“The most difficult moment on my flight was the flight from Japan to the US,” said Rutherford. “I had to go around Russia because my plane isn’t allowed inside Russian airspace. 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.”

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