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