https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/zara-rutherford-youngest-woman-to-fly-world-solo/index.html

Noel

I cannot even begin to imagine her joy and pride of accomplishment. Good for her!

Well done Zara.

" The two-seat ultralight aircraft she completed the journey in was provided by Shark Aero, one of the sponsors for the trip, with customizations such as a second radio, and an additional fuel tank in the place where the second passenger seat would typically sit.

The plane has an optimum cruising speed of 140 knots  "

The title of that second video could be called, 'The Joy of Flying."  She loves it.  You can see that on her face.

One disappointment.  No map of her route.

Noel

1 hour ago, birdguy said:

No map of her route.

https://flyzolo.com/route/

Thanks Ed.

It looks like she from east to west against the prevailing winds.  And she did a bit of sightseeing.  That was a long over the water flight from northern Scotland to Iceland.

Noel

A great feat and she deserves all the praise she will get.  This achievement should help her for the rest of her life which I hope will be rich and varied.  This may be just the first of her achievements.  Well done.

Edited January 21, 20224 yr by harrry

WHY?

I don't mean that in terms of "it was a waste of time" or "there was no point to it" but in terms of why human beings are motivated to do such a thing when it actually achieves very little in practical terms, except perhaps giving her more flight time.

Why this flight? Why conquer the harshest mountain where you might die? 

Well said Martin.

1 hour ago, W2DR said:

Well said Martin.

 

As I mentioned, I'm not saying its a waste of time or doesn't have merit, or that there isn't a reason for this human inclination. Rather, I'm looking for opinions as to why human beings are motivated to do this.

My hypothesis is that there's some kind of evolutionary advantage, all be it a counter intuitive one. 

Clearly this is a risky (on a personal level) urge that evolution hasn't filtered out. For that reason it must offer an advantage to our species as a whole.

Edited January 21, 20224 yr by martin-w

2 hours ago, martin-w said:

WHY?

I don't mean that in terms of "it was a waste of time" or "there was no point to it" but in terms of why human beings are motivated to do such a thing when it actually achieves very little in practical terms, except perhaps giving her more flight time.

Why this flight? Why conquer the harshest mountain where you might die? 

Because it is a challenge and the bold accept challenges.  Now hold my beer and watch this. 😁

3 hours ago, martin-w said:

Why this flight? Why conquer the harshest mountain where you might die? 

Why not?  Why not climb the highest mountain?  Why not race motorcycles and cars?  Why not even learn to fly?  Why not swim the English Channel? Do you just wrap yourself in your cocoon of safety and never take a chance or try to accomplish something that might be dangerous?

It's human nature to conquer your fears.  That's the ultimate sense of accomplishment.  There's a great amount of satisfaction in accomplishing some dangerous activity.

When I was a young Marine stationed at Twentynine Palms in the desert we used to go out some Sunday afternoons and get an empty box and catch sidewinders...rattlesnakes.  We would see how many we could catch and then let them loose.  To put them in the box you had to handle them.  Not many of us were willing to do that but when you learned how and when you actually picked a venomous snake that might bite you it was a thrill.

Noel

 

 

I'm not sure I would want to even do a simulated flight on the same route, in real time...  

I say Bravo to this young woman!

2 hours ago, stans said:

Because it is a challenge and the bold accept challenges.

 

Even if its likely that death might ensue? 

I think there's more to it than that. Most people don't risk their lives climbing Everest where hypoxia can kill you and you can lose limbs because of frostbite, because its not logical. A small percentage do. I hypothesise that its that small percentage of risk takers, that behave in what might be deemed a reckless way, that look over the next hill, sail to the next island, traverse terrain to get to the other side. And it's those that push the limits at their own risk that find new lands for us to inhabit and thus enable our species to multiply and thrive. 

In short, evolution allows the risk taking gene to stay in the gene pool, not because its am advantage to the individual but because there's an advantage to the entire species when a small number of risk talkers are in the population.