Record-breaking pilot swoops into Bendigo en route

MELBOURNE adventurer Rose Donald has become the youngest female pilot to fly solo around Australia, having touched down in Bendigo along the way.

She took flight for 40 days, starting on 6 April, and flew more than 15,000 kilometres, landing at 25 airports.

Donald’s objective during her trip was to raise money for Little Wings Australia, a charity that provides free air and ground transport for seriously ill children living in regional and remote areas of New South Wales, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory.

She also took time during her voyage to promote aviation as a career option for young women like herself.

After landing smoothly in Bendigo last Friday on one of the final legs of her journey, Donald said she was grateful for the experience.

“It’s been really beneficial for me and it’s improved my confidence so much,” she said.

She said she’d spent plenty of hours in the air listening to music, looking out the window and getting some good photos when she could.

“It’s a Cessna 172 so it’s not overly complicated, but a lot of the time I am focused on flying because I don’t have an autopilot in my plane,” she said.

“Especially today, it was a little bit turbulent so I couldn’t do much else because I was concentrating on handling that.”

Raising money for Little Wings has also been important to the 18 year old, who said the charity has been crucial in helping with admin aspects of the project.

“Even now they’re managing a lot of media stuff for me, they’re managing fundraising and everything,” she said.

“That’s been really, really great – it’s taken some of the load off me.

“I’m so glad that I’ve been able to be a part of something that clearly there’s a lot of passion around, there’s a great sense of community around.

“I’m so glad to be a part of that and to be able to spread awareness for their cause around Australia as well as raising money for them.”

Little Wings CEO Clare Pearson said Donald’s determination has already inspired communities across Australia.

“From the moment we met Rose, we were deeply impressed with her aviation talents, but more than that, her tenacity and drive to raise the flag for women in aviation and the Little Wings mission,” she said.

“Little Wings is an organisation made possible by community, for community, and Rose is an extension of that concept of people helping people, making a positive change in the world.”