Build your own airplane, Kenyan style

Posted by Alison Westwood on 9 November 2010

Kenyan IT specialist Gabriel Ndarita, who has never even seen the cockpit of an airplane and has no background in aviation engineering, spent more than a year and half-a-million shillings designing and building his own twin seater aircraft, powered by a Toyota MZE engine and a chloride battery.

His attempt to fly it involved dismantling the entire aircraft, loading it onto two trucks, putting it back together, pushing it down a makeshift runway, and putting it back together again when it collapsed.

The big question: will it work? Will his plane take off and make aviation history in Africa?

As Gabriel says “Even if we are able to make it three feet or four feet, we believe we will have moved a big step.”

His determination and ingenuity are truly inspiring. Go Gabriel!

Watch the video below.

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