Ethiopian Man Builds Aircraft Using Tutorials On Youtube

An Ethiopian man, Asmelash Zeferu has manufactured a plane with tutorial videos and aviation manuals on YouTube.

Speaking to the Cable News Network (CNN), Zeferu said his childhood dream was to become a pilot but after he was rejected by the Ethiopian Airlines Aviation Academy, he decided to build a plane. 

The 35-year old told CNN: “I decided to build my own aircraft if I couldn’t be a pilot, then I’d be able to fly high in the sky.

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“My dream is to become an aerospace engineer at NASA, and I will be.”

For 10 years, Zeferu worked on his dream, salvaging spare parts from second-hand markets and handcrafting certain parts like the airplane’s wings.

He then upgraded the 48 horsepower Volkswagen Beetle engine to 78 for his two-seater aircraft and settled for the wheelbase of a Suzuki motorcycle as his landing gear. 

Though Zeferu encountered various degree of challenges in the process, it didn’t deter the ambitious pilot from pursuing his goal.

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