Capt Dorai Raja
On behalf of Layang Layng Group Managing Director, Tuan Hajii Johan Poong Abdullah, I would like to congratulate Zara on achieving her double Guinness Book of Recork and Layang Layang Aerospace is proud to sponsor the ground handling for her microlight aircraft, the Shark UL, CIQ clearance and be part of Zara’s journey during he stopover in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia between December 16-19, 2021. Zara is a brave, remarkable and resilient young pilot who weathered the challenges during the entire flight around the world. We wish her all the best in her future endeavours as Zara shared with us her aspiration to become a fighter pilot with the airforce
WOW, after a three-day (December 16-19, 2021) stopover in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, 19-year-old aviator Zara Rutterford struck home two Guinness World Record title for being the youngest woman to fly around the world solo, when when she finally touched down in Belgium last Thursday (January 22, 2022) after a marathon 155-day stint!
She received a rapturous welcome home, after first leaving it on August 18, 2021
MIXING among pilots, I found they hold the weather in utter awe.
Said Philip Tze, Deputy President of Sabah Flying Club: “If you fly headlong into a storm, the violent updrafts and downdrafts can break even a big plane into pieces, so what about Zara Rutterford’s tiny ultralight Shark which she uses to fly solo around the world?”
So far, Zara has let the weather decide each flight every time, not her plan.
For example, her original dream was to return home by early December 2021 after taking off form Belgium on 18 August but it’s early January 2022 now and she is still in Egypt – 20 days from home!
What happened? Bad weather!
In Columbia, worsening weather on flight forced her to land in rain-soaked Quidbo where she could not move out for days
FLYING 50,000km solo around the world in a single engine micro plane is a high-risk undertaking, even veteran pilots admit and respect her courage.
But 19-year old British-Belgian Zara Rutterford who is out to set a world record as the youngest woman to do that, says ‘doing something a bit crazy’ like this is part of her ultimate dream. “I think it is one of those ultimate things one can dream of!”
The day she decided to make Kota Kinabalu as a stopover for this epic marathon aviation journey, it was precisely this somewhat ‘crazy big stuff that fired up the imagination of both layman and pilots