17-Year-Old Pilot Sets Record for Solo Flight Around World

17-Year-Old Pilot Sets Record for Solo Flight Around World
Seventeen year old Anglo-Belgian pilot Mack Rutherford (R) poses with his sister Zara Rutherford after landing at the Buzet airfield in Pont-A-Celles, Belgium, on Aug. 23, 2022. Virginia Mayo/AP Photo
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SOFIA, Bulgaria—A 17-year-old pilot became the youngest person to fly solo around the world in a small aircraft after he landed on Wednesday in Bulgaria, where his journey kicked off five months ago.

Mack Rutherford, a Belgian-British dual national, landed on an airstrip west of Bulgaria’s capital, Sofia, to complete his task and to claim two Guinness World Records. Along with becoming the youngest person to fly around the world by himself, Rutherford is the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe in a microlight plane.