After two months of delays due to complicated visa and harsh weather issues, 19-year-old aviator Zara Rutherford resumed her solo flight around the world and arrived in Taiwan Tuesday, saying she believes everyone can pursue their dreams and challenge their limits.

During an exclusive interview with CNA right after a 4.5-hour flight from Seoul to Taipei, Rutherford said it had been quite a struggle over the past few weeks when she was stranded in Alaska in the United States and Russia from Sept. 29 to Dec. 10, both physically and mentally.

“I knew I had a huge wall to climb over,” said the British-Belgian teenager, who is seeking to become the youngest woman to circumnavigate the world alone by flying across five continents and 52 countries in her custom-made Shark ultralight plane.

The cold weather was a big headache, Rutherford recalled, not only because she was uncertain how her plane would react to icy conditions while in Alaska and Russia, but also she had to be prepared for a potential landing in the snow, with help that might arrive hours later.

“Should I wait until summer before continuing because am I putting myself at too much risk? Am I brave enough to keep going?,” questions she had asked herself about, said Rutherford, who departed on Aug. 18 from Belgium for the epic journey.

Eventually, Rutherford said, she defied all the odds and managed to reach warm temperatures in Taiwan after experiencing minus 35 degrees Celsius in Russia.

“Right now, it’s (the) perfect temperature,” said Rutherford, who was treated to bubble milk tea by ground staff at Taipei Songshan Airport upon landing on Tuesday afternoon.

While she joked that the tapioca inside the beverage looked a bit strange to her, Rutherford said she enjoyed the milk tea a lot and wondered how her next meal, the quintessential Taiwanese dish of “sweet and sour ribs” would taste.

“One thing I learned from this trip is that I am capable of more than I thought I was, a lot more than I thought I was, and I think that applies to everyone,” Rutherford said when asked if she had a message for the people of Taiwan.

Although Rutherford had to stay at a quarantine hotel and was unable to go out due to COVID-19 control measures, she said she hopes to see more of Taiwan — from above — when she heads to the Philippines on Wednesday.

Recalling her views of Taiwan before landing in Taipei, the young pilot said: “The island is gorgeous, especially the mountains; really, really beautiful.”

The aspiring astronaut, who plans to start university next year, has dubbed her adventure “Flying Zolo,” which is a play on her name.

Rutherford said she has accomplished about 60 percent of her voyage so far, and expects to complete the entire journey by mid-January.

If Rutherford succeeds in her circumnavigation, she will break the Guinness World Records and become the youngest woman to fly solo around the world, replacing Shaesta Waiz, who was 30 when she completed her “Dreams Soar” around-the-world flight in a single-engine aircraft in 2017.

And if Rutherford achieves this record, she will also narrow the age gap between the male and female record-holders for youngest pilots to fly solo around the world.

The youngest man to have flown solo around the world, Travis Ludlow, was 18 years and 150 days old when he broke the world record this July.

“With my flight I hope to reduce this gap from 11 years to 11 months,” Rutherford said.

She added that one of her aims for the voyage is to encourage girls and young women to pursue their dreams and promote aviation and STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics)-related careers to them.

According to her webpage, only 5 percent of commercial pilots and 15 percent of computer scientists are women.

“The gender gap is huge. In fact it is a dream gap,” she said, referring to how boys and girls often have different dreams for what they want to do in life due to the way different genders are brought up.

“If you can keep pushing yourself to strive for more and keep learning, and keep pushing …, you’ll find that you are capable of things that you never thought you’d be capable of,” said Rutherford, who holds both U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and United Kingdom private pilot licenses.

“You think you have limits, and actually these limits are much further,” said Rutherford, the daughter of two pilots.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel