Nineteen-year-old pilot Zara Rutherford will stop in Taiwan on Tuesday, on her historic solo flight across five continents and 52 countries, her agent said Monday.
The British-Belgian teenager will depart Tuesday morning from Seoul on her custom-made Shark ultralight plane and is scheduled to arrive at Taipei Songshan Airport sometime around noon, according to her Taiwan agent, Executive Aviation.
On arrival in Taipei, Rutherford will be taken directly to a quarantine hotel, where she will stay until her departure for the Philippines on Wednesday, in keeping with Taiwan’s COVID-19 prevention protocols for foreign flight crews, the agent said.
According to Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), Rutherford will be required to record the details of her trip and register her whereabouts with authorities such as the Civil Aeronautics Administration, in line with the current regulations for foreign flight crews, but will not be subject to most other CECC protocols for regular travelers.
Rutherford, the daughter of two pilots, embarked Aug. 18 on a 51,000-kilometer solo trip around the world, departing from Belgium. Since then, the aspiring astronaut, who plans to start university next year, has dubbed her adventure “Flying Zolo,” which is a play on her name.
“My aim is to encourage girls and young women to pursue their dreams and promote aviation and STEM-related careers (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) for them,” Rutherford says on her webpage.
On completion of her journey, she will become the youngest woman to circumnavigate the world alone and the youngest person to accomplish such a feat in a microlight aircraft.
Initially scheduled to be completed before Christmas, the adventure has suffered some delays due to COVID-19 restrictions in the various countries along the route.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel
