Zara Rutherford is youngest woman to fly solo around world
 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...o-around-world

https://flyzolo.com/

She just completed her tour, well done! Can't believe that according to site and google searches, this hasn't been on pprune so far.

And just as a bonus, this is the blog of a ferry flight of two BN2 Islanders from Japan to Germany. There was a fair bit of logistics and preparation that went into that journey. They had support from local flight handling companies and yet had to negotiate with local flight control and military themselves more than once, so I can only begin to imagine what was necessariy for her adventure.
https://airlebnis.homepage.t-online.de/index.htm

That is one teeny-tiny aeroplane!

Just out of curiosity, did she have to stick to VFR because of her licence or because of how her plane was equipped?

She had a full glass cockpit Garmin G1000 NXi (I think) - so one assumes license limitation.

Bloody well done to her anyway. She's done exceedingly well.
Wants to be an astronaut next.

She probably now clocks more hours and experience than some airliner FO's :}
Well done! :ok:

It was also an Ultra light aircraft which I believe cannot be flown/certified IFR . ( yet , as discussion are under way but afaik not yet successful , waiting to be contradicted if that is the case now )
That said, kuddos and congratulations to her !

A fine effort.

This one didn't get much press coverage. UK to NZ unsupported in a Eurofox in 2019.

GBNZ ? GBNZ

Rightfully the winner of the 2019 Silver Medal of the Royal Aero Club.

Yes she was restricted to VFR flight, that constraint added a couple of months to her journey.

I have followed her progress closely over the past months and I am in absolute awe by what she has achieved. And she is such a gracious and generous personality.

Imagine flying an ultralight dodging clouds as low as 600 ft MSL between Iceland and Greenland, crossing the Bering Strait and Siberia during the winter, and doing a 1000+ nm leg straight over the Indian Ocean from Mumbai to the UAE.

Just amazing.

Skimming through her (perfect trilingual) press conference: being stuck in a small Siberian village for three weeks.... 6 hrs non-stop overwater crossing the Sea of Japan, avoiding North Korean airspace with worse than expected weather and getting in touch with an airliner to relay with ATC

...huge CB's over Colombia... and much more. Respect!

Hopefully dad will also post here some behind the scene stories of the almost as huge a job by the behind the scene ops team.

Fantastic flying, she deserves an award for sure. Onwards and upwards.

Rutherford. A name well known in the field of long-distance women's flying.

Zara Rutherford
 

Already in the file for HCAP's T & A dinner this year I would hope.
Tremendous achievement and a helluva lot of courage to complete this, particularly with comparatively low experience. I say congratulations to her instructors too for making sure she had the right level of expertise and support to give her the necessary confidence to crack on.
I also would like to hear the stories from the support team, with probable communication difficulties, lack of interest/help, officialdom from some of the transit countries enroute. Conversely, to hear of those who went out of their way to assist in this phenomenal achievement as well.
Well done, young lady. We salute you.

Congratulations! What an epic achievement!

And how refreshing to see such a solo venture being done... well... solo! All done without an instructor or Commercial pilot discretely tucked away out of camera shot in a 2nd seat to take up the slack and do all the tricky bits, to then be 'Spirited' away out of sight to avoid any inconvenient questions and speculation about the claimed achievement.

LAA, are you watching? This is how it should be done, and it is highly deserving of a medal. Sam should have no issues with this one.

Yes and Yes to that. One cannot but help recall a rather unsavory episode of mistaken accomplishment (involving the definition of the word; Solo, a couple of years ago)

I too hope the LAA and indeed, the HCAP celebrates this genuine achievement by this most excellent Aviator.

What I find amazing is the lack of promotion prior to the task being completed, quite unlike others we could name. Kudos and a big thumbs up from me, well done Lass. :ok: Bet Dad is proud of your achievement.

Yes, and one that flirts with the legal limits of ultralights. I know of one based in Belgium that remains on its previous Dutch registration because it was found impossible to register it Belgian - our authorities being rather strict about the regulations, or at least about some of them.

This machine must be tricky to fly! Even if the lady had a very able pilot for her main instructor (or so we may assume) she must have been careful, especially during approach and landing.

Since it was Zara's father who was instrumental in showing up that particular charlatan I can't help wonderning if this stunt was in some way a response to that matter.
At least I think it reassures us that it really was done solo and unaccompanied by a support crew.

Very impressive - and an impressive aeroplane to match its pilot. Good high cruising speed and superb endurance, with the extra tanks fitted.

My word, I bet her parents are pleased - and more than a bit relieved. That's a lot of very challenging flying. Chapeau, young lady !

Absolutely fantastic effort and all respect!

Care to explain the reasons behind your statement?