Women account for just 5% of commercial airline pilots and are consistently underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. One Belgian-British teenager Zara Rutherford has made it her mission to try and change that, and she’s come up with a pretty novel method spreading the word by flying around the world.
As 19-year-old she touched down in Belgium, she became the youngest woman in history to fly solo around the world and the first person to complete a circumnavigation in a microlight plane after a five-month, five continent odysseys, 28,000-mile journey which began in Kortrijk, Belgium, On 18 August 2021, and ends on 20 January 2022. The current record dates from 2017 when a female pilot completed the journey aged 30. Zara Rutherford’s trip around the world was scheduled to last three months. Her ultralight plane can only fly 300 kilometres per hour. There was no cabin crew on board to prepare for this landing.
She raised money through sponsorship and often stayed with host families and shared the highs and lows of her adventure online. It took much longer than planned and there were moments of turbulence.
Beyond breaking records, Zara had a bigger mission. Meeting locals and giving talks along the way, she tried to inspire other girls and young women to get involved in aviation, science and technology. Back on Belgian soil, that work continues. Barely out of high school, Zara Rutherford plans to keep her feet on solid ground for now and apply for university. But she hopes her double world record will encourage girls everywhere to spread their wings in any way they can.
On March 23, 2022 Zara’s younger brother, Mack Rutherford at the age of 16, began his own round-the-world trip in an ultralight aircraft. Zara’s brother is on a quest to be the youngest person to fly around the world and is hoping to improve on the Guinness World record currently held by compatriot Travis Ludlow.