hoping to get more girls interested in aviation,” she added.
Rutherford grew up around general aviation.
“I was in the cockpit of a light plane within months of birth and have also been traveling in small planes since the age of six to far-flung places all around the world,” she said. “I was skydiving at 11 and actually flying a plane at 14. With an English father and Belgian mother (both pilots) I hold dual nationality. I completed my education in Belgium and England and at 14 years old began to train to get my pilot license.”
You can follow her flight at her website, FlyZolo.com.
Quote “… You can follow her flight at her website, FlyZolo.com.”
I am unable to connect to FlyZolo.com… is this the correct link… or is something else broken/inop?
I love these type ‘adventures’ and ‘adventurists’.
The world an be a ‘hard place to fly’… but not as hard as Mars…
Regards…
Odd. the link worked perfectly for me in two different browsers. https://flyzolo.com/
Zara, what a wonderful way to view the world! A solo flight around our beautiful planet, and going westbound, and not eastbound as so many world flights do.
Given your departure point, going in this direction makes a lot of sense. Your route is new and different than most, including countries not usually visited on world flights.
You have prepared well, I am sure, yourself and the Shark, as well as taken care of the myriad details involved in a world flight. This flight is yours to enjoy and ours to behold!
Hold the moments of your endeavor close to your heart, so they will remain there for many years.
Best wishes and warm regards!
Ann Holtgren Pellegreno, pilot of the 1967 Earhart Commemorative Flight.
The first to fly a Lockheed 10 Electra around the world on the Earhart Trail,
dropping a wreath on Howland Island, Earhart’s flight planned destination, on the morning of July 2, 1967, the 30th anniversary of her last flight, and then returning to California, thus completing Earhart’s flight. In Kansas two days later her sister Muriel thanked me for doing so.
The full story of the historic 1967 flight is told from the pilot’s perspective in my book WORLD FLIGHT, THE EARHART TRAIL.