Mack Rutherford has a simple goal in mind—to be the youngest flyer ever to circumnavigate the world. Of course, simple isn’t always easy, but so far he seems to be doing pretty well.
He landed at First Flight Field this afternoon, coming in for a perfect landing after flying some 360 miles from Spartanburg, SC.
Last year his sister, Zara, accomplished the feat, becoming at 19 the youngest woman to fly around the world. Now it looks as though her younger brother is going to accomplish the same goal, only he’ll be two years younger.
Setting off from Sofia, Bulgaria on March 23 of this year, he’s flying mostly east to west. Mostly because there’s quite a bit of north to south and south to north involved in his route.
When he popped out of his aircraft at 5:45 this afternoon, he seemed well-rested and alert, but right now he’s probably in a series of legs that is some of the easiest flying he’s done.
His sister, who flew from west to east was able to fly from Alaska to Russia. With Russian airspace closed to him, Mack had to make the long flight from Japan to Alaska. He left Kushiro, Japan on July 29, stopping 1500 miles later on the deserted island of Attu, the westernmost point the United States. His only comment about flying over that much open water is that it was more important than ever to check everything on the airplane.
He’ll be flying out tomorrow, bound for JFK on Long Island. Then it’s off to Canada, Greenland, Iceland, England and finally home. If all goes as planned, he should be back in Sofia by the 24th of this month.
Mack and his sister are dual British/Belgium citizens although they have spent most of their lives in Belgium.
So many unexpected things happening on the Outer Banks. Be sure to stay a while in a Brindley Beach Vacations home and see what other surprises are in store.