Teen aviator Rutherford shares flying fears
The 19-year-old Belgian-British pilot left Belgium this August and hopes to complete her 51,000-kilometre (32,000 mile) trip across five continents and 52 countries by mid-January 2022.
The most challenging leg so far has been flying across northern Russia in winter, she told reporters at an event in Jakarta, because if anything went wrong and she was forced to perform an emergency landing, help would likely be hours away.
Rutherford landed in Jakarta on Wednesday (December 22). According to her official Facebook page, she is scheduled to arrive in Singapore on Thursday (December 23).
To meet the requirements for an around-the-world flight, Rutherford has designated two "antipodal" points on her map, including the Indonesian town of Jambi and the Colombian town of Tumaco, which rest just above and below the equator. Antipodal refers to opposite points on the globe.
The teen pilot is seeking the title held by Shaesta Waiz, who became the youngest woman to fly solo round the world at age 30 in 2017.
