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FlyZolo – Youngest Woman Solo
- yosito 5y agoThis headline should mention that she was a 19 year old who just set a world record of being the youngest woman to fly solo around the globe.
- dang 5y agoWe've changed to the HTML doc title above. Submitted title was "Teen fly solo around globe".
- azalemeth 5y agoThis is pretty amazing. I'm exhausted after flying for an hour, let alone weeks. Really, really hats off to her. If you've got a bit of spare time, you might like this video series, which features a bunch of young US male pilots flying across the Atlantic in a small GA plane. It is quite an interesting journey. And no, there isn't a toilet! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9Uf-ynoDUE&list=PLoruKoPAfKKiKWuupTLUWY9225AvlVz8t&index=1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9Uf-ynoDUE&list=PLoruKoPAfK...
- phlipski 5y agoThat video w/ Guthmiller in a Cessna 210 was great. That plane seats 6 on paper but the back seat was filled by an auxilliary gas tank. The cabin width is narrower than my old 1997 VW Jetta!! It's like crossing the northern Atlantic in an original VW Beetle!
- throwawayair557 5y agoIsn't a Pipistrel Sinus 912 smaller than Cessna 210? Two young Indian women crossed the Atlantic and Pacific on it 3 yrs ago. Aarohi Pandit and Keithair Misquitta. I think plans changed and Aarohi completed most of the journey solo. I checked for long video of their flight but couldn't find any, if anyone has it please link. [1] https://www.thewiaaproject.com/stories/little-giants-who-conquered-continents-capt-aarohi-capt-keithair/ https://www.thewiaaproject.com/stories/little-giants-who-con... [2] https://theweexpedition.wordpress.com/author/theweexpedition/ https://theweexpedition.wordpress.com/author/theweexpedition... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aarohi_Pandit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aarohi_Pandit
- phlipski 5y agoYes! A Sinus is TINY. Cockpit like a Miata.
- PragmaticPulp 5y agoThe route is interesting: https://flyzolo.com/route/ https://flyzolo.com/route/ I can understand some of the latitude changes to reach shorter ocean crossings, but it looks like the route was stretched in various places to touch more countries. Very cool journey.
- parsimo2010 5y agoYeah she obviously did not need to visit South America and could have cut across Canada. But hey, if you're on a trip around the world you might as well see more of it.
- kawera 5y agoCrossing the Equator twice was a requirement to get the Guinness World Record.
- PragmaticPulp 5y agoThat explains it. Thank you
- Stevvo 5y ago
- imwillofficial 5y ago
- dang 5y ago"Eschew flamebait. Avoid unrelated controversies and generic tangents." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- kurthr 5y agoNotably, did not land in China... unless you count Taipei ROC.
- blip54321 5y agoPerhaps I'm not as rich as everyone else on HN, but I feel like this is a frivolous game for rich kids. The entry bar here is being able to afford planes, flight lessons, airport fees, fuel, hotels, etc. more so than anything else. At 19, that means rich parents. I came out distinctly underwhelmed with the accomplishment, and overwhelmed by the self-congratulatory copy. (Yes: I do know the amount of time and effort required; I really hoped to learn to fly and did deep dives, but wasn't rich enough at the time)
- parsimo2010 5y agoShe's most likely upper-middle class and definitely spent several thousand euros of her (family's) money. But I think you might be overestimating how much she personally spent. Look at all her sponsors (https://flyzolo.com/partners/ https://flyzolo.com/partners/). She didn't go out and buy a Shark at full price of 127k, it was either lent to her by Shark or she got a good discount. All her other sponsors helped out with money or products in exchange for being part of a record setting flight. Some of the copy might sound over the top, but it's way easier to attract help when you're postured as "a young woman with an entrepreneurial spirit on a mission to break down gender barriers, set records, and inspire other young women" instead of "please give me money, I want to go fly."
- DarylZero 5y agoThose sponsors aren't sponsoring many people. Even if her parents didn't pay for it, the barriers being mostly cost mean it's not competitive.
- gender_gap 5y ago
- imwillofficial 5y ago
- imoverclocked 5y ago11 years is a pretty significant jump. More than that, it's bringing it from 30 to 19. Having an international pilot rating takes some time and effort; Being able to do this at 19 is pretty impressive in its own right. In terms of being a role-model for other women, showing that this can be done at 19 might be perpetually inspiring to the younger generation that otherwise sees 30 as pretty far away.
- robertlagrant 5y agoI think the question might more be the potential mischaracterisation of the world record being 18 and the female record being 19 as a "gender gap". It would be instructive to understand what happened that would warrant that use of language.
- solididiot 5y agoIt's fascinating how much the ageing West is fascinated by feats accomplished by as young as possible people.
- imwillofficial 5y agoThis is not a western exclusive. See Russia’s strongest little boy for an example.
- Minor49er 5y ago
- DoreenMichele 5y agoGood for her. I read a bio of Amelia Earhart when I was eleven. It made a huge impression on me. I hope Zara inspires many future generations.
- throwawayair557 5y agoThere's also two early-twenties women who flew Atlantic and Pacific 3 yrs ago - Aarohi Pandit and Keithair Misquitta. I think plans changed and Aarohi completed most of the journey solo [1][2][3]. There are also cockpit videos of women pilots from across the globe on YouTube [4]. [1] https://www.thewiaaproject.com/stories/little-giants-who-conquered-continents-capt-aarohi-capt-keithair/ https://www.thewiaaproject.com/stories/little-giants-who-con... [2] https://theweexpedition.wordpress.com/author/theweexpedition/ https://theweexpedition.wordpress.com/author/theweexpedition... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aarohi_Pandit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aarohi_Pandit [4] https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkHsqIdt3tLrYlfEe7OOGjEkwL2Xwu7PY https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkHsqIdt3tLrYlfEe7OOG...
- Cyberdog 5y agoDoes anyone know how this worked with regards to visas? I know some countries are visa-free to EU residents for shorter stays; did she just stick to those, or did she have to get visas for some of them? Also, are you able to just fly a small plane to an overseas airport and request landing, or do you have to make arrangements ahead of time for that as well?
- gkanai 5y agoIt depends on the jurisdiction but in general you have to file flight plans far in advance and request visas alongside that flight plan I believe. It's a lot of paperwork and fees.
- danielbarla 5y agoIndeed! And I wonder what happens if there's a delay (weather, repairs, etc) or change of plans, some countries are fairly strict about entry dates and that type of thing.
- kitd 5y agoI believe weather forced her into an unscheduled stop in Indonesia, and she was delayed by quite a few days as a result while paperwork was sorted. Ofc the problem is also the knock-on effect it has on the rest of the arrangements.
- kawera 5y agoWeather also forced her to stay longer than expected in Alaska, causing her russian visa to expire - 26 days in total.