By AccuWeather senior producer
Updated Aug. 27, 2021 9:16 AM EDT
The roar of the wind crescendos with the airplane engine as the runway recedes into a long, gray ribbon stretching behind 19-year-old Zara Rutherford. She was taking her first test flight in the aircraft she will pilot around the world. At the moment the wheels of the Shark Ultralight lift off the ground, a massive grin splits the teen's face nearly in half.
She is right where she wants to be.
Zara Rutherford, 19, grins as she takes off in a Shark Ultralight aircraft. (Zara Rutherford / FlyZolo)
Raised in a family of pilots, Rutherford, who is Belgian and British, started flying at a young age. “I went to school in Belgium and England and have been flying my whole life,” she says while gazing confidently into the camera in a video posted on her website. “I started my formal pilot training in Belgium when I was 14 years old." She eventually earned her pilot's license in 2020.
The teen's latest aviation endeavor is garnering worldwide attention. “I’m going to be the youngest woman to fly solo around the world in a small plane," she says assuredly.
Rutherford prepares to climb into her plane, a Shark Ultralight airplane. Photo credit: Zara Rutherford/FlyZolo
Rutherford is well on her way. On Thursday, the teen landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, a rare destination for a plane that is only about 22 feet long. Rutherford told The New York Times she was pretty excited because it's the biggest airfield on which she has ever landed an aircraft.
Her three-month journey around the world began on Aug. 18 when, after she was delayed for 30 minutes due to bad weather, took off from Kortrijk in Belgium.
Rutherford's adventure will take her 32,000 miles over 52 countries and five continents. She hopes to complete the epic journey in Belgium on Nov. 3.
Rutherford is hoping to soar over 52 countries on five continents.
Rutherford says the massive undertaking isn't just a personal challenge but a way to raise awareness about the lack of women in aviation and STEM fields including science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Thousands are following her journey via social media where regular posts showcasing women in aviation can be found.
Although she is in the airplane alone, Rutherford has a team of people helping her with logistics, including her dad, who is her ground advisor. She says safety is her priority, and before she left, she practiced escaping from a plane in an underwater simulator, although she noted to the Times that she finds flying over water stressful.
In fact, the greatest challenge the young aviator will face may be bad weather. Michael Fabry, a ferry pilot who lives in Belgium, told the Times that having a strong support crew is necessary, particularly in Asia and the Middle East where she will likely experience stiff winds and clouds she can't fly through because her plane isn't certified to fly using instruments alone.
“That means she has to fly very low, and very low is not a safe condition to be in if you’re over water,” Fabry said.
Photo credit: Zara Rutherford/FlyZolo
Rutherford made a windy landing in Greenland last week after going without radio contact for most of the three-hour flight from Iceland. She says when she finally touched down the first thing she did was send her parents a text message.
"My first text to my parents after landing was ‘I’m alive' and I think that sums up the trip so far. Been absolutely amazing and loved Iceland and loving Greenland (although it is very cold)," she wrote on Instagram. "Today’s flight was one of the trickiest yet. Cloud base was low and if you look at my tracking you can see me zigzagging across to Greenland to avoid fog/rain showers."
She added that at one point the clouds were so low she was forced to fly at just 600 feet above the ocean. Rutherford was subsequently delayed in Greenland for two days due to bad weather.
Rutherford is aiming to reach Russia by late September to avoid the onset of bad weather there and says she is concerned about flying over remote parts of the large country. "There aren't many people who live there so if anything were to go wrong I would be in a bit of an awkward situation," she said, according to the BBC.
If she completes her solo flight around the world, Rutherford will break the record set by American, Shaesta Waiz, who was 30 when she completed her global solo flight in 2017. The youngest male record holder was 18 when he completed the feat.
Rutherford is the latest in a long line of trailblazing female aviators, stretching back decades, consistently pushing the boundaries not only of science but also of what society would allow at a time when most women were barred from many activities, sports and jobs and taught that becoming stay-at-home mothers was the ideal path for women.
Blanche Stuart Scott was the first American woman to fly a plane in 1910. In 1921, Bessie Coleman became the first African American and Native American woman pilot. Just over a decade later, Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic at the age of 35, and in 1964, 38-year-old mother of three Jerrie Mock became the first woman to fly solo around the world.
To follow Rutherford's journey in real-time, visit her website here.
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