This 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=PLoruKoPAfK...
That 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!
Isn'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.
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.
Yeah 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.
Perhaps 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)
She'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/). 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."
You need some disposable income but don't necessarily need rich parents. A pilots license is doable with $5-10k depending on where you are in the country and whether you purchase time in blocks. Training in the bay area is ridiculously expensive because of fuel plus the sheer amount of time you spend waiting for other traffic.
Looks like she also has quite a few sponsors so perhaps she was able to fund the trip through those.
That is a very pessimistic way to view and discredit someone else's great achievement. I can definitely say that at least in Belgium, it is very possible to do this as a middle class family. Also to note that there are still sponsors who do help out as well.
Focusing on the important part again, hugely proud to see Belgium represented like this and to see the ambition of Zara.
I confess, I'm not sure what's terribly impressive about this either. Flight isn't exactly something new. Was there some kind of time limit or maximum number of stops?
Watch some videos of cross country flights in single engine planes (ultralights no less) on YouTube. There is a lot going on. Add to that the challenges of interacting with control towers literally all over the world, looking for traffic, managing weather, the endurance of being buffeted around in a tiny plane and the existential anxiety of placing your life in the proverbial hands of a rotax engine for months on end.
Did she cure cancer or save the whales or reverse global warming or whatever else might clear the bar for 'terribly impressive'? No. But it's still a pretty amazing accomplishment and regardless of what was placed in front of her she still had to do the time.
> I'm not sure what's terribly impressive about this either.
It is not easy to do this. Losing the engine at the wrong time or place would have meant near certain death especially in the winter regions. Very few people have done this, and none at her age/gender. It's a tremendous accomplishment even if you do not think so.
So what? Yes people are richer, more gifted, more athletic than others. Can't we celebrate an achievement because not everyone can do it? All Olympic athletes have exceptional genetics and most people simply can't stand a chance no matter what they do. And most of them are not poor either, does it undermine the achievement?
And it is not that much money. Clearly, it is not for the poor, but it is something achievable for the upper-middle class in North America or Europe, you don't need to be a billionaire for that, not even a millionaire. Yes, flight lessons are expensive, but we are talking ultralights here, not jets, a flight hour is less than $100.
As for the the "self-congratulatory copy", that actually makes the accomplishment even better. Really rich parents could have just bought a plane and hire a few guys to plan for everything, register the record, done, the "rich kid" would only do the flying. She actually had to look for sponsors, set up a shop, and actually build something to finance the trip, it may even become profitable. It is not just a trip, she is essentially building a company and a personal brand, and while Zara obviously gets a lot of help, she is still at the center. Very impressive for a 19 year old, even with "rich parents" helping her.
> So what? Yes people are richer, more gifted, more athletic than others. Can't we celebrate an achievement because not everyone can do it?
Because one of these is not like the others. You can play Soccer with four stones and a can. Consequently, legends have arisen from the working class, sometimes from abject poverty. We can say with certainty that there are not thousands upon thousands of people who could run circles around Cristiano Ronaldo. In a sport that excludes 99% of the world's population, we can only guess.
A flight hour at $100 means probably an expected $5,000 or more to get the license. Then add to that a $150,000 plane, which, even if you timeshare it with five others, bring the total up to $35,000. Add fuel, palm grease, plane maintenance and I wouldn't be surprised if you were approaching at minimum $50,000 which is much money.
Then consider you can't work at the same time. Even if you get good sponsorship, it's likely to cost someone with a UL license a few more thousand in lost income.
It's a lot of money.
This is different from genetics in that genetics is something we are stuck with as biological humans. Wealth differences is entirely a human-constructed social order.
$150k for an ultralight plane is the top end, new. The one Zara is using for her (sponsored) world tour is in that category, but you can get a perfectly good UL plane for a quarter of that price. Fuel is standard car unleaded gas at a rate of ~10L/h, and because UL planes are not certified, maintenance is way cheaper, less palm grease too. Other costs you didn't talk about include insurance, parking, and aerodrome fees, let's say ~$2000/year if you don't timeshare.
So, let's say ok for $50000, but that's not a minimum, that's the comfort zone. The main point of UL is to be affordable. I put it on the same level as driving a nice car, like a BMW or a Tesla. I don't live in the US, I don't know the ultralight regulations there, but I wouldn't be surprised if half of the population could afford flying, assuming they can keep a budget.
As for the lost income, you can fly on week-ends. Many middle-class people have hobbies that take them a significant amount of time, flying is one of them. Of course, just learning how to fly is not getting you a "youngest woman solo" world record, but that's not lost income. As I said, Zara is building something here, it is work, she may even make money, and if she doesn't, we can certainly consider it an investment for her future.
Now, about genetics, it is true that genetics is something intrinsic to all living things and wealth is a construct. But the general idea is that some people are more lucky than others, and we shouldn't dismiss people achievements because it involves some luck, it always does. We could have objections if it only involved luck (ex: winning the lottery), or if it is presented as not involving luck at all (ex: too many "success stories"). But what Zara is doing definitely requires her to do her part and she explicitly acknowledges her luck "I was born into a family of aviators and was lucky to have great role models in my parents and grandparents". So, all good.
What makes it less impressive is the barrier to entry. What's amazing about being the fastest runner in the world is that most anyone can try, so to be the single fastest runner is a feat no one else the world over can accomplish. Flying an airplane across the world, while cool, is something limited to only wealthier people. Maybe you'd be able to do it, but you just can't afford to try. Not saying there isn't anything to it, it's just that it's something that even trying for is limited to a privileged few. And not to be overly cynical-- but add in concerns about global warming and fuel waste, and well it just can feel like wealthy people entertaining themselves with wasteful activities limited to the wealthy
You don't need to be rich to make something like that.
Any middle class family in USA or Europe can do that, they just need to go for a smaller house, not a second house for vacations or not so expensive cars.
I have seen that, parents investing money on their children instead of on other things. It is their money they got working and they could do with it what they want.
You are just envious. Flying gets cheaper over time and in the future with electrification is going to become even cheaper.
... or maybe I'm living in a reality where the vast majority of people where I live are struggling with with rent and dreaming of home-ownership, or with their mortgage, and not buying second houses.
I'm not sure which reality you're living in, but it seems... disconnected.
FWIW, in addition to the other comments, I believe that it's the first time it's been done by a woman in a microlight. That may or may not change your mind, but it does require a significant amount of skill to pilot something like that for so long, handling so many different conditions.
11 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.
There'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].
Does 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?
It 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.
Indeed! 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.
52 comments
[ 1.6 ms ] story [ 119 ms ] threadIf 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=PLoruKoPAfK...
[1] https://www.thewiaaproject.com/stories/little-giants-who-con...
[2] https://theweexpedition.wordpress.com/author/theweexpedition...
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aarohi_Pandit
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.
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
(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)
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."
Of course you have to have money to begin with to train to be a pilot.
Looks like she also has quite a few sponsors so perhaps she was able to fund the trip through those.
I'd take this over a young socialite with a functional drug issue any day of the week.
If you're rich and you make the most of it, then cheers to you.
Hope she reaches her dreams of becoming an astronaut.
Focusing on the important part again, hugely proud to see Belgium represented like this and to see the ambition of Zara.
It's fucking damn impressive.
Did she cure cancer or save the whales or reverse global warming or whatever else might clear the bar for 'terribly impressive'? No. But it's still a pretty amazing accomplishment and regardless of what was placed in front of her she still had to do the time.
It is not easy to do this. Losing the engine at the wrong time or place would have meant near certain death especially in the winter regions. Very few people have done this, and none at her age/gender. It's a tremendous accomplishment even if you do not think so.
And it is not that much money. Clearly, it is not for the poor, but it is something achievable for the upper-middle class in North America or Europe, you don't need to be a billionaire for that, not even a millionaire. Yes, flight lessons are expensive, but we are talking ultralights here, not jets, a flight hour is less than $100.
As for the the "self-congratulatory copy", that actually makes the accomplishment even better. Really rich parents could have just bought a plane and hire a few guys to plan for everything, register the record, done, the "rich kid" would only do the flying. She actually had to look for sponsors, set up a shop, and actually build something to finance the trip, it may even become profitable. It is not just a trip, she is essentially building a company and a personal brand, and while Zara obviously gets a lot of help, she is still at the center. Very impressive for a 19 year old, even with "rich parents" helping her.
Because one of these is not like the others. You can play Soccer with four stones and a can. Consequently, legends have arisen from the working class, sometimes from abject poverty. We can say with certainty that there are not thousands upon thousands of people who could run circles around Cristiano Ronaldo. In a sport that excludes 99% of the world's population, we can only guess.
Then consider you can't work at the same time. Even if you get good sponsorship, it's likely to cost someone with a UL license a few more thousand in lost income.
It's a lot of money.
This is different from genetics in that genetics is something we are stuck with as biological humans. Wealth differences is entirely a human-constructed social order.
$150k for an ultralight plane is the top end, new. The one Zara is using for her (sponsored) world tour is in that category, but you can get a perfectly good UL plane for a quarter of that price. Fuel is standard car unleaded gas at a rate of ~10L/h, and because UL planes are not certified, maintenance is way cheaper, less palm grease too. Other costs you didn't talk about include insurance, parking, and aerodrome fees, let's say ~$2000/year if you don't timeshare.
So, let's say ok for $50000, but that's not a minimum, that's the comfort zone. The main point of UL is to be affordable. I put it on the same level as driving a nice car, like a BMW or a Tesla. I don't live in the US, I don't know the ultralight regulations there, but I wouldn't be surprised if half of the population could afford flying, assuming they can keep a budget.
As for the lost income, you can fly on week-ends. Many middle-class people have hobbies that take them a significant amount of time, flying is one of them. Of course, just learning how to fly is not getting you a "youngest woman solo" world record, but that's not lost income. As I said, Zara is building something here, it is work, she may even make money, and if she doesn't, we can certainly consider it an investment for her future.
Now, about genetics, it is true that genetics is something intrinsic to all living things and wealth is a construct. But the general idea is that some people are more lucky than others, and we shouldn't dismiss people achievements because it involves some luck, it always does. We could have objections if it only involved luck (ex: winning the lottery), or if it is presented as not involving luck at all (ex: too many "success stories"). But what Zara is doing definitely requires her to do her part and she explicitly acknowledges her luck "I was born into a family of aviators and was lucky to have great role models in my parents and grandparents". So, all good.
Any middle class family in USA or Europe can do that, they just need to go for a smaller house, not a second house for vacations or not so expensive cars.
I have seen that, parents investing money on their children instead of on other things. It is their money they got working and they could do with it what they want.
You are just envious. Flying gets cheaper over time and in the future with electrification is going to become even cheaper.
I'm not sure which reality you're living in, but it seems... disconnected.
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.
It would be instructive to understand what happened that would warrant that use of language.
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.
[1] https://www.thewiaaproject.com/stories/little-giants-who-con...
[2] https://theweexpedition.wordpress.com/author/theweexpedition...
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aarohi_Pandit
[4] https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkHsqIdt3tLrYlfEe7OOG...
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?
Ofc the problem is also the knock-on effect it has on the rest of the arrangements.