Youngest Female Pilot to Fly Solo Around Australia at 17: $82K Raised, a World Record & the hidden anxiety with success - Rose Donald

Rose Donald just broke the Guinness World Record as the youngest female pilot to fly solo around Australia. She started the trip at 17, turned 18 mid-route, and raised over $82,000 for Little Wings, a children's charity that flies seriously ill kids from rural Australia to specialist hospitals in the cities. But the part she really opened up about, what it actually cost her to get there, is the message she most wants other young women to hear. In this conversation with Female Startup Club, Rose gets refreshingly honest about chasing big goals at a young age. We get into how she planned a year-long solo flight around Australia from her bedroom in Melbourne, the patchwork of sponsorship and charity money that made a $40k+ flight possible at 17, and the anxiety and self-sacrifice that nobody saw behind the headlines. Her message at the end of this one (about why she doesn't want young women comparing themselves to her) genuinely stopped me in my tracks. I wanted to know: how she funded a $40k+ solo flight around Australia at 17 what's actually going through your head 8 hours alone in a cockpit why she doesn't want young women comparing themselves to her ⏱ CHAPTERS 00:00 - Introduction 01:35 - Why she flew solo around Australia at 17 02:45 - The 17 year old boy who sparked the idea at 14 03:30 - Finding Little Wings and raising $80,000+ 05:07 - Funding a $40k flight at 17 06:26 - Three months without sleep planning the trip 07:44 - Tapping the Australian Women's Pilots Association 09:49 - Five Melbourne charity rejections before Little Wings 13:20 - How the Guinness World Record application works 15:24 - What you actually think about up in the clouds 18:36 - Calling dad as a last resort during scary moments 19:24 - Horn Island and the two hour weather window 22:48 - Perspective from above on school stress 25:10 - The aviation community she didn't know she needed 27:43 - Anxiety, fear of failure and a permanently injured knee 30:48 - Please don't compare yourself to me 32:28 - The $100k donation goal for Little Wings 🔗 LINKS → Rose Donald on Instagram: www.instagram.com/pilotrose.au → Donate to Pilot Rose x Little Wings campaign: https://www.givenow.com.au/girls-can-fly #FemaleStartupClub #WomenInAviation #GuinnessWorldRecord #LittleWings #RoseDonald 📱 Join 160K smart chicks in the Female Startup Club universe: → Use code 'FSC' for 30% off your first 3 months at omnisend.com/fsc → Female Startup Club's Instagram: www.instagram.com/femalestartupclub → Doone Roisin's Instagram: www.instagram.com/dooneroisin → Get opportunities delivered to your inbox 3x weekly here: https://female-startup-club.beehiiv.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.