Flying around globe: Afghan woman creates history

KABUL (Pajhwok): An enterprising Afghan refugee has created history by emerging the youngest woman to fly around the globe in a single-engine plane, a media report said on Thursday.

Concluding a 138-stop flight, including Dubai, Shaesta Waiz landed her Beechcraft Bonanza A36 aircraft in Florida on Wednesday night, a UAE-based newspaper reported.

In a tweet after her record flight, the 30-year-old thanked the plane that made her dreams soar around the globe, according to The National.

She was the first-ever Afghan woman to become a certified pilot after her parents emigrated to the US. She was born in a refugee camp in Pakistan.

During her 25,000-mile journey, she also landed at the Dubai International Airport in early July, when she took a commercial flight to Afghanistan.

In Kabul, Shaesta Waiz met President Ashraf Ghani and civil society activists. The longest leg was a 14 hour flight across the Pacific Ocean from Hawaii to California.

After flying from Dubai to Afghanistan, she said her flight was not aimed to set a world record, but to inspire women and young people to embrace aviation careers.

PAN Monitor/mud