ELGi sponsors teen pilot Zara Rutherford's bid to circle the globe

Hyderabad Elgi Equipments, an air compressor manufacturing company, is sponsoring 19-year-old Zara Rutherford's record-breaking attempt to circle the globe. Following Guinness World record requirements, Zara, who left Belgium on August 18, plans to complete her journey across 52 countries and five continents by the middle of January, 2022, making her the youngest person to fly, solo, a microlight around the world and the youngest woman to fly solo around the globe.

Zara Rutherford hopes her journey will help highlight the gender gap in aviation and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics-related careers.

The Belgian-British teenager will clock 51,000 KM in the world's fastest, Shark ultra-light plane, hoping to pave the way for girls and women to follow their dreams in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).

During the travel she will cross the equator twice, at Jakarta (Indonesia), Zara has been meeting with local youth to bring more visibility to aviation and STEM, specifically for young girls. While the estimated total fuel for her trip is equivalent to the amount used by a Boeing in about 10 minutes of runway taxiing, Zara is investing her own funds on tree-planting projects to offset her carbon footprint.

Dr Jairam Varadaraj, Managing Director, Elgi Equipments Limited, said: "We are excited to be a part of her journey. Women are largely underrepresented in the manufacturing industry. We firmly believe that diversity adds new perspectives, stimulates innovation, raises overall standards of work and improves results."