Looks like it should work...
Posted on 11/26/2015 1:01:20 PM PST by Citizen Zed
On November 28, the fearless Ethiopian will make a flying debut and marry his fiance Seble Bekele the moment he lands. This will be his second attempt after he first taxied to a runway 40 kilometers but a broken propeller ruined his chance of flying.
However, Asmelash Zeferu is all set with a new engine that doubles his power to 78 horsepower and has even sought professional advice for flying.
Flying has always been a dream for Zeferu, since childhood he wanted to become a pilot but he had to meet with disappointment when he got to know he did not meet the air school height requirements. He was just a centimeter short.
But Zeferu did not take the setback too hard, instead he decided to build his own aircraft and fly in it. It took him ten years of hard labour to achieve it, with aviation manuals and YouTube tutorials being his teachers.
Zeferu modeled his plane on one used by trainee pilots in the US in the 1920s and 30s. There were some parts of the plane which were bought second hand and some salvaged, but he could not find a cheap Ford engine.
But completing all the finished task, he is also set to be among a pioneering group of amateur enthusiasts from the continent. He has even taken advice from fellow flight enthusiasts and made modifications.
Zeferu will return to the same airfield and attempt to fly in his newly modified machine. For him the main concern is about landing safely and plans to take off at 90 mph and 10 meters height.
The aviation geek hopes a flight school accepts him after his attempt turns a success. Zeferu dreams of becoming an aerospace engineer at NASA.
(Excerpt) Read more at indiatoday.intoday.in ...
But he’ll probably have only one flight.
He died in a kit because his reserve fuel valve handle had fallen off and he replaced it with a pair of vice grips.
They fell off when he tried to turn on reserve and he couldn’t retrieve them.
RIP indeed.
The clock and the airplane have already been invented.
“If Ah had the wings of an angel, over these prison walls Ah wood fly . . .”
Ethiopian man may arrive in a self-made airplane on his wedding
Fixed
IIRC, he had been doing aerobatics all afternoon, and decided to take off for home late in the afternoon. His plane had two fuel tanks, which were manually switched. The fuel tanks and valves were located behind the pilot’s shoulders. He had unknowingly exhausted the selected fuel tank as he began his take off roll. He did not have time to switch tanks before he crashed. In the worst of all worlds scenario he had half a load of fuel right behind the pilot as he crashed. He never stood a chance.
Godspeed, Asmelash Zeferu.
Cargo cult aviation.
I thought this was an article from the early 1900s.
Flying to your wedding in a homebuilt airplane. I can already see the headline, man dies in crash on wedding day.” It’s just bad karma.
Looks like something from a Little Rascals episode.
This will not rnd well. Call me Capyain Obvious
“Come Josephine in my flying machine” or something like that?
A silly centimeter too short for flight school... if he had the dough, he could probably get plastic surgery help to add that much to his stature. That’s like 3/8 of an inch.
Hold my Ethiopian beer and watch this. Yeah. Redneck knows no color. Yeehaw. I actually pray the good Lord that somehow this craft holds up and he is blessed with good takeoff and landing conditions.
And, of course, Git-R-Done. Larry’s embattled trademark notwithstanding....
G-d willing, all will go as planned. I like this guy. He's got Moxie.
Yeah I agree, he has my admiration.
rnd=end capyain=captain
Small virtual keyboard and big finger.
Reason being that most homebuilts qualify as "Light Sport" aviation... which means you can legally fly it with a light sport license. Otherwise the high blood pressure medication that your doc prescribed (so you can watch the nightly news without popping a vein whenever 0bama appears on the screen), means automatic revocation of your regular private pilot's license because you can't pass the medical.
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