The 17-year-old British-Belgian teenager set the world's youngest round-the-world flight record!
On March 23, 17-year-old McLutherford landed at an airport near Sofia, Bulgaria' capital, after flying 54,124 kilometers and visiting more than 30 countries, departing from the same location in a Shark Aero ultralight plane that took five months. On August 24, Rutherford became the youngest person in the world to fly around the world.
His journey broke two Guinness World Records, one of which was created by his 19-year-old sister Zara, who handed him a certificate on the tarmac.
Rutherford's journey was longer than planned due to permit delays, which forced him to change course twice, flying over Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, North America and back to Europe.
His favorite flyovers stretch from the Sahara Desert to Greenland and Iceland. But his travels were also fraught with challenges, such as flying over the Pacific Ocean from Japan to the uninhabited U.S. island of Atul in bad weather that took 10 hours. Rutherford, who earned his pilot's license after training with his father at the age of 15 in 2020, hopes his five-month voyage will encourage young people to pursue their dreams.
