SHARK.AERO was a proud partner of Mack’s sister Zara Rutherford in her attempt to become the youngest woman to fly around the world solo, provided Zara with a Shark airplane and a 24/7 technical support. Despite Mack choosing Shark aircraft and buying himself a second hand one, we as a company decided not to become partners of the MackSolo project for the following reasons.

1. After the start of the war in Ukraine, as a matter of principle we refuse to be part of any project which involves Russia or entry into Russian airspace. Avoiding Russia would mean long legs over the sea. Mack’s Shark has only 100l integrated fuel tanks and even with an additional fuel bag in the back seat we see the journey with Mack’s Shark configuration as an unnecessary risk.
2. Mack is no doubt a skilled pilot. However, we do not feel comfortable pushing the age limit to the lowest possible point for journeys where a certain level of risk cannot be avoided. As a company we therefore adopted a policy to support such ambitious endeavours only by adult pilots older than 18 years.

Naturally, SHARK.AERO wishes Mack Rutherford a safe journey and a success in his attempt to become the youngest pilot in history to solo circumnavigate the globe.