Zara Rutherford is freezing. “It’s pretty, pretty cold here,” says the 19-year-old into the camera of her laptop. No wonder: the pilot, who is the youngest woman who wants to circumnavigate the world on her own, has been stuck in Alaska for a few days at the time of the conversation with the German Press Agency. The reason: Your visa for the onward flight to Russia had expired because the previous trip was not without turbulence.
However, the turbulence hardly seems to bother Rutherford. Never again in her life will she have the chance to spend a while in Nome in the US state of Alaska. “It’s a really cool place. It’s breathtaking, really beautiful, ”she says in an interview. On the zoom screen, she shows a video of a dazzling, glowing landscape that she recorded from the cockpit. Just mountains and nothing behind them for a long time. But is that even possible to film and to steer an airplane at the same time? “You can make a video, but just relaxing and enjoying yourself is pretty rare – because something is always there.”
Forest fires and technical breakdowns
In mid-August, Rutherford, who, as the daughter of a Belgian mother and an English father, has both nationalities, took off from the Belgian town of Wevelgem. First it went via Iceland to Greenland and then further west to the USA, to South America and finally back north – often more turbulent than the young pilot had imagined.
She reports of violent turbulence when she had to deal with heavy smoke from the forest fires in California, and technical breakdowns in which the wheels of the aircraft could not be extended. But she also enthusiastically tells how she flew over the Statue of Liberty and landed at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. “I never thought I’d do that one day.” The microlight she uses is one of the fastest in the world.
“It’s definitely a big challenge,” explains pilot Justin Steinke, who works at a flight school in Germany. “Such a small plane wobbles a lot more than a big one.”
Rutherford’s goal is to be the youngest woman to ever fly around the world alone. So far, this record has been held by the US-American Shaesta Waiz, who was born in Afghanistan and circled the planet at the age of 30. “So I have eleven years,” says Rutherford, with a laugh. The male record holder is an 18-year-old – for them also a sign of inequality between the sexes. The young pilot hopes to get more girls interested in science and aviation and is supporting two non-profit initiatives.
“There is only today and tomorrow”
By the time she left, the school leaver, who wants to become an astronaut one day, had planned everything precisely: organized sponsors, completed emergency training, and performed technical exercises. At school, too, people were constantly preparing for something in the future, tasks for the next week or exams in six months. «Now I live completely in the here and now. It’s never been like this. There is only today and tomorrow, I do not plan for the other days. “
The record contender actually wanted to be back in Belgium at the beginning of November. It is now aiming for the beginning of December, but whether that will work is an open question. What she looks forward to the most, however, is clear: her family, the cats and home-cooked food. “You are surprised how quickly you can get fed up with restaurants.” But first of all, if everything works out, it will go to Russia – and then to Japan, Indonesia, Thailand and the Middle East. (SDA)