Zara Rutherford, a 19-year-old girl who flies alone around the world in an ultralight plane called Shark, arrived in Costa Rica this past Tuesday. This young woman of Belgian origin arrived at 8:57 a.m. to the Tobías Bolaños International Airport, in Pavas, where she was received by a water arch from the Fire Department units, as well as the station personnel and representatives of other institutions. She arrived from Panama.
Since last August 18th, she took off in her plane alone, without any companion, to complete the first stage of her trip around the world, in which she hopes to visit at least 52 countries and five continents. Zara’s goal is to break the record held by Afghan-American Shaesta Waiz, who circumnavigated the globe alone in 2017 in her 30s.
Route
Costa Rica is the 12th country Rutherford visited and is now flying to Mexico. “It is an achievement that Zara has come to Costa Rica, since we have many reasons to celebrate almost 200 years of independence and this is also a great motivation and example for all the young women who want to undertake aviation or engineering careers” , expressed Carlos Vargas, president of Aerodiva. During her time in Costa Rica, Zara held a brief meeting with women who study or practice professions in aviation fields
The plane
Shark Aero, the aircraft she uses, is a high-performance two-seat tandem ultralight aircraft with retractable gear, smaller wing, variable pitch propeller and a comfortable first-class cabin interior, according to Rutherford’s official website. The ultralight aircraft was designed and built as a fast cross-country aircraft, based on innovative design and new technologies.
