Search19-year-old Zara Rutherford has just achieved an amazing feat. She became the youngest girl and the youngest person to finish a solo flight around the world. She flew 28,000 nautical miles in a two-seater ultralight plane.
She stopped off in 41 countries and sometimes had to wait on flying conditions before she could continue on. She began the flight in Belgium on August 18, 2021 and arrived back at the same airport on January 20, 2022.
She undertook the flight in part to encourage girls to consider being a pilot as a career. Among her many adventures along the route, she had to make an unscheduled stop in California because of the wildfire smoke. She had to avoid flying over North Korea and was almost hit by lightning near Singapore.
She also supported two charities: Girls Who Code which encourages girls to learn computer science, and Dreams Soar, a non-profit organization encouraging girls to be involved in STEM learning.
Watch the video detailing the trip:
