A teenager hoping to be the youngest woman ever to fly around the world solo has begun her journey, Press Association has reported.

19-year-old Zara Rutherford left from Belgium on Wednesday. The trip will span five continents and 52 countries and should conclude in November. 

If she completes the trip, she will be the youngest woman to circumnavigate the globe solo, and the youngest person to do so in a microlight aircraft.

Rutherford has both British and Belgian nationality and is following in the footsteps of her parents, who are both pilots.

Gap-year trip like no other

This expedition is her gap year trip before she heads to university to study computer science or computer engineering. Her long-term ambition is to become an astronaut.

Miss Rutherford will be flying a Shark Ultralight, the world’s fastest light sport aircraft.

The spare seat has been removed to accommodate an extra fuel tank and to avoid any questions about another person flying with her.

 

Rutherford told the Press Association in July when planning her trip: “At first I was planning to fly around the world as an adventure during my gap year, not realising I would become the youngest woman to do so if I achieved it.

“It was only when I started researching more that I noticed I could be the first Belgian and the youngest woman to solo circumnavigate the globe.

“I’m hoping to get more girls interested in aviation.”

The route will take her through the UK, Iceland, Greenland, Canada, the US and Latin America to Colombia, then back north via Alaska to Russia, China, Indonesia, India and the Middle East before ending in Belgium.

The current female record holder is American Shaesta Waiz, who was 30 at the time of her expedition in 2017, while the youngest male record-holder was 18 years old.