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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 18 January 2022

Typhoons, wildfires, missiles: Teen flies solo round world

BRUSSELS (AP) — Avoid ty- since she was 6. At 14, she smoke and I could not see
phoon in the Philippines. started flying herself and anything but a burnished
Check. about 130 hours of solo orange color," Rutherford
Steer clear of massive Cali- flights prepped her for the said. She had to abort her
fornia wildfires. Check. record attempt, which she route and make an un-
Keep away from test mis- hopes will also have a big- scheduled landing in Red-
siles in North Korea. What? ger meaning. ding, California.
Wait. With the final touchdown in Over Siberia, the light
As teenage pilot Zara Ruth- a plane that looks like a fly played tricks on her vision,
erford flew ever onward among the giants parked sometimes casting doubt
in a record-challenging at an airport like New York's whether she saw moun-
global odyssey, she met JFK, the Belgian-British teen- tains or clouds. "And for
little as strange or scary as ager wants to infuse young me clouds are a really big
when she tried to squeeze women and girls worldwide deal. Especially in Russia,"
in between North Korean with the spirit of aviation — with its biting cold. Cutting tire and visa issues added phone in Crete, Greece,
airspace and a massive and an enthusiasm for stud- through such clouds, too another two months to the and even there, the weath-
cloud threatening to cut off ies in the exact sciences, much ice might build up planned three-month proj- er over the Balkans was so
passage for her ultralight mathematics, engineering on her wings, paralyzing ect. The Associated Press awful it delayed her for
plane. and technology. control. "At that point your spoke to Rutherford by tele- days. q
"Well, they test missiles once Two mathematical statistic plane is no longer a plane,"
in a while without warning," stands our for her — only 5% she said.
Rutherford said. More im- of commercial pilots and That, or any other mishap,
portantly, she was just 15 15% of computer scientists could have happened
minutes from flying over are women. on a section of the route
one of the last places one "The gender gap is huge," where she once saw only
should enter uninvited. she said. one village in six hours.
So she radioed her control Yet once the canopy "I realized if something goes
team to ask if she could cut closed over her cockpit wrong, I'm hours and hours
the corner over the isola- and another six- to eight- and hours away from res-
tionist communist dictator- hour flight began, lofty cue and it was -35 C (-31
ship to get to Seoul. "Straight thoughts of global out- F) on the ground. And so
away they said: 'Whatever reach receded as she con- I thought, actually, I don't
you do, do not go into centrated on one lonely know how long I can sur-
North Korean airspace!'" individual — herself. vive -35," Rutherford said.
Fortunately the clouds co- Using Visual Flight Rules, ba- She didn't have to find out.
operated enough and she sically going on sight only, The project would have
didn't have to continue danger lurked even closer been tough enough in
the crash course in applied than when she would be normal times, but the pan-
geopolitics. able to use fancy naviga- demic added another
At the age of 19, she is set to tional instruments to lead complication — which indi-
land her single-seater Shark her through the night, rectly led to the North Ko-
sport aircraft in Kortrijk, Bel- clouds or fog. rean adventure.
gium, on Monday, more Crossing northern Califor- Alternative plans to go
than 150 days after setting nia from Palo Alto towards over China to Seoul were
out to become the young- Seattle, she headed into ditched when the Chinese
est woman to circumnavi- the huge wildfires blighting refused permission citing
gate the world solo. Ameri- the area. The higher she COVID-19, which, Ruther-
can aviator Shaesta Waiz climbed to avoid the smoke ford said, "was slightly frus-
was 30 when she set the — up to 10,000 feet — the trating because I'm in the
previous benchmark. tougher it was to keep her plane at 6,000 feet (around
Flying runs in her blood eyes on the ground. 1,800 meters). I'd be very
since both her parents are "The smoke was building up impressed if I could pass on
pilots and she has been and up, to the point that COVID like this."
traveling in small planes the whole cabin stank of Overall, bad weather, a flat