Sittingbourne-based Eurobond Adhesives, Kent, is sponsoring 19-year-old Zara Rutherford in her attempt to become the youngest female pilot to fly solo around the world. Zara’s adventure will begin when she takes off from Kortrijk airfield, Belgium, in her two-seat Shark microlight aircraft at 10:30am on 18 August. She aims to inspire young people, in particular girls, to engage in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects at school, and to motivate them to enter into technical or design careers.
Zara has only held her private pilot’s licence for under two years, having qualified at the age of just 17. The aircraft selected to carry her safely around the globe is a Shark UL, one of the most modern, high-performance, two-seat tandem ultralight aircrafts. It features a retractable undercarriage and a smaller, high-efficiency wing design, together with a variable-pitch propeller. The aircraft is designed and constructed using advanced carbon fibre epoxy composite technology, and incorporates light-weighting design features such as the use of adhesive bonding to replace mechanical fixings. Read more about the aircraft online, at www.shark.aero.
Zara’s machine is powered by a ROTAX 912 ULS 100 hp engine delivering a cruising speed of 140 knots and a range of around 1,600 km. She aims to visit 52 countries, spanning five continents. The trip will take around three months to complete.
Simon Dearing, Eurobond Adhesives’ managing director, who describes himself a keen aviator, said: “Zara is a truly remarkable and courageous young woman, and is a great role model, especially so for other young women. Our business shares much in common with Zara: embracing cutting edge technology, pushing boundaries and challenging science – in our case to produce some of the best high-performance glass/metal bonding adhesives and supplying the most advanced Reinhardt-Technik meter/mixing dispensing equipment for structural and insulated glass unit manufacture. 70% of the Eurobond workforce is female and everyone here will be following her world record attempt with a keen eye. We wish her a safe and successful trip!”
Eurobond Adhesives has a history of supporting organisations that offer young people challenging and engaging activities that are designed to take them out of their comfort zone and help them engage in education. Zara’s progress can be followed by watching updates on the news pages of the Eurobond Adhesives website, www.eurobond-adhesives.co.uk/news, or at the Eurobond Facebook page, @eurobondadhesives.
