Nineteen-year-old pilot Zara Rutherford touched down at an airfield in western Belgium on Thursday, becoming the youngest woman to fly solo around the world, as she closed the loop five months after taking off on her record-breaking journey.
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.
Since her Aug. 18 departure, Rutherford covered 28,000 nautical miles, stopping in 41 countries and five continents. It's a journey that will land her in the Guinness World Records book.
Incredible she did it in that little plane. What she do for maintenance and repairs and parts when she stopped in each of the 41 countries? Also when she is in flight and between airports, what she do for things like sleepy, hungry, need to use the restroom etc?
