Zara Rutherford yesterday departed from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) after her round-the-world solo flight was delayed by two months due to complicated visa issues and bad weather.
The 19-year-old aviator after she landed on Tuesday said that she believes everyone can pursue their dreams and challenge their limits.
During an exclusive interview after a 4.5-hour flight from Seoul to Taipei, Rutherford said it had been quite a struggle physically and mentally over the past few weeks while she was stranded in Alaska and Russia from Sept. 29 to Friday.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
“I knew I had a huge wall to climb over,” said the British-Belgian teenager, who is seeking to become the youngest woman to circumnavigate the world alone by flying across five continents and 52 countries in her custom-made Shark ultralight plane.
The cold weather was a big headache, not only because she was uncertain how her plane would react to icy conditions while in Alaska and Russia, but also because she had to be prepared for a potential landing in the snow, with help that might arrive hours later, Rutherford said.
“Should I wait until summer before continuing, because am I putting myself at too much risk? Am I brave enough to keep going?” were questions she had asked herself, said Rutherford, who departed from Belgium on Aug. 18.
Eventually, she defied all the odds and reached warm temperatures in Taiwan after experiencing minus-35°C in Russia, she said.
“Right now, it’s [the] perfect temperature,” said Rutherford, who was treated to bubble milk tea by ground staff at the airport upon landing.
While she joked that the tapioca inside the beverage looked a bit strange to her, Rutherford said she enjoyed the milk tea a lot and wondered how her next meal, the quintessential Taiwanese dish of “sweet and sour ribs” would taste.
“One thing I learned from this trip is that I am capable of more than I thought I was, a lot more than I thought I was, and I think that applies to everyone,” Rutherford said when asked if she had a message for the people of Taiwan.
Although she had to stay at a quarantine hotel and was unable to go out due to COVID-19 restrictions, she said she hoped to see more of Taiwan — from above — when she departed for the Philippines yesterday.
Recalling her views of Taiwan before landing in Taipei, she said: “The island is gorgeous, especially the mountains; really, really beautiful.”
The aspiring astronaut, who plans to start university next year, has dubbed her adventure “Flying Zolo,” which is a play on her name.
Rutherford said she has accomplished about 60 percent of her voyage so far, and expects to complete the entire journey by the middle of next month.
If Rutherford succeeds in her circumnavigation, she would be eligible for a Guinness World Record, becoming the youngest woman to fly solo around the world, replacing Shaesta Waiz, who was 30 when she completed her “Dreams Soar” around-the-world flight in a single-engine aircraft in 2017.
If Rutherford achieves this record, she would also narrow the age gap between the male and female record-holders for youngest pilots to fly solo around the world.
The youngest man to have flown solo around the world, Travis Ludlow, was 18 years, 150 days old when he broke the record in July.
“With my flight I hope to reduce this gap from 11 years to 11 months,” Rutherford said.
One of her aims for the voyage is to encourage girls and young women to pursue their dreams and promote aviation and science, technology, engineering and mathematics-related careers to them.
According to her Web site, only 5 percent of commercial pilots and 15 percent of computer scientists are women.
“The gender gap is huge. In fact it is a dream gap,” she said, referring to how boys and girls often have different dreams for what they want to do in life due to the way they are brought up.
“If you can keep pushing yourself to strive for more and keep learning, and keep pushing ... you’ll find that you are capable of things that you never thought you’d be capable of,” said Rutherford, who holds US Federal Aviation Administration and UK private pilot licenses.
“You think you have limits, and actually these limits are much further,” said Rutherford, the daughter of two pilots.
Rutherford’s journey can be tracked in real time on her Web site at: https://flyzolo.com.
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