Mack Rutherford, a 17-year-old British-Belgian pilot, became the youngest person to fly solo around the world earlier this month. Euronews caught up with him.
ADVERTISEMENTBelgian-British teen Mack Rutherford is still trying to find the words after becoming the youngest person to fly solo around the world.
"It was an amazing feeling... it's hard to describe," he told Euronews.
The 17-year-old dual national spent five months travelling through 52 countries and crossing the equator twice.
"The most difficult moment on my flight was the flight from Japan to the US, I had to go around Russia because my plane isn't allowed inside Russian airspace," he said.
"So I flew directly from Japan to the US - it was a 10-hour flight over the Pacific Ocean - and after 10 hours... I landed on a small unhabitable island in the middle of the North Pacific.
"It was starting to get dark... it was raining... and I saw a small shed on the side of the runway and stayed there for the night."
Mack now holds two Guinness World Records as the youngest person to fly around the world by himself and the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe in a microlight plane.
He took the age record from Travis Ludlow of Britain, who was 18 when he made a solo flight around the world last year.
Earlier this year, Mack's sister, Zara Rutherford, became the youngest female pilot to fly solo around the world.
"Her main point of advice for me was 'don't get yourself into a situation you can't get yourself out of," Mack added.