Teen Becomes Youngest Woman To Fly Solo Round the World (reuters.com) 111
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: A British-Belgian teenager became the youngest woman to fly solo around the world on Thursday and the first person to do so in a microlight plane after a five-month, five-continent odyssey in her Shark ultralight. Nineteen-year-old Zara Rutherford landed back at Kortrijk-Wevelgem Airport in Belgium after flying 51,000 km (32,000 miles) over 52 nations since her Aug. 18 departure in the world's fastest microlight aircraft. "It's just really crazy, I haven't quite processed it," Rutherford, smiling broadly and cloaked in British and Belgian flags, told reporters.
After the penultimate leg to a German village on Wednesday, she said it was an exploit she would never repeat. After North and South America, Rutherford was stuck for a month in Alaska because of weather and visa delays. A winter storm forced another long stop in far eastern Russia, before she travelled to South Asia, the Middle East and back to Europe. Her favorite flyovers were New York and an active volcano in Iceland, but there were moments when she feared for her life, including her flight across Siberia's frozen wastes and a narrow escape from entering North Korean air space during bad weather. "They have been testing missiles with no warning," she said of her concerns as she considered cutting across the reclusive authoritarian state during a detour from Russia to South Korea. [...]
To meet criteria for a round-the-world flight, Rutherford touched two points opposite each other on the globe: Jambi in Indonesia and Tumaco in Colombia. Rutherford took the record from Afghan-born American Shaesta Wais, who in 2017 became the youngest woman to fly solo around the world at 30. The youngest male record holder, American Mason Andrews, was 18 when he did it in 2018. She also became the first Belgian to circumnavigate the world solo in a single-engine aircraft, getting through the long days by shuffling through a 40-hour playlist of songs. [...] Rutherford dreams of being an astronaut and hopes her voyage will encourage women in science, technology and aviation.
After the penultimate leg to a German village on Wednesday, she said it was an exploit she would never repeat. After North and South America, Rutherford was stuck for a month in Alaska because of weather and visa delays. A winter storm forced another long stop in far eastern Russia, before she travelled to South Asia, the Middle East and back to Europe. Her favorite flyovers were New York and an active volcano in Iceland, but there were moments when she feared for her life, including her flight across Siberia's frozen wastes and a narrow escape from entering North Korean air space during bad weather. "They have been testing missiles with no warning," she said of her concerns as she considered cutting across the reclusive authoritarian state during a detour from Russia to South Korea. [...]
To meet criteria for a round-the-world flight, Rutherford touched two points opposite each other on the globe: Jambi in Indonesia and Tumaco in Colombia. Rutherford took the record from Afghan-born American Shaesta Wais, who in 2017 became the youngest woman to fly solo around the world at 30. The youngest male record holder, American Mason Andrews, was 18 when he did it in 2018. She also became the first Belgian to circumnavigate the world solo in a single-engine aircraft, getting through the long days by shuffling through a 40-hour playlist of songs. [...] Rutherford dreams of being an astronaut and hopes her voyage will encourage women in science, technology and aviation.
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Which part of nineTEEN isnt clear dumbfuck? Its right there in the word.
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As defense to the AC: the summary clearly says teenager
And outside of the US: that is 13 - 17. With 18 and above you are an adult, and not refereed to as a teenager.
If I call the police because some "teenagers" are drinking and making noise in front of my house they wont expect and 118 or 19 year old amoung them.
No idea how the word is used in the US, though.
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Outside the US they probably use a language that doesn't have numbers with the word "teen" embedded in them.
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Outside of the USA, everyone uses the word "teenager" ... regardless of what language. German, French, Thai ...
Age:
1 - 3: toddler
3 - 13: kid
14 - 17: teenager (people can have sex now)
18 - 20/21: young adult (people can drive and drink hard alcohol and can vote)
You can adjust the numbers a bit - if you want: but it is pretty clear that a teenager is in between a kid and an adult, and 18/19, besides the fact the word contains "teen" is not considered a teenager.
But it is not super important, I just pointed ou
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She's not a teen.
Hey Anonymous Coward, what part of nineTEEN is unclear to you?
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Go back to reddit please. We don't accept this kind of toxicity on Slashdot.
That's quite grueling, actually (Score:5, Informative)
For those interested, this [stackpathdns.com] seems to be her flight track. The scariest part (to me at least) is the jump over the Atlantic ocean which is the longest segment where she would be out of sight of land.
Looking at the specs, [shark.aero] that aircraft would have a range of not much more than 1,200km on full fuel. So I'm not sure how she did it.
Regardless, that is a lot of hours to log sitting in the cockpit holding straight-and-level, listening to the thrum of the engine which fortunately turns out to be quite reliable. At least it turns out that the Shark is an ultralight, not a microlight, with an enclosed canopy.
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Sometimes people just want the personal achievement. To prove to themselves they are capable of difficult things. My brother in law was one of the youngest people to row across the atlantic (fund raiser for his mother who was ailing from breast cancer). He was quite bedraggled at the end, but he proved to himself he could do it and thats kind of his attitude to most things now. Can-Do (Also he raised a whole bunch of money for his mothers treatment, although she sadly lost her fight with the cancer).
Getting
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There is no greater accomplishment in life knowing that you've pushed yourself and -- by extension -- humanity farther than ever before.
Why do people set land speed records? Why do people climb mountains? Why do people develop technology? Sometimes just knowing someone was able to do things like this is inspiration enough to give other people hope and make them willing to try for things they never would have even considered otherwise.
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She has the record as the FIRST to go around the world in a microlight. First as in male or female. And indeed part of her reasons was to encourage girls to stop being told to not do stuff just because a guy did it first.
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The issue here is that the headline cheapens her accomplishment greatly by focusing on the gender aspects. Rather than simply giving her credit for being the second youngest (is she?), they make it a "pretty good for a girl " thing. And there is no value in this because unlike cases such as certain sports where gender anatomy makes
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Actually I'm wrong, I read the wrong article. She was first woman in a microlight.
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The issue here is that the headline cheapens her accomplishment greatly by focusing on the gender aspects. Rather than simply giving her credit for being the second youngest (is she?), they make it a "pretty good for a girl " thing. And there is no value in this because unlike cases such as certain sports where gender anatomy makes a difference, this is a case where gender is entirely irrelevant.
What is worse, the headline makes a stink about how she was second to a boy rather than focusing on the microlight aspect which is s genuine first and a celebration worthy achievement. So it feels sleezy and ugly how it was written. I would have been very disappointed by the headline if I were her as it really detracted from her great achievement.
The media knows what sells and how to get attention. Nobody cares about articles with dudes flying little planes around the world.
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Cattle die, and kinsmen die,
And so one dies one's self;
One thing now, that never dies,
The fame of a dead man's deeds.
Re:That's quite grueling, actually (Score:5, Interesting)
That's one way of reading it. If you read it that way, it's false. The fame of dead men may live on for a while, but then it inevitably dies, too. However, the old norse word translated as fame, "dómr", has a cognate in English: doom, and in modern Norwegian; "dom", meaning judgment, which is an archaic sense of the English word too. So if you allow a little archaism, you can even preserve the alliteration:
Cattle die, kinsmen die,
oneself dies likewise.
One thing I know that never dies,
doom over dead men's deeds.
So I think the author didn't intend the glory-seeking interpretation of that translation.
The speaker is Odin, he explicitly says he will die himself in line 2, so it's not suggested that he is the judge - it is rather some cosmic judgment beyond the gods. I think the author meant basically: "Whatever you did, it will always be true that you did it".
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Shit. I'm going to be honest, I like the incorrect version better. I'll have to read more about this tonight.
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Indeed.
And according to Beowulf,
For everyone of us, living in this world
means waiting for our end. Let whoever can
win glory before death. When a warrior is gone,
that will be his best and only bulwark.
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Risk-aversity is a god damned disease. Anybody accomplishes anything in the physical world and people start screaming about how they're taking too many risks. Meanwhile, most of us grew up jumping our bikes off of curbs right into traffic.
What exactly is she risking? Her own death? There's plenty of people now. It's not like the species is gonna disappear if somebody dies doing something they love. I applaud someone that young with such lofty goals actually having the audacity to follow through with i
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And yet, the same people criticizing her for doing something risky probably were cheering on entrepreneurs who mortgaged their houses and their family's future on a wild bet on some pipe dream with a one in 100 shot of success.
And for a deed like this one, nineteen seems the perfect age. Take a year off before college, it's the in-thing these days. Why wait until 30 when you have obligations tying you down?
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A risk for money is ok, but glory or adventure is not? Columbus, Shackleton, etc, probably all had people telling them it was stupid. Humans do stupid things, they take risks, it's a part of our nature.
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She is taking a big risk for what, her name in a record book?
what big risk? she flies since 12, was practically born between planes, and this being a sponsored pr event you can bet she had a crew caring for her at all times and ensuring that every flight was done in proper conditions. surely she was also constantly monitored so an accident would be pretty much the same over the bering strait or over the english channel, or over her local leisure aerodrome for that matter. worst that could happen to her is food poisoning or being retained in customs on some of those m
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Wick to Reykjavik is 1,186 km, typically with a tailwind. Shark seems a bit coy about range, but some aviation sites say about 1000 miles (I presume land ones) if you take it slow.
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Anything in Aviation is usually nautical miles.
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True. I assumed land miles because 1000 nm does seem quite a bit for that little plane. Looking at some of her other legs though, I think it actually is nm.
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They state the ranges in the brochure here: https://www.shark.aero/downloa... [shark.aero]
Range is 1470km / 910nm for cruise and 1660/1030 for "long range cruise" whatever that is, presumably with extra fuel? Anyway you'd want to leave a decent safetey margin but should be doable. Still, seems a bit sketchy with a single engine UL.
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She probably had the plane altered.
It has some 200kg extra weight left, wich can be used for fuel.
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Indeed, the back seat was removed and in its place an extra fuel tank was installed.
Re: That's quite grueling, actually (Score:2)
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There are plenty of scary parts (Score:3)
I think the scariest part for her would have been going to South Korea as a technical issue prevented her from communicating with air-traffic control while she was over the Sea of Japan. She did however get in contact with KL868 and the KLM pilot helped her relay messages and establish communication with Seoul.
Naturally this made the news in the Benelux region.
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Are you sure that's not just the news from 1983?
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If I would be her, an extra fuel tank in the place of the second passenger could just about double the range.
But even with standard full tank it has almost 7 hours at cruising speed. Quite a bit to stay tied in a seat already.
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The plane has an autopilot, so much of the flight could be zero effort. I expect it was hops of about 4-5 hours each.
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She did state that it was mostly 5 hours per day of flight. You *did* read the article, no?
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No I didn't, the article requires registration. But apparently my guess was correct, so darn helpful of you to let me know!
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If she flew at the lowest economy speed, 250km/hr with 100L fuel, wouldn't that give her roughly 1600km? That would be enough to fly from northern Scotland to Iceland — ~1300km — with fuel to spare.
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Welcome to Slashdot!
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I feel like it has a lot to do with the particular story, and a lot more to do with the title.
"Oh, look! A female did something!! And she did it BETTER than a MAN (in easier conditions), too!!!"
Why do nerds care about flying around the world, especially with many many many stops along the way? Why do nerds care about the gender of the person doing it? This whole story is flamebait.
* While British-Belgian teens are flying around the world, American teens are still trying to figure out what gender they are.
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I feel like it has a lot to do with the particular story, and a lot more to do with the title.
"Oh, look! A female did something!! And she did it BETTER than a MAN (in easier conditions), too!!!"
Actually, the male record* is held by an 18-year-old, so she didn't do it better regardless of conditions, just as a matter of fact.
*Or, you know, just "the record" for youngest solo flight. If a man had done this and set a male record older than a woman no one would be reporting it. Sexisim and racism are the norms nowadays.
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She has the record now for first person to go round the world in a microlight, of any age or gender. Ok, it's kind of less interesting than being the youngest female for the mass media, although the microlight part is more interesting technically I think.
At some point someone went around the world in some sort of aerial device. This was immediately followed by two reactions. First was "wow, let's see if someone else can do that!" Second was "oh well, I guess all the good records are already taken, guess
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Whoops, first solo round the wrold microlight by a woman I guess. Some of the media articles abbreviated this too much and I fell for it. But still, someone here will say it's no big deal women shouldn't try to break records.
Re:Triggered. (Score:4, Insightful)
Speaking of billionaires, odds are the parents of that young lady aren't exactly poor. Such records are more about how much money is thrown at you, so I don't think the first (guy) is especially more impressive.
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Those stickers on her plane are sponsors, too. So it's likely the family didn't foot the whole bill for the plane and preparation for the trip.
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It's funny how when it comes to university admissions the slight imbalance in favour of women is critically important, but when it's a women's world record it's suddenly an affront to your sensibilities.
As ever, the reaction proves the need for it.
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It's funny how when it comes to university admissions the slight imbalance in favour of women is critically important, but when it's a women's world record it's suddenly an affront to your sensibilities.
As ever, the reaction proves the need for it.
Um, what? Concern with women getting special privileges (their own flying records, preferential treatment in admissions) is ... inconsistent?
Anyway, I thought women as a distinct class didn't even exist anymore. If she "transitioned" next week to "being" a man, would she lose the record? Or could some dude in a dress have beat her to this record, had he done it last month?
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Concern with women getting special privileges (their own flying records
That's OK snowflake, we can make you your own records too.
How about: "The cascadingstylesheet slashdot award for whiny fuckwittery". First award goes to you!
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Concern with women getting special privileges (their own flying records, preferential treatment in admissions
That's OK snowflake, we can make you your own records too.
How about: "The cascadingstylesheet slashdot award for whiny fuckwittery". First award goes to you!
Congratulations sir! Your rapier-like wit has convinced me that over-represented people do need preferential treatment!
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Actually she made it about other people's genitals. Why do you feel so threatened by this?
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Especially 'youngest' where you're encouraging youth to do dangerous things for no other purpose than getting into a brewer's record book
In the 90's, a friend of mine became the Guinness Book of World Records holder for the youngest person to fly solo across the USA. A couple years later another kid tried to beat his record and crashed and died. Guinness Book eliminated the category afterwards.
Not so hard anymore? (Score:3)
Not supposed to celebrate this (Score:3)
Several years ago some pre-teen from California died while trying to set a "youngest flyer to do X" record. She was accompanied by an experienced flyer, yet something still happened, the plane crashed, and they died. National flying organizations announced that they would no longer celebrate or support or document records of the youngest flyer to do something in a flying machine.
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Google search: ... The three factors resulted in a stall and subsequent fatal crash in a residential neighborhood.
Jessica Whitney Dubroff (May 5, 1988 – April 11, 1996) was a seven-year-old American pilot trainee who died while attempting to become the youngest person to fly a light aircraft across the United States.
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CBS News 7/23/14:
INDIANAPOLIS -- A family spokeswoman says an Indiana teenager was killed when his plane crashed while trying to set a record for an around-the-world flight.
Annie Hayat said Wednesday that the plane flown by 17-year-old Haris Suleman went down shortly after leaving Pago Pago in American Samoa. Suleman and his father, Babar Suleman, were on board.
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National flying organizations announced that they would no longer celebrate or support or document records of the youngest flyer to do something in a flying machine.
She ALSO gets the record as the first person to circumnavigate the globe in a very small plane.
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National flying organizations announced that they would no longer celebrate or support or document records of the youngest flyer to do something in a flying machine.
Not sure why you need a national flying association to help you set a record or document one. It would be more of a concern if the Guinness Book said they would no longer support records which are dangerous, but then no record would ever be set again since nearly every record is a human feat that comes with significant risk.
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There many records Guinness have said they won't track any longer due to the risk involved in trying to beat them.
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But not this one which is the point isn't it.
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That's a reasonable thing for those groups to do, yet does not diminish nor affect this accomplishment in any way.
I for one am glad that some young people are risking their lives to do something great rather than just the boring everyday ways that young people risk their lives every day.
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That's a reasonable thing for those groups to do, yet does not diminish nor affect this accomplishment in any way.
I for one am glad that some young people are risking their lives to do something great rather than just the boring everyday ways that young people risk their lives every day.
"Great"?
"Difficult but pointless" is not "Great".
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"Difficult but pointless" is not "Great".
I would give you a nickel and tell you to buy a dictionary, but you don't even have to buy one, you can just look it up online if you don't want to be this ignorant.
Apparently that is not a priority
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What he's correctly pointing out, drunky, is that this accomplishment is "great" in the same sense that the Kardashians are "great". Completely meaningless, yet somehow celebrated by people who may drool a bit.
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What he's correctly pointing out, drunky, is that this accomplishment is "great" in the same sense that the Kardashians are "great". Completely meaningless, yet somehow celebrated by people who may drool a bit.
Tell me you're jealous of people who actually do shit beyond the 9-5 grind without telling me you're jealous of people who actually do shit beyond the 9-5 grind.
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But this article was not of great interest.
Don't be soo sexist (Score:1)
We like to use the word "person" around here!
What about that lass in the Sputnik? (Score:2)
Only 3 years, beat that!
What's left to do in this world? (Score:2)
Itâ(TM)s impolite to belittle someoneâ(TM)s accomplishment, or even a reason to celebrate. It comes off as either hubris or envy.
Itâ(TM)s also not her fault that she got media coverage.
But more power to her, maybe she does inspire someone, regardless of genital situation, to try and achieve something.
And sheâ(TM)s out doing something. Thatâ(TM)s far more than can be said of most people on Earth.
Yeah, she had the finances and resources to do this, but nothing ever would be done wit
Fantastic (Score:1)
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This is great! We need more teens to be this ambitious. Too many of them are sitting around playing videogames and scrolling instagram. "Teen" didn't even exist as a word until the 19th century. It's time we support and increase the expectations of our youth.
She's also the first Belgian to solo circumnavigate the globe.
That's an even bigger deal considering there are 3.8 billion women but only 12 million Belgians.
So what? (Score:2)
I heard that someone was the youngest person to fart 5000 times in a row. Please post that.
Awesome plane (Score:2)
I did some looking around at the Shark Aero, a very nice plane. Price starts at $150k, I want one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
so brave (Score:1)
Around, not round (Score:1)
the title should be "Teen Becomes Youngest Woman To Fly Solo Around the World", not "Round the World"
round is an adjective that describes the shape of a circle, not a path relative to an object.
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the title should be "Teen Becomes Youngest Woman To Fly Solo Around the World", not "Round the World"
round is an adjective that describes the shape of a circle, not a path relative to an object.
The Reuters editor is British. They don't know how to speak English over there.
Impressive (Score:2)
Rutherford was stuck for a month in Alaska because of weather and visa delays.
I'm as impressed by her ability to do a phenomenal amount of paperwork as I am by the flying itself. That was a helluva lot of visa applications to fill out. The experience will undoubtedly serve her well in her ambitions to be an astronaut, since essentially all of them are government employees.
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Otherwise it's pretty simple if you can keep landing and refueling.
Absolutely. She spent a month in Alaska on a visa problem. So no rush. Nothing of significance done. 155 day journey. So she averaged just 206 miles a day. LOL. A distance that my plane would cover in 1.2 hours. lol.. A container ship will do at least 30 kts a day, so around 1000 miles a day. We think it's great that she couldn't even keep up with a container ship? About 1/5 the speed of a container ship? Oh, it's because it's a woman.
Amelia Earhart she's not. No where near her.