Zara Rutherford made a stop in Slovakia on January 15. (source: TASR)
In August 2021, as countries in Europe and beyond continued to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic and accompanying travel restrictions, 19-year-old pilot Zara Rutherford made full use of her gap year before university and set off on a record-breaking trip.
Her goal was simple enough: circumnavigate the globe solo, preferably before Christmas.
Some bad weather and visa delays pushed back her completion date, but her trip in a Slovak-manufactured airplane was a success. On January 20, 2022, the British-Belgian landed at Kortrijk-Wevelgem airport, where she began her journey, and officially entered the Guinness Book of World Records. She is now the youngest female pilot, and the first Belgian, to fly around the globe solo. She is also the youngest person to do it in a microlight aircraft.
“I really like the freedom of flying,” Rutherford told The Slovak Spectator a day after landing in the Czech Republic. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re flying from Alaska to Russia or just around your local airfield. Every flight is an adventure.”
