19-year-old girl sets world record to fly around the world

19-year-old British-Belgian pilot Zara Rutherford has set a world record as the youngest woman to fly solo around the world in 155 days.

19-year-old female pilot Zara Rutherford.

Rutherford will enter the Guinness Book of World Records after breaking the record held by 30-year-old American pilot Shaesta Waiz since 2017.

The 19-year-old female pilot had flown around the world on the ultralight Shark jet in about three months, but bad weather and visa problems forced her to ground her flight for weeks on end. Her adventure lasted about 2 months.

'Winter in Europe poses a lot of challenges,' Rutherford said of the flight's final days. She has experienced opposing weather patterns, from -35 degrees Celsius in Siberia to 32 degrees Celsius in Indonesia. Fog, smoke from wildfires and even storms were obstacles in the journey that Rutherford had to overcome.

During her journey of more than 52,000 km, she stopped on 5 continents and visited 41 countries.

'It was definitely an adventure,' Rutherford said.

During the flight, she saw the wildfires in California with her own eyes, coped with the freezing cold that enveloped Russia and narrowly avoided North Korean airspace. She flew by the Intuitive Rules of Flight, essentially moving within sight, often slowing her progress as more complex navigation systems could guide her through clouds and fog.

Sometimes she fears for her life and just wants to go home quickly. The ability to fly was in Rutherford's blood when she had both parents as pilots. At the age of 14, she learned how to fly a plane alone.

After her trip around the world, Rutherford wanted to instill in women and girls around the world a spirit of adventure and a passion for the sciences.