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Youngest woman around the world (Zara Rutherford)

Wishful thinking is great, but that won’t save you in a real situation. Of course with no clouds, and/or with the possibility of flying through them when assessing/descending, it’s “better” to fly high. But in terms of cold, hard survivability, flying high is not what makes the difference.

The North Atlantic is literally endless compared with any alt you can fly in with a SEP.

The elephant is the circulation
ENVA ENOP ENMO, Norway

LeSving wrote:

Wishful thinking is great, but that won’t save you in a real situation.

In what sense is it wishful thinking that the engine has a good chance of firing up again after you’ve done the emergency checklist? Malibuflyer is completely correct when he writes that the most likely reason by far for engine failures is fuel starvation. But maybe you will never make any mistakes in fuel planning or management. Good for you.

ESKC (Uppsala/Sundbro), Sweden

LeSving wrote:

North Sea helicopter flying is of course well regulated and professional and with surveillance and so on, so it is not a good example in that respect. However, the the basic principles for safety (in terms of ditching) are:

Survival suits
Training with suits (helicopter upside down thing)
Training with suits in North Sea conditions (floating around basically, getting onto rafts and so on)

you forgot to mention – two turbine engines to reduce the likelihood of ditching in the first place. Not quite the same game as SEP.

Last Edited by Cobalt at 20 Aug 13:11
Biggin Hill

Malibuflyer wrote:

call it a miracle, though, if the engine would start again after I switched to the right tank.

And this is where altitude comes in to play: The whole point about flying high above water is that your 1.) and 2.) are not an either or but a first 1 then 2!
This does make much of a difference!

As you may remember from my crossing, these engines never quit ;-). Depending on where they quit you may get a chance to survive, if not – Gute Reise Babylon… If our engine would have quit in the midst of the Atlantic instead of on descent into St Johns, I wouldn’t be writing this, survival suit, raft, ELT all of these other tools to make us feel good about our preparation don’t proportionally increase your chances of survival. You’re too far away for a Heli to pick you up, you’re off radar (despite the ADL tracking) and there are no oil rigs, boats, or whatever to glide to. The reason I would see to fly higher is fuel economy, and that needs to be taken into account on any serious Atlantic crossing. Wick Rejkjavik is a couple of hours, and is fine, as is Rejkjavik-Greenland, but that one is more critical as weather deteriorates quickly and your only option could be a return to Rejkjavik. (Or if you have the balls go direct Goose Bay or St johns)

LFHN - Bellegarde - Vouvray France

LFHNflightstudent wrote:

If our engine would have quit in the midst of the Atlantic instead of on descent into St Johns, I wouldn’t be writing this, survival suit, raft, ELT all of these other tools to make us feel good about our preparation don’t proportionally increase your chances of survival.

The suits we used in the North Sea would keep you alive literally forever in the open sea mid winter in the worst conditions, as long as you got some water and food A raft will make the stay much more comfortable though Even a PLB will pinpoint your position. A boat is never longer than a day or two from any position.

The elephant is the circulation
ENVA ENOP ENMO, Norway

Back to the subject. It looks like she knows what she is doing (has a professional organisation in her back is probably a more correct). Nevertheless she is a tough girl flying alone all that way. A couple of years ago there was a show in TV about young girls doing stunts like this alone. 16 year olds walking through the wilderness of Alaska, or Svalbard and so on, alone only with one or two dogs, for several months. This is similar, but there is no way to do this by an inexperienced individual without heavy organisation by experienced people, not just up front, but along every single bit of the trip also. It’s cool nonetheless, even though the word alone, is way over stretched.

The elephant is the circulation
ENVA ENOP ENMO, Norway

At JFK !



Last Edited by Ibra at 27 Aug 22:29
Paris/Essex, France/UK, United Kingdom

That is so cool. I wish her success. Flying west is a great idea, as she’ll be able to sleep in.

Wonder if she’ll break the world record in PCR tests taken or be treated as pro crew, who are normally exempt.

Last Edited by loco at 28 Aug 06:04
LPFR, Poland

I am Zara. I am 19 years old. On 18th of August I launched on a journey around the world. I will be flying solo in a small airplane. If I succeed, I will be the youngest woman in the world who has accomplished it. With this flight I want to encourage girls and young women to pursue their dreams. I want to reduce the gender gap in aviation as well as in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

I wish her success and hope many new female pilots will strengthen GA in the future.

But „Breaking News“, lol.
USA news channels should really be renamed „Mass Population Brain Degeneration System“.

always learning
LO__, Austria

Must’ve been a slow local news day. The funniest thing is that the internet allows stations nominally serving only locals to reach a worldwide audience.

I wonder why on earth Kennedy was chosen as a stop? I’d want to be landing at the most hassle free places.

Last Edited by Silvaire at 28 Aug 14:33
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