— from the frozen tundra in Siberia to typhoons
in the Philippines and the stark beauty of the
Arabian desert.
One time, her one-seater Shark microlight plane
filled up with the stench of California wildfires.
Often she was flying in absolute solitude over
seas or desolate land, any potential rescue hours
away. She had to spend weeks isolated in the
tiny Siberian village of Ayan with barely any
contact with her family or the world she knows.
So little felt as sweet as Thursday’s embrace with
her pilot parents and brother.
“We will celebrate this by being as a family
together, at first,” her mother Beatrice said. “I
think Zara wants to celebrate by sleeping about
two weeks.”
When she wakes up, she will find herself in the
Guinness World Records book after setting
the mark that had been held by 30-year-old
American aviator Shaesta Waiz since 2017.
The overall record will remain out of Rutherford’s
grasp, since Briton Travis Ludlow set that
benchmark last year as an 18-year-old.
Her global flight was supposed to take three
months, but relentless bad weather and visa
issues kept her grounded sometimes for weeks
on end, extending her adventure by about
two months.
On Thursday, rain, drizzle, sunshine and even
a rainbow over Kortrijk airport exemplified the
changing, often bad weather she had been
facing all too often.
After she was escorted by a four-plane formation
in a huge V across much of Belgium, she did a
flyby of the airport before finally landing. After