Zara Rutherford is a great example that in aviation dreams do come true. Although a seemingly unaffordable hobby or profession, if you put enough effort and dedication into it, anything is possible. In just a few days, a very young girl will set a world record and prove it to us. I sincerely hope that Zara will inspire many Bulgarian teenagers to take up flying and later become valuable employees in the airline industry. . Това заяви Тодор Иванджиков – председател на Асоциацията на българската авиационната индустрия, който беше един от посрещачите на Зара Ръдърфорд на летище София. 19-годишната авантюристка кацна на столичния аеропорт със своя ултралек самолет. Припомняме, че момичето прави опит да подобри световния рекорд за най-млада жена, която е обиколила света, летейки съвсем сама.
The young aviator started its journey on August 18 last year with its ultralight aircraft “Shark” with a maximum take-off mass of only 600 kg. Another important feature of this flight is that the main sponsor, along with companies such as Virgin, is the Bulgarian IT company ICDSoft, and the Bulgarian flag, at least at first glance, is the only national flag depicted on the fuselage.
Entering the Bulgarian airspace, Zara was welcomed in the air and accompanied by Captain Nikolay Kalaydzhiev – pilot of the 16th Air Base – Vrazhdebna of the Bulgarian Air Force. He was with his light aircraft with which last year he set a world record. After landing at the capital’s airport Captain Kalaydzhiev said:
“The story around the organization and the meeting we did on the air was the result of quite a bit of coordination with her. Regardless of the weather conditions at our meeting location, we executed everything by changing the plan a bit in the air. I escorted her to Sofia and we took pictures from the plane. At the rendezvous point I was supposed to be at 6000 ft she was at 5000 ft. but there was a cloud veil at 4800 ft and so we changed the plan while waiting for her at the point. When she was at the point I took off and we continued to the next point to Sofia. The team with which we did this fact consisted of the following members: photographer photos air-to-air: Svilen Hristov, chief organizer Momchil Riladzhiev, photographer photos ground-to-air Vlado Kasabov .”
Zara Rutherford said:
“Sofia Airport is one of the most welcoming airports I have landed at. Here I received one of the warmest welcomes during my entire trip .”
Among the hosts was Christian Stoschek, Chief Transformation Officer and Managing Director Ground Handling of SOF Connect, representing Munich Airport, who commented:
“I would like to congratulate Zara, who is so brave and adventurous, and wish her well in her pursuit of a record. We are delighted that she has chosen Sofia Airport as a stop on her journey. As you can see, the capital’s airport is a place where people follow their dreams, celebrate and big things happen. We welcome anyone who wants to visit unknown places, which is possible through our wide range of destinations.”
Zara was welcomed at Sofia airport by some very special ladies – the first female pilot in the civil aviation of Afghanistan – Mohades Mirzai, who escaped from the Taliban and recently received residency status in Bulgaria. The third lady in the photo is also a pilot from Afghanistan – Clarice Ann Sally.
So far, the young girl has passed through more than 50 airports around the world, with a few more stops to go before she “closes” her round-the-world tour in Belgium in a few days. After today’s stopover in Sofia, Zara will fly and land in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Germany before reaching her final destination – the small Belgian airport of Kortrijk, where she took off from last year. Thus Zara will “close” her round-the-world tour, with this final, tour-ending flight tentatively scheduled for January 17.