Wang Zheng (pilot)


Wang Zheng, also known as Julie Wang, is a Captain at United Express and an FAA Certified Flight Instructor in the United States, where she resides. She is the first Asian woman to circumnavigate Earth in an airplane. Wang is also the first Chinese pilot to fly solo around the world and the eighth woman to do so.

Early life and education

Wang's parents were professors involved in aerospace research at the Harbin Institute of Technology. They withheld permission for Wang to become a flight attendant for Air China, feeling it more appropriate that Wang attend university and study computer science, which she did for two years before leaving to pursue a career in advertising.
After obtaining a degree in journalism and advertising from Xiamen University and spending fifteen years in strategic communications with global advertising agencies, Wang relocated to the United States with her husband and daughter in September 2010, obtained a driver's license and then began flying in March 2011. She obtained her private pilot's certificate in July 2011 and by late 2012 had become a multi-engine, instrument-rated commercial pilot. In 2013, she earned each of the three available flight instructor ratings issued by the Federal Aviation Administration, and became the first Chinese citizen to earn an FAA flight instructor certificate and hold all three flight instructor ratings. In April 2016, Wang became the first Chinese citizen to be approved by the FAA as a chief instructor for a Part 141 flight training provider..

Flying

In September 2016, Wang completed a solo circumnavigation of the globe in a single piston-engine airplane, becoming the first Chinese person to fly an airplane solo around the world. She departed westbound from Addison, Texas on August 17, 2016, and paused in California to have ferry tanks installed and obtain FAA approvals for the aircraft modifications. She departed from Merced, California on September 2, 2016, and made stops in Hawaii, the Marshall Islands, Guam, the Philippines, China, Thailand, India, the UAE, Greece, Malta, Portugal, the Azores and Newfoundland, before returning to Texas on September 19, thirty-three days later. Wang made the flight in a normally-aspirated Cirrus SR22 modified to hold extra fuel, and covered over in 155 flying hours, over eighteen flight days, flying over or landing in 24 countries. Her longest leg was from Merced, California to Honolulu, Hawaii, covering 2,160 nautical miles in 13.8 hours. Her longest day involved the legs from Lisbon, Portugal to Santa Maria Island in the Azores and then from Santa Maria to St. Johns, Newfoundland, which required her to remain awake for 29 hours.
On November 1, 2016, at Airshow China 2016 in Zhuhai, after the bona fides of the flight were vetted and approved by representatives of AOPA China, AOPA China's President Zhang Feng presented Wang with a replica bank draft for 1,000,000 Yuan Renminbi representing the 1,000,000 Yuan Renminbi prize AOPA China will award to Wang for being the first Chinese woman pilot to complete an around-the-world flight.
On November 7, 2016, Wang was presented the key to the City of West Palm Beach by Mayor Jerrie Muoio and the Commissioners of the City of West Palm Beach at a ceremony conducted at a regular session of the Commission at the Commission Chambers at the West Palm Beach City Hall. In December 2017, Wang was a featured speaker at the Harvard Business Review/SHE Power annual event in Shanghai, China, where the theme was "redefining the leadership role of women."
In January 2018, Wang was a featured speaker at the Sebring Sport Aviation Expo where she addressed an audience at the Expo's Young Aviator's Zone on "Inspiring Young Women and Aviators to Achieve their Dreams."
In March 2018, London-based Netflights honored Wang with a spot on its list of the "Top 10 Inspiring Women in Aviation of All Time."
In July 2018, Flying Solo, a documentary short about Wang's solo circumnavigation flight, produced and directed by Ed Moy, screened during the 4th Annual "Filmed in Broward" Mini-Fest, and audiences picked their favorites to be screened during the 2018 Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival. Flying Solo was in November screened during the 2018 FLIFF at Cinema Paradiso in Hollywood, Florida, and was also screened at the Chinese American Film Festival in New York. In November, the film was an "Official Selection" at the 14th Annual Chinese American Film Festival 2018 in Los Angeles.
In August 2018, Wang was included on Travel Daily Media's list of "12 Iconic Women in Aviation," celebrating National Aviation Day in the United States.

Lawsuits

In 2014, Chen Wei, a Chinese businessman who had himself circumnavigated the world, put up a prize of 1 million Chinese yuan for the first Chinese woman to fly an airplane around the world so, and in August 2016 another female Chinese pilot, Jingxian Chen, was reported to be part way through completing the journey, aiming to win the prize. Chen, the Ninety-Nines China Section Governor, claimed to have completed her flight first and filed a lawsuit against Wang in Beijing, China. Wang's legal representative made a statement saying Chen had made false claims. By the verdict of the Beijing Haidian People's Court dated September 26, 2019, Chen lost the lawsuit with the Beijing court throwing out her claims and entering judgment dismissing her complaint. The court ordered Chen pay the court costs.
In March 2018, Wang filed lawsuit against Chen Wei the prize founder for failure of paying her the cash prize he had already awarded her fifteen months earlier at the Zhuhai Airshow. Despite having presented Wang the oversize draft for the One Million Chinese yuan at a public ceremony and press conference, Wei Chen responded to the lawsuit by claiming that “Zheng Wang has never provided any evidence to us as required by the award."It was a mistake to hold award ceremony for her before checking her evidence.”
In 2018, Wang filed a lawsuit in New York County Supreme Court against Ninety-Nines, a female aviators' organization, saying that they had falsely represented to the public that Chen was the first Asian woman to circumnavigate the globe solo, while having two male pilots on board, and finishing her flight ten days after Wang's was completed.
In 2019, Jingxian Chen filed a lawsuit against Wang's husband and lawyer, accusing him of "fraudulently rewriting history".