Zara Rutherford attempts to become the to become the youngest woman to fly around the world solo.

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Zara Rutherford attempts to become the to become the youngest woman to fly around the world solo.

#1 Post by PHXPhlyer » Mon Dec 13, 2021 3:20 am

Teen aviator Zara Rutherford lands historic flight in Seoul

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/zara ... index.html

Teen pilot Zara Rutherford landed in Seoul on Saturday, December 11 from Russia, the first Asia stop on her attempt to become the youngest woman to fly around the world solo.
In August, the 19-year-old British-Belgian departed from Kortrijk-Wevelgem Airport in western Belgium on her 51,000-km journey, which is to span five continents and 52 countries, including the United States, Russia and Colombia.
"It has been challenging," Rutherford told reporters at Gimpo International Airport after arriving from Vladivostok in her bespoke Shark ultralight plane, the world's fastest microlight.
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This teenage aviator hopes to be the youngest woman to fly solo around the world
"I was stuck in Alaska because of visa and weather issues for a month and I was stuck in Russia for a month because of visa and weather issues," she said. "I was hoping to complete it by Christmas but I guess that's not happening anymore, but it's an adventure."
Rutherford, who is to remain at in hotel before her planned departure for Taiwan on Monday, said she expects to complete her journey by mid-January.
With enhanced Covid-related travel restrictions, Rutherford said she has sometimes not been allowed to see local places in some countries.
"I'm seeing these places from the air and that is the most incredible thing," she said. "Although I'm not always allowed to go and visit, walk around and check out museums and restaurants, I can always see them from the air and it's pretty incredible."

Aside from entering the record book, the teenager has expressed hope that her voyage will encourage girls and women to study and work in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), and spark girls' interest in aviation.
Rutherford is seeking the title held by from Shaesta Wais, who became the youngest woman to fly solo round the world at age 30 in 2017. The youngest male record holder, Mason Andrews, was 18 years old when he made the journey in 2018.
The daughter of two pilots, Rutherford will start university next year, with the dream of becoming an astronaut.

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Re: Zara Rutherford attempts to become the to become the youngest woman to fly around the world solo.

#2 Post by Pontius Navigator » Mon Dec 13, 2021 8:08 am

To be sure to be sure.

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Re: Zara Rutherford attempts to become the to become the youngest woman to fly around the world solo.

#3 Post by PHXPhlyer » Sun Jan 16, 2022 3:50 pm

Youngest woman to fly solo around the world set to finish journey Monday
More than 150 days after setting out to become the youngest woman to circumnavigate the world solo, Zara Rutherford is about to make history.

https://www.12news.com/article/news/nat ... d6139b5b4d

https://flyzolo.com/

BRUSSELS, Belgium — Avoid typhoon in the Philippines. Check.

Steer clear of massive California wildfires. Check.

Keep away from test missiles in North Korea. What? Wait.

As teenage pilot Zara Rutherford flew ever onward in a record-challenging global odyssey, she met little as strange or scary as when she tried to squeeze in between North Korean airspace and a massive cloud threatening to cut off passage for her ultralight plane.

“Well, they test missiles once in a while without warning,” Rutherford said. More importantly, she was just 15 minutes from flying over one of the last places one should enter uninvited.

So she radioed her control team to ask if she could cut the corner over the isolationist communist dictatorship to get to Seoul. “Straight away they said: ‘Whatever you do, do not go into North Korean airspace!’” Fortunately the clouds cooperated enough and she didn't have to continue the crash course in applied geopolitics.

At the age of 19, she is set to land her single-seater Shark sport aircraft in Kortrijk, Belgium, on Monday, more than 150 days after setting out to become the youngest woman to circumnavigate the world solo. American aviator Shaesta Waiz was 30 when she set the previous benchmark.

Flying runs in her blood since both her parents are pilots and she has been traveling in small planes since she was 6. At 14, she started flying herself and about 130 hours of solo flights prepped her for the record attempt, which she hopes will also have a bigger meaning.

With the final touchdown in a plane that looks like a fly among the giants parked at an airport like New York's JFK, the Belgian-British teenager wants to infuse young women and girls worldwide with the spirit of aviation — and an enthusiasm for studies in the exact sciences, mathematics, engineering and technology.

Two mathematical statistic stands our for her — only 5% of commercial pilots and 15% of computer scientists are women.

“The gender gap is huge," she said.

Yet once the canopy closed over her cockpit and another six- to eight-hour flight began, lofty thoughts of global outreach receded as she concentrated on one lonely individual — herself.

Using Visual Flight Rules, basically going on sight only, danger lurked even closer than when she would be able to use fancy navigational instruments to lead her through the night, clouds or fog.

Crossing northern California from Palo Alto towards Seattle, she headed into the huge wildfires blighting the area. The higher she climbed to avoid the smoke — up to 10,000 feet — the tougher it was to keep her eyes on the ground.

“The smoke was building up and up, to the point that the whole cabin stank of smoke and I could not see anything but a burnished orange color,” Rutherford said. She had to abort her route and make an unscheduled landing in Redding, California.

Over Siberia, the light played tricks on her vision, sometimes casting doubt whether she saw mountains or clouds. “And for me clouds are a really big deal. Especially in Russia,” with its biting cold. Cutting through such clouds, too much ice might build up on her wings, paralyzing control. “At that point your plane is no longer a plane,” she said.

That, or any other mishap, could have happened on a section of the route where she once saw only one village in six hours.

“I realized if something goes wrong, I’m hours and hours and hours away from rescue and it was -35 C (-31 F) on the ground. And so I thought, actually, I don’t know how long I can survive -35," Rutherford said. She didn't have to find out.

The project would have been tough enough in normal times, but the pandemic added another complication — which indirectly led to the North Korean adventure.

Alternative plans to go over China to Seoul were ditched when the Chinese refused permission citing COVID-19, which, Rutherford said, "was slightly frustrating because I’m in the plane at 6,000 feet (around 1,800 meters). I’d be very impressed if I could pass on COVID like this.”

Overall, bad weather, a flat tire and visa issues added another two months to the planned three-month project. The Associated Press spoke to Rutherford by telephone in Crete, Greece, and even there, the weather over the Balkans was so awful it delayed her for days.

Which gave her time to ponder the fickleness of fate. “When you're fearing for your life, it puts things into perspective a little bit more,” she said. “I mean, a cloud — a cloud — could kill me.”

In wealthy nations, “we grow up in a world with a huge amount of safety nets," she said. "Actually flying over Alaska, Russia or Greenland, that’s when you realize — actually, there is no safety net. Like, this is really just me. There’s nobody here to help me if anything is wrong.”

The wider world though, which by now has become “this small planet” to her, turned out to hold out much more than fear. She spoke dreamily of the Saudi Arabian desert with its changing colors of sand and rock, the barrenness of northern Alaska, the huge circular Apple Park in Cupertino, California, or the sight of what's been called the world's loneliest house on Iceland's deserted island of Ellioaey.

And she's come to appreciate some simpler pleasures too.

“Before, it was — yeah — it was about the grand adventure," she said. "But actually I think, you know, watching TV with your cat has its special things as well. It is very unique as well.”

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Re: Zara Rutherford attempts to become the to become the youngest woman to fly around the world solo.

#4 Post by Undried Plum » Tue Jan 18, 2022 4:32 pm

150+ days around the fattest dimension of the Earth?

What's that? I ought to know, but I can't be arsed to calculate.

Could a donkey have carried her that many miles in that many days?

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Re: Zara Rutherford attempts to become the to become the youngest woman to fly around the world solo.

#5 Post by PHXPhlyer » Tue Jan 18, 2022 4:42 pm

Only if it was a good swimmer. :D

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Re: Zara Rutherford attempts to become the to become the youngest woman to fly around the world solo.

#6 Post by Undried Plum » Tue Jan 18, 2022 4:44 pm

What about at walking speed over land, as they do?

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Re: Zara Rutherford attempts to become the to become the youngest woman to fly around the world solo.

#7 Post by PHXPhlyer » Tue Jan 18, 2022 4:55 pm

If circumference were all land ~ 173 miles/day.
That will be one tired donkey and one sore ass.

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Re: Zara Rutherford attempts to become the to become the youngest woman to fly around the world solo.

#8 Post by Undried Plum » Tue Jan 18, 2022 6:44 pm

:YMAPPLAUSE:
PHXPhlyer wrote:
Tue Jan 18, 2022 4:55 pm
If circumference were all land ~ 173 miles/day.
That will be one tired donkey and one sore ass.

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:YMAPPLAUSE:


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Re: Zara Rutherford attempts to become the to become the youngest woman to fly around the world solo.

#9 Post by PHXPhlyer » Thu Jan 20, 2022 4:26 am

Teen pilot one stop away from her record-breaking flight around the world
Zara Rutherford is due to land in Kortrijk, Belgium, on Thursday, the final stop in her bid to become the youngest woman to fly solo around the world.


https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/teen ... -rcna12840

EGELSBACH, Germany — Teenage pilot Zara Rutherford landed in Germany on Wednesday on the penultimate stop of her bid to become the youngest woman to fly around the world solo.

Hopefully one day away from sealing the record, the Belgian-British 19-year-old said that she’s looking forward to getting home after “a long five months.”

Rutherford is due to land Thursday in Kortrijk, Belgium, where she embarked on her trip on Aug. 18. American aviator Shaesta Waiz was 30 when she set the existing record for the youngest woman to circumnavigate the world solo in 2017.

“Growing up, I didn’t see many other female pilots. I always thought that was really discouraging,” Rutherford told reporters after landing her single-seater Shark sport aircraft at Egelsbach, an airfield a few kilometers from Frankfurt Airport, Germany’s busiest. “So I’m hoping to encourage more girls to go into aviation and kind of show a friendly face, so that if a girl likes aviation and she sees me, she knows she’s not the only one."

She was initially supposed to finish her trip on Monday, but bad weather has caused several delays during the journey.

Rutherford’s flight saw her steer clear of wildfires in California, deal with biting cold over Russia and narrowly avoid North Korean airspace. She said she’s “really excited” to get home.

“Now to think that I’m home tomorrow, I don’t think I’ve processed it — it still feels strange, I still feel like I should be months away,” she said. “I’m happy that I’ve done it, but it’s been really difficult.”

“There’s been amazing moments, but then there’s been moments when I have feared for my life and I would not want to do that again,” Rutherford added.

“Once I’m home, I think I’m going to sleep for about a week” and then talk about her experiences, she said. She hopes to go to university to study engineering in September, in the U.K. or the U.S.

The men’s record for the youngest solo round the world flight is held by Travis Ludlow of Britain, who set that benchmark last year at 18.

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Re: Zara Rutherford attempts to become the to become the youngest woman to fly around the world solo.

#10 Post by Ex-Ascot » Thu Jan 20, 2022 8:24 am

There seems to be very little press coverage of this. Wonder why?
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#11 Post by PHXPhlyer » Thu Jan 20, 2022 3:46 pm

Zara Rutherford, 19, becomes youngest woman to fly solo around the world
The teenage pilot will find herself in the Guinness World Records book after setting the mark that had been held by 30-year-old American aviator Shaesta Waiz since 2017.


Covered in all news outlets here.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/zara ... -rcna12885

BRUSSELS — Home! And no longer alone.

The 19-year-old Belgian-British pilot Zara Rutherford set a world record as the youngest woman to fly solo around the world, touching her small airplane down in western Belgium on Thursday — 155 days after she departed.

She made it count for herself, her family and dedicated it to all young women trying to succeed in male-dominated sectors like aviation, and the exact sciences that drive the industry.

“Go for it. It takes a lot of time, patience, a lot of work, but it is incredible,” she said after an adventure that gave her as many thrills as scares — from the frozen tundra in Siberia to typhoons in the Philippines and the stark beauty of the Arabian desert.

One time, her one-seater Shark microlight plane filled up with the stench of California wildfires. Often she was flying in absolute solitude over seas or desolate land, any potential rescue hours away. She had to spend weeks isolated in the tiny Siberian village of Ayan with barely any contact with her family or the world she knows.

So little felt as sweet as Thursday’s embrace with her pilot parents and brother.

“We will celebrate this by being as a family together, at first,” her mother Beatrice said. “I think Zara wants to celebrate by sleeping about two weeks.”

When she wakes up, she will find herself in the Guinness World Records book after setting the mark that had been held by 30-year-old American aviator Shaesta Waiz since 2017.

The overall record will remain out of Rutherford’s grasp, since Briton Travis Ludlow set that benchmark last year as an 18-year-old.

Her global flight was supposed to take three months, but relentless bad weather and visa issues kept her grounded sometimes for weeks on end, extending her adventure by about two months.

On Thursday, rain, drizzle, sunshine and even a rainbow over Kortrijk airport exemplified the changing, often bad weather she had been facing all too often.

After she was escorted by a four-plane formation in a huge V across much of Belgium, she did a flyby of the airport before finally landing. After waving to the jubilant crowds, she draped herself both in the Union Jack and Belgian tricolor flag.

In her trek of more than 52,000 kilometers (28,000 nautical miles), she stopped over in five continents and visited 41 nations.

Rutherford’s flight saw her steer clear of wildfires in California, deal with biting cold over Russia and narrowly avoid North Korean airspace. She flew by Visual Flight Rules, basically going on sight only, often slowing down progress when more sophisticated systems could have led her through clouds and fog.

Sometimes she feared for her life, and at other times she simply yearned for the simple comforts of home. Flying runs in her blood since both her parents are pilots and she has been traveling in small planes since she was 6. At 14, she started flying herself.

Pretty soon, the dream of flying round the world grew in her head.

“But I never thought it would be possible. I thought that it is too difficult, too dangerous, too expensive,” she said.

For the money part, sponsorship and people’s contributions took care of it. For the danger and difficulty factor, she did it herself.

Timing-wise it fit in perfectly between high school and university.

“I thought, actually, this is the perfect opportunity to do something crazy and fly around the world,” she said.

With the final touchdown, the teenager wants to infuse young women and girls worldwide with the spirit of aviation — and an enthusiasm for studies in the exact sciences, mathematics, engineering and technology.

In September she hopes to be off to a university in Britain or the United States to study electrical engineering.

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Re: Zara Rutherford attempts to become the to become the youngest woman to fly around the world solo.

#12 Post by Undried Plum » Thu Jan 20, 2022 5:30 pm

Ex-Ascot wrote:
Thu Jan 20, 2022 8:24 am
There seems to be very little press coverage of this. Wonder why?

150 years ago the novelist who wrote about travelling around the world in 80 days predicted that one day it would be possible to do so in 80 hours.

Doing so in five months seems a bit tame, somehow. Mebbe that's why it didn't excite the press very much in the third decade of the 21st century?

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Re: Zara Rutherford attempts to become the to become the youngest woman to fly around the world solo.

#13 Post by Ex-Ascot » Fri Jan 21, 2022 7:43 am

In her defence she did have all sorts of problems beyond her control. However doing it all VFR didn't help. You would have thought that she would have obtained an instrument rating before attempting it.

A guy who I went through flying training with (of getting stuck on Loch Ness fame) flew around the world after officer training. Single engine but not solo. He finished at Cranwell where the cloud was almost on the deck. At DH he took a long time to decide and made it. Zara couldn't have done that.
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Re: Zara Rutherford attempts to become the to become the youngest woman to fly around the world solo.

#14 Post by Undried Plum » Thu Jan 27, 2022 5:29 am

I was terribly slow to recognise that the surname of the kid was that of her father, Sam Rutherford.

He who outed the lying bitchcunt who claimed to have flown a biplane to Cape Town solo and to have flown it to Strylia solo and who claimed to have flown it solo across a Murrica.

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Re: Zara Rutherford attempts to become the to become the youngest woman to fly around the world solo.

#15 Post by Ex-Ascot » Fri Jan 28, 2022 10:44 am

Undried Plum wrote:
Thu Jan 27, 2022 5:29 am
I was terribly slow to recognise that the surname of the kid was that of her father, Sam Rutherford.

He who outed the lying bitchcunt who claimed to have flown a biplane to Cape Town solo and to have flown it to Strylia solo and who claimed to have flown it solo across a Murrica.
Ah this one then: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... rness.html

Wonder what happened there.
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Re: Zara Rutherford attempts to become the to become the youngest woman to fly around the world solo.

#16 Post by Undried Plum » Fri Jan 28, 2022 11:10 am

"I still don't what exactly happened', said Mr Rutherford, who has made numerous marathon flights in light aircraft including one from Cape Town in South Africa to the UK in 2013.

'We were on our way to Greenland to make the crossing to England. I was working on my laptop. The weather was not exceptionally bad.

'Suddenly there was a blow, from nowhere,' he said.


From the NTSB Report:
Before departure, the ferry pilot filed a VFR flight plan from CYYR to BGBW at an altitude of 2000 feet above sea level (ASL). The highest maximum elevation along the route in Labrador was 3300 feet ASL.

On 01 May 2019 at 0723, the aircraft departed CYYR on a VFR flight plan direct to BGBW. The ferry pilot, who was the pilot-in-command, occupied the left seat while the co-owner occupied the right seat. The aircraft climbed to 2000 feet ASL and proceeded on a direct track to destination. The altitude and heading did not change significantly along the route, therefore it is likely that the autopilot was engaged. At 0816, the aircraft collided with a snow-covered hill 2250 feet in elevation, located 35 nautical miles (NM) southeast of Makkovik Airport (CYFT), Newfoundland and Labrador.
The impact happened approximately 200 feet below the top of the hill.
The aircraft came to rest in deep snow on steep sloping terrain.

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Re: Zara Rutherford attempts to become the to become the youngest woman to fly around the world solo.

#17 Post by PHXPhlyer » Fri Jan 28, 2022 3:50 pm

Undried Plum wrote:
Fri Jan 28, 2022 11:10 am
"I still don't what exactly happened', said Mr Rutherford, who has made numerous marathon flights in light aircraft including one from Cape Town in South Africa to the UK in 2013.

'We were on our way to Greenland to make the crossing to England. I was working on my laptop. The weather was not exceptionally bad.

'Suddenly there was a blow, from nowhere,' he said.


From the NTSB Report:
Before departure, the ferry pilot filed a VFR flight plan from CYYR to BGBW at an altitude of 2000 feet above sea level (ASL). The highest maximum elevation along the route in Labrador was 3300 feet ASL.

On 01 May 2019 at 0723, the aircraft departed CYYR on a VFR flight plan direct to BGBW. The ferry pilot, who was the pilot-in-command, occupied the left seat while the co-owner occupied the right seat. The aircraft climbed to 2000 feet ASL and proceeded on a direct track to destination. The altitude and heading did not change significantly along the route, therefore it is likely that the autopilot was engaged. At 0816, the aircraft collided with a snow-covered hill 2250 feet in elevation, located 35 nautical miles (NM) southeast of Makkovik Airport (CYFT), Newfoundland and Labrador.
The impact happened approximately 200 feet below the top of the hill.
The aircraft came to rest in deep snow on steep sloping terrain.
:-o #-o

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Re: Zara Rutherford attempts to become the to become the youngest woman to fly around the world solo.

#18 Post by Boac » Fri Jan 28, 2022 4:01 pm

I still don't what exactly happened
I reckon we all do. :))

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Re: Zara Rutherford attempts to become the to become the youngest woman to fly around the world solo.

#19 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Sat Jan 29, 2022 7:24 am

Flying using a PC/GPS, in IFR conditions, and not formally under IFR rules and/or not qualified to do so , and putting one's brain into neutral and not looking out results in this kind of thing.



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