McRutherford has flown to 52 countries on five continents, crossing the equator twice since taking off from Bulgaria on March 23 this year. He also broke a record held by his sister, Zara, who became the youngest person and the youngest woman ever to fly around the world in an ultralight plane, aged 19, in January this year. On Wednesday, he landed as planned at an airstrip west of the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, where he had started his journey and where his main sponsor is based. He has broken the Guinness World Record for the youngest person to fly solo around the world, previously held by Briton Travis Ludlow, who completed the feat at the age of 18 years and 150 days. Rutherford turned 17 during the trip. He revealed that the challenges he had faced included sandstorms in Sudan, extreme heat in Dubai, airport closures in India, monsoon rains and many technical issues. Most of the delays were due to delays in obtaining permits and other documents or having to change scheduled routes in case of rejection. However, he said the “hairiest moment” was sleeping in a hangar on a deserted Pacific island while flying 11 hours across the Bering Sea in the North Pacific from Japan to Alaska. “After 10 hours, I got to this little island, it was getting dark, so I landed and it was pretty low clouds, it was raining, it was getting dark, no lights on the runway,” he said. “It’s actually an uninhabited island, so if something had gone wrong I would have been alone, on this island, so very important that nothing went wrong. I landed there and had to sleep in a little hangar on the side of the runway because it had been completely abandoned for over 10 years.” The flight took him through the African continent and the Gulf region to India, China, South Korea and Japan. It crossed the North Pacific to Alaska and headed up the US west coast to Mexico, then headed north again along the US east coast to Canada and across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe. On Wednesday, a huge crowd arrived at the airport to welcome Rutherford. Among them were his three immediate family members: his parents, who are both pilots, and his sister Zara. His father, Sam Rutherford, said he was extremely proud of his children’s achievements. He told reporters that such an event was highly encouraging for children to follow their dreams and their parents to support them. His sister Zara said she kept in close contact with her younger brother during his journey. “While he was flying, I was constantly trying to keep in touch and help him. Our parents called him every day and I participated in these conversations. I gave him advice about the route, the flight, so I could be of use to him,” he said. Mack is said to have dreamed of becoming a pilot since the age of three, and became the world’s youngest licensed pilot in September 2020 when he was 15 years old. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Just like Zara, Mack flew a Shark, one of the fastest ultralight aircraft in the world with a cruising speed of up to 300 km/h (186 mph). The aircraft was converted from a two-seater to a single-seater with an additional fuel tank to enable it to make such a long journey and was on loan to Rutherford from its main sponsor, ICDSoft. Rutherford said that although long, his journey was “absolutely amazing”. “With this trip I’m also trying to show that young people can make a difference, you don’t have to be 18 to do something special – just follow your dreams and eventually they will come true.”
