Youngest lady on epic solo world flight expected in KK

Published on: Sunday, October 24, 2021

By: Kan Yaw Chong

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Zara’s pilot parents seeing her off at Kortrijk-Wevelgem airport.

HERE’S a bright and positive story to thrash the gloom and doom of ugly Covid-19. It is about a far better “19”!

Zara Rutherford, a pretty and spirited 19-year old Belgian-British will land in Kota Kinabalu on November 2 in a bid to not only make history as the youngest woman to fly around the world but also to break the world record of flying solo over 50,000km in three months.

Should Zara succeed in this epic attempt, she will erase the previous record held by a much older American woman, Shesta Waiz, who was 30 when she flew solo in 2017, according to Mau, the Honorary Consul for Belgium in Sabah.

Why does Zara dare?

Born into a family of pilots, flying is nothing strange to her.

Because father and mother are both pilots, she had actually hundreds of unlogged hours flying around Europe and Africa.

To prepare for this epic undertaking, she logged about 80 hours of flying to get a French microlight plot’s license.

“I grew up around aeroplanes,” she said.

“Both my parents are pilots. So my whole life is about flying really,” she was quoted as saying in an interview with ABC’s Sunday Extra.

But flying solo around the world?

“I think it is one of those ultimate things one can dream of,” Zara said.

Just out of

high school

Barely finished high school in 2021, she decided it’s time to turn that big dream into a reality.

“It’s something that I never thought I’d be able to do. And yet, here I am, trying to do it,” Zara told ABC Sunday Extra.

Pilot parents knew it’s a logistic nightmare to fly marathon at 300km per hour across 52 countries.

“But we will make it work,” they pledged support rather than talk her out of it.

Flying an ultralight Shark

Aero sports plane through

turbulent climate

D-Day, Sara set off from Kortrijk-Wevelgem International Airport, Zara flew west, flying over the UK, Iceland Brussels on August 18, 2021, flew to Iceland, Greenland, Canada, USA, Caribbean, Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico, Colombia, back up north to Alaska, across Russia, South Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, Sabah, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh, India, Middle East and back to Belgium in December.

Her plane is a tiny ultralight customised Shark Aero – the lightest sports plane in the world which has reportedly claimed some speed records.

“It is small, quite tight, not much room to move about but comfortable the longer after flying it, I know the limits of the aircraft, as well as what my limits are,” she told ABC’s Victoria Pengilley and Sophie Kestiven.

To come back in one piece from a much more turbulent global climate driven by as much extra heat energy as exploding 400,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs everyday as Prof James Hanson had described it, Zara was put through a “dunker” course – the ultimate in safety training, that is, how to survive a crash should it happen.

When radio contact was lost

Pilots talk to the ground during flights.

But in her flight from Iceland to Greenland, she lost radio contact 20 minutes into the air.

Lady’s luck helped her regain control.

“Luckily I could text my dad, I texted him for 30 minutes asking: Is the weather in Greenland good?

That was critical information because after a certain point, you have to keep going – you don’t have enough fuel to go back!” Zara noted the hazard.

So messaging turned out to be a crucial backup to lost radio.

“Every time I messaged, he’s like Yes Zara, it’s fine. Don’t worry.”

So father was like the ‘control tower’ behind her, not ahead of destination.

Apprehension on equatorial

thunderstorms

Heading towards Sabah across Indonesia, she says she has a certain apprehension about the “tricky equator” because of lots of “thunderstorms”.

But Kota Kinabalu is surely safe since it is located 412.93 miles (664.55km) north of the equator famously called “Land Below the Wind”, meaning some of the worst thunderstorms which routinely whip Philippines are far, far north of the equator and she will be flying through the Philippines.

Brutal terrains

Still, she reserved the word “brutal” to two other concerns.

One, the Pacific.

Two, crossing from Alaska to Russia.

“There‘s a small strip of ocean but the terrain on either side is quite brutal,” Zara noted.

“And there aren’t many people that live there. So those are for me the two biggest concerns.”

At all times, there is a ‘live tracker’ following Zara’s flights throughout her epic circumnavigation.

A good thing? Not always!

Her mother actually had to stop tracking her after some point “because it was causing her a bit of stress,” Zara reported.

More women pilots, more

science for girls, please

Wanting to see more women pilots and encourage more young women to study science, is one long term goal, she told ABC Sunday Extra.

“Growing up, I was really into aviation, science, tech, engineering, and mathematics (Stem).

“But I never saw girls or women in those fields, just a couple here, a couple there. But they were quite rare,” Zara noted.

“My main aim is I am hoping with my flight, I can get some girls be interested in getting into aviation and science, tech, engineering and mathematics.”

Has her epic bid inspired the girls?

Yes, she said.

“Girls have messaged me saying they want to beat my world record! Why not.”

But beyond this world record bid, she says: “I dream of one day going into space.”

“I plan to study computer science or electrical engineering at university.”