1/30/22, 12:26 AM Zara Rutherford - Wikipedia

Zara Rutherford
Zara Rutherford (born 5 July 2002) is a Belgian-British
Zara Rutherford
aviator. At age 19, she became the youngest female pilot to fly solo
around the world and the first person to complete a
circumnavigation in a microlight aircraft after a five-month
journey which began in Kortrijk, Belgium, on 18 August 2021, and
ended on 20 January 2022.[2][3]

Contents
Early life
Solo flight around the world
See also Zara Rutherford in 2021
References Born 5 July 2002[1]

External links Brussels, Belgium

Nationality Belgian, British

Early life Education St Swithun's School,

Winchester
Zara Rutherford was born in Brussels, Belgium, to British Known for Youngest female pilot
professional pilot Sam Rutherford and Belgian recreational pilot to fly solo around the
[4]
and lawyer Beatrice de Smet. As a young girl, Rutherford would world
accompany her father, sometimes flying part of the way herself.[4]
Website flyzolo.com (https://flyz
At the age of 14, she began training to become a pilot and gained olo.com/)
her pilot's license in 2020.[5] She completed her A levels in
Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Economics and Physics at St. Swithun's School, a girls' school in
Winchester, Hampshire, England.[5][6]

Solo flight around the world

On 26 July 2021, at a press conference at Popham Airfield
near Winchester, Rutherford announced her bid to become
the youngest female pilot to fly solo around the world, at
the age of 19.[7] She aimed to break the record previously
set by American pilot Shaesta Waiz, who achieved the
record in 2017 at the age of 30.[4][5][7] Aside from this
record, she also attempted to break two other records—to
become the first woman to circumnavigate the world in a A Shark.Aero Shark UL plane similar to the
microlight aircraft and the first Belgian to circumnavigate one flown by Zara Rutherford.
the world solo in a single-engine aircraft.[8][9] The record-
breaking attempt was also meant to raise awareness about
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the gender gap in fields like science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and aviation,
and to inspire more women and girls to be involved in STEM fields early.[4][9] Her attempt was
supported by main sponsor ICDSoft, a web hosting service,[10] Richard Branson's Virgin Group,[11]
Belgian start-up SafeSky, and Dutch staffing and recruitment company TMC Group.[12] She also
partnered with charities Girls Who Code and Dreams Soar, which aim to inspire and help women and
girls to enter into STEM fields.[9][11]

Rutherford began her solo attempt from Kortrijk-Wevelgem Airport in Belgium on 18 August 2021
aboard a Shark UL aircraft,[8][9] which was loaned to her by the Slovakian manufacturer
Shark.Aero.[4][5][7] From Kortrijk, she flew to Popham Airfield where she spent an hour before flying
to Wick in Scotland via Aberdeen.[13][14] The following day, she landed in Reykjavík, Iceland, after a
five-hour flight.[15]

After starting her journey, Rutherford made stops in Greenland, Canada, the East Coast of the United
States, The Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, British Virgin Islands, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica,
Mexico, the West Coast of the United States, and the US state of Alaska.[16] After arriving in Nome,
Alaska, on 30 September 2021, she was forced to wait a week for her Russian visa to be renewed. By
the time her passport arrived back from the Russian consulate in Houston, Texas, the weather had
turned bad and she had to wait another three weeks before she could cross the Bering Strait, time
spent in part carrying out maintenance.[17] On 1 November 2021, she finally reached Anadyr, Russia—
the halfway point of her journey.[18] From Anadyr, she flew to Magadan on the following day, and on
9 November, she stopped at Ayan—a town with only 800 people, none of whom spoke English, and
which had no Wi-Fi service—where she was stuck again due to a winter storm.[17][19] She finally
reached Khabarovsk on 30 November and Vladivostok on 2 December.[16]

After flying from Russia on 11 December 2021, Rutherford intended to make stops in China[20], but
because of the country's strict COVID-19 restrictions she was forced to make a detour over the Sea of
Japan and fly to South Korea instead.[17] During the six-hour flight, she had difficulty contacting air
traffic controllers in Seoul and she sought the help of a KLM commercial pilot who forwarded her
messages to air traffic control and helped her find the correct frequencies.[21][22] She landed in Gimpo
on the same day.[22][23][24] On 13 December, she departed for a stop at Muan before flying the
following day to Taipei, Taiwan.[25][26] On 16 December, Rutherford landed in Clark, Pampanga, in
the Philippines.[27] She intended to make a second stop in Dumaguete but had to fly the following day
to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, so as to avoid the approaching Typhoon Rai.[19][28]

From Kota Kinabalu, she made stops in Ketapang and Jakarta in Indonesia and Seletar in
Singapore.[16] During the flight to Banda Aceh on 27 December, she flew too close to a thunderstorm
and saw lightning bolts some 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from her.[17][29] After Banda Aceh, she made stops
in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and Coimbatore, India.[30][31] After stopping for the New Year in Mumbai,[17]
Rutherford began 2022 with stops in Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates[29] and in Riyadh and Tabuk
in Saudi Arabia where she was welcomed by Saudi prince and former pilot and astronaut Sultan bin
Salman Al Saud.[32] After a stop in Alexandria, Egypt, on 8 January 2022, she arrived at Heraklion on
the Greek island of Crete for another stop.[16]

Rutherford made stops in Sofia, Bulgaria, on 14 January 2022; in Senica, Slovakia; and in Benešov,
Czech Republic, on 16 January.[16] She landed at Frankfurt Egelsbach Airport, Germany, on 19
January. Arriving in Kortrijk, Belgium, on 20 January 2022 she completed a circumnavigation of the
world and landed at the same airport from which she began the trip.[16]

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See also
List of circumnavigations
List of women aviators
Travis Ludlow⁣– the youngest person to fly solo around the world

References
1. "Youngest person to circumnavigate the world by aircraft solo (female)" (https://archive.today/H4D
uZ). Guinness World Records. Archived from the original (https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/
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2022. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
2. "Teenage pilot Zara Rutherford completes solo round-world record" (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/u
k-england-hampshire-59899980). BBC News. 20 January 2022. Archived (https://web.archive.org/
web/20220120130258/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-59899980) from the
original on 20 January 2022. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
3. Levaux, Christian; Cotton, Johnny (20 January 2022). "British-Belgian teen becomes youngest
woman to fly solo round the world" (https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/british-belgian-teen-becomes
-youngest-woman-fly-solo-round-world-2022-01-20/). Reuters. Archived (https://web.archive.org/w
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4. Ives, Mike (25 August 2021). "Teenage Aviator Aims to Be Youngest Woman to Circle the Globe
Solo" (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/25/world/zara-rutherford-plane-pilot.html). The New York
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7. PA Media (26 July 2021). "Student, 19, hopes to be youngest woman to fly solo around the world"
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8. El-Bawab, Nadine (15 December 2021). "Zara Rutherford tries to break record for youngest pilot
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15. @fly.zolo (20 August 2021). "Made it to Iceland! 5 hour flight over water and due to clouds I was
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30. "Coimbatore-based company to sponsor British-Belgian teen pilot's bid to circle to globe" (https://ti
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External links
Official website (https://flyzolo.com)

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