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Taking off to a world record: Zara Rutherford at the start in Belgium
Photo: YVES HERMAN / REUTERS
In the morning, 19-year-old Zara Rutherford embarked on a very special adventure: from Kortrijk, Belgium, she set off on a trip around the world in her microlight.
If everything goes according to plan, she will be on the road for about three months and visit 53 countries - including Greenland, China and Nicaragua.
Overnight stays are planned for families or in hotels, with a total of 90 stopovers.
Rutherford made her goal clear: she wants to be the youngest woman in the world to take this flight alone.
So far, the American Shaesta Waiz holds the world record, who flew around the planet alone at the age of 30.
The male record holder is an 18 year old.
Rutherford himself was born to fly.
Both her Belgian mother and her English father are pilots.
When she was just a few months old, she already knew what the cockpit of an airplane 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," Rutherford said a few days before they took off.
Now she hopes with her campaign to get more girls interested in science and aviation.
She always loved science, “but I haven't seen many other girls or women do the same.
I've always seen that as pretty sad and disheartening. "
The ultralight aircraft that the school leaver wants to fly around the world is part of the Shark series and, according to the manufacturer, is one of the fastest in the world.
The trip is financed by sponsors and savings.
In the coming year Rutherford wants to start studying - she dreams of becoming an astronaut: "I love adventure and I think space is probably the greatest adventure out there," she said.
ala / dpa / Reuters
