The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Zara Rutherford circumnavigates the world at the age of 19: Around the world in 156 days

2022-01-20T15:37:44.980Z


She took off to become the youngest woman to fly around the world: Zara Rutherford is now celebrating two records in Belgium. But she says, "I wouldn't do it again."


Enlarge image

Zara Rutherford celebrates two records

Photo: STEPHANIE LECOCQ/EPA

She flew around the world in 156 days: At 19 years and 199 days, Belgian Zara Rutherford is the youngest woman to circumnavigate the world alone.

She also set the record as the youngest pilot to fly around the world in an ultralight.

This was announced by Guinness World Records.

Rutherford successfully completed her final leg on Thursday, landing her microlight at an airfield in western Belgium.

There she started her journey, with which she wanted to break the two Guinness records, on August 18 last year.

As seen live, Rutherford made a final loop over Kortrijk-Wevelgem Airport and then touched down on the runway.

"I wouldn't do it again," Rutherford had said before her last stage: "There were great moments, but also moments when I feared for my life."

Flight over the volcano

The Belgian-British pilot has covered around 52,000 kilometers in the past few months.

The tour took her from Belgium via Greenland, Canada, the USA, South America, Alaska, Russia, South Korea, India and the Middle East back towards Belgium.

The last stopover was in Egelsbach, Hesse.

Rutherford named New York and an active volcano in Iceland as the most beautiful places she had flown over.

The 19-year-old only received her pilot's license in 2020 after years of training with her father.

Rutherford took the world record from American Shaesta Waiz, who circumnavigated the planet alone at the age of 30.

The male record holder is an 18-year-old.

For Rutherford, this is also a sign of gender inequality.

With her flight, she wants to encourage girls and young women to pursue their dreams, the 19-year-old writes on her website.

She also hopes to get them interested in science and aviation.

Rutherford herself announced before her trip that she wanted to study computer science and electrical engineering afterwards - with the aim of becoming an astronaut.

ptz/dpa/Reuters

Source: spiegel

All life articles on 2022-01-20

You may like

Trends 24h

Life/Entertain 2024-03-28T17:17:20.523Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.