Shark Romuschko, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia
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female protagonism
Meet Zara Rutherford, the pilot who flew to become the youngest woman ever to travel around the world
By: Gabriela Ramos
On: 8/19/2021
Zara Rutherford
Divulgação/FlyZolo
This Wednesday, August 18th, Zara Rutherford, a 19-year-old Belgian pilot, set out on a journey to become the youngest woman to travel around the world. Departing Kortrijk, Belgium, she departed in a Shark light sports aircraft, with which she will fly for the next three months. Through the website flyzolo.com (link below), it is possible to follow the trip.
Currently, the youngest pilot to fly around the world is the American Shaesta Waiz, who was 30 years old when she took her trip in 2017. In the men's category, the current record holder is a little over 18 years old.
Today, the number of male pilots is significantly higher than that of female pilots, despite the fact that the skills needed to fly an aircraft are completely gender-independent. In this sense, Zara's trip is extremely important to encourage greater female participation in aviation and change this current scenario. “The age difference between men and women is an indication of the disparity between aviation opportunities for men and women. I hope to make more girls interested in aviation,” she says.
About the ultralight used by Zara, which can fly at almost 300 km/h, she says: “It has a very long range, it is very safe and it is extremely capable. It usually has two seats, but one seat has been removed to accommodate an extra fuel tank.”
Zara comes from a family of pilots, which is why she has always been very involved in aviation. She started training at 14 and at 18, in 2020, she got her license. “I was in the cabin of a light plane a few months after birth and I have also been traveling on small planes since I was six years old to far-flung places around the world. I went skydiving at 11 and flew a plane at 14 ?, she says.
The video on the link below talks a little more about Zara's trip, as well as showing the intended routes. According to her, Russia and Greenland will be her biggest challenges.
Gabriela Ramos
Gabriela is the latest addition to the editorial team of our website, having provided us with her solid background in editing, publishing and photography, and her interest and training in aviation history and historiography. His good taste and common sense and great cleverness and sagacity in the selection of themes and materials greatly enriched our vocabulary and narrative style. Gabriela brought unusual predicates and came to stay, helping to point the way of success of our portal.
   
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