Zara Rutherford establishes new World Records

The challenge was unique. Circumnavigate the Earth in an Ultralightmotorised airplane in solo as a young lady at the age of 19,

Zara Rutherford was inspired by her parents Sam Rutherford and Bea De Smet, both experienced pilots and airsport enthusiasts. After terminating her basic studies, she decided to take the time and realize a dream :  accomplish in solo aflight around the Earth. The airplane chosen for this entreprise was a small, but fast, ULM monoplace Shark Ultralight with a MTOM of 472.5 kg. The epos started on the airport of Koksijde on August 18th 2021. The most optimistic arrival time was somewhere in November. But flying over 41 countries with 57 landing places, covering a total distance of 51.000 km effectively took her 155 days. The aerological conditions were very diverse during this flight. The most challenging conditions where over Siberia where the ground temperature was minus 35 degrees Celcius ! Not precisely confortable. Obtaining the visas and authorizations, and having to significantly change the planned course because of the interdiction to overfly China did not help her in keeping the initial time plan.

With this accomplishment, Zara established two world records for the Guiness Book :

• Youngest woman to fly solo around the world
• Youngest person to fly solo around the world in a microlight 😊

Zara dedicated this performance to all young women, stating again that "the sky is the limit" and the condition of being a girl of 19 is no reason to hesitate in aiming for the most extreme. Her future plans are to obtain a diploma in informatics and engineering. She even mentioned the job of woman astronaut among her dreams...!

Zara was welcomed on her arrival at Kortrijk on January 19th by the Belgian Aerobatics patrol. The World press produced a profusion of reports that can be reached from the website https://flyzolo.com and many other sources. Ask Google for the list...

See among others interesting video reports by CNN, NBC and The Guardian