“Pilot Attempting Around-the-World Flight Crosses Atlantic” (Flying):
Zara Rutherford wants to be the youngest woman to fly around the world solo, as FlyZolo. She has completed the Atlantic crossing, the first major hurdle along the way.
The 19-year-old Belgian pilot is flying a Shark Ultralight single-engine airplane approved in the rough European equivalent of the light sport category, with a maximum takeoff weight of 600 kg, retractable gear and a variable-pitch propeller.
Rutherford comes from a family of pilots, and she had more than 130 solo hours logged prior to departing on the flight.
On her FlyZolo site, she says “I want to reduce the gender gap in aviation as well as in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).” Yet a career in STEM is the opposite of flying around the world. Lots of sitting at a desk! (And, at least in a lot of U.S. states, a woman who wants to have the spending power of a man working in STEM can simply have sex with one or two men working in STEM. So there is no economic motivation for a woman to stick her nose into a stack of textbooks for 10-20 years.)
As a child of the Equality Feminism movement of the 1960s and 1970s, I’m not surprised that someone who identifies as “female” can fly. But I am surprised and impressed that someone would do this trip without an instrument rating (impossible to obtain at 130 hours, I think)!
Let’s check back in a month or two and see how this effort has unfolded?
Related:
- Around the world in 1964 (Jerrie Mock did it without a GPS)
Another ironical component of course is that this endeavor is ultra-privileged: to get 130 hours, aircraft, and means for the trip you need a lot of money. It’s not like she made that amount herself at 19.
I think it’s ridiculous and perhaps even dangerous. Her father is a logistics guy for general aviation. Read Paul’s comment! https://www.avweb.com/insider/stick-a-stem-on-it/ It would be funny if she changed her gender mid flight!
TS: That article does have some funny parts. Thanks! ” It’s now to the point, it seems, that whatever risky, edgy thing you want to do is somehow made credible by the high-minded insertion of STEM learning. Want to set yourself on fire and swing on a cable under the George Washington Bridge? Well, call it a Foucault Pendulum demonstration to promote STEM and maybe the crazy label won’t stick.”
Reminds one of the father + 17yr old son who tried set a record for youngest to fly around the world. It ended sadly:
https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/father-son-pilots-crash-plane-off-coast-american-24691511
Hope there are advance teams to help her clear customs in some of the ickier countries. And I hope the father doesn’t end up with reason to regret pimping his daughter for fleeting half azzed aviation fame. For contest a 16 year old girl sailed around the world alone, younger and a greater task.
From Toucan’s link above:
“there is no bright line between inspiring and over-the-top lunacy.
By the time you find it and cross it, you may no longer be among the living.”