19-Year-Old Woman Completes Around-the-World Solo Flight

[L. Coyote]

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/19-year-old-woman-completes-around-the-world-solo-flight-180979441/

It took her 155 days, but 19-year-old Zara Rutherford accomplished her goal: to become the youngest woman to fly solo around the world. Last week, her plane touched down in Kortrijk, Belgium, completing a globe-trotting trip that spanned five continents and 28,000 nautical miles, report Taylor Haney and Scott Neuman for NPR.

Link to tweet

https://www.npr.org/2022/01/20/1074393133/zara-rutherford-youngest-woman-fly-solo-around-globe

Rutherford's circumnavigation aboard her Shark UL plane took 155 days – two months longer than planned, thanks to loads of bad weather and visa holdups. Along the way, she crossed enormous stretches of desolate ocean and had to spend weeks in a tiny Siberian village. She also had to alter course to avoid North Korean airspace and wildfires in California.

And, of course, she chronicled it all on social media. ........

[Drum]

1. Suuuper cool! What an adventure...

[OAITW r.2.0]

2. Pretty awesome accomplishment.

But, I suspect, that she had the financial backing to attempt this.

[Laffy Kat]

3. I just love this story. I've been following her.

I was a member of the Women's Soaring Pilots Association for years. We had yearly meetings at glider ports around the country where we would fly, go for records, polish our skills, and attend seminars. It was so much fun and I've always encouraged other women and girls to take up any type of aviation hobby. It is expensive, although I did it on a secretary's salary and women pilot's scholarships. I stopped soaring when I started having my babies. I still miss it and think about it all of the time.

[North Shore Chicago]

4. Thank you for your story!

[North Shore Chicago]

5. What an accomplishment!

Congratulations!

[SYFROYH]

6. What a tiny plane. I cant imagine the grit it took.

[L. Coyote]

8. A small plane with a really great, hemispherical view.

[Captain Stern]

7. I have a huge amount of admiration for people like this.

When I was nineteen, I was proud of myself if I could stay up all night partying, and still make it to an 8 o'clock class.