Attempting to break the record, Australia's youngest female pilot took off on Easter Monday for a worthy cause.
Seventeen-year-old Rose Donald is aboard a Cessna 172 VH‑DWE from Essendon airport in Melbourne to raise funds for seriously ill children in the bush.
Along the way, the Melbourne teenager will attempt to break the distance record as the youngest female to fly a small aircraft solo.
Her journey will cover more than 15,000km and she will land at 25 airports around the Australian coastline.
The student is partnering with volunteer-led charity Little Wings, which provides free access to specialised medical services and treatments by transporting young patients in remote areas.
“I did want to do something helping kids and the fact that I was able to do that with an aviation-related charity was really great,” she said.
Regional families not only have to travel long distances to reach a hospital, but often also don’t have access to the medical professionals they need.
A National Rural Health alliance report found that 18,405 people in remote and very remote Australia have no access to primary healthcare services within an hour’s drive time from their home.
Additionally, small rural towns have 55 per cent fewer health professionals than metropolitan areas.
All the pilots and drivers working for the non-profit group are dedicated volunteers who in 2025 flew more than 5000 children from as far-flung places as Ayr and Broken Hill to help bridge that gap.
More than half of the children assisted had some form of cancer.
Rose will fly for about four hours a day on her journey and will meet families of young children in various stops.
She has mapped out the route that will see her head to NSW, followed by Queensland, up to the Torres Strait, then across the Northern Territory and Western Australia before eventually returning to Melbourne, all in one direction.
An avid audio book listener, she enjoys the serenity of flying alone for hours on end, occasionally reaching the maximum altitude of 9500 feet.
“I like how freeing it is. It’s just really quiet ... I really love looking down at all the landscapes and flying over. That’s absolutely amazing,” she said.
Little Wings and petroleum giant BP’s aviation division have stepped in to provide sponsorship and help with rising fuel costs, but Rose is keen for more businesses to get behind the mission.
“Rose is an extension of that concept of people helping people, making a positive change in the world,” the charity's chief executive Clare Pearson said.
“We encourage people to track her journey, to champion her mission and to donate … every dollar supports seriously ill children in regional Australia to access lifesaving medical treatment that is only available in major cities.”
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