It’s difficult to believe, but Asmelash Zeferu has managed to build a plane mostly with the help of tutorial videos on YouTube.
It was the 35-year-old Ethiopian’s childhood dream to become a pilot but was rejected by the Ethiopian Airlines Aviation Academy. But he was so determined to take off that he decided to build a plane.
"I decided to build my own aircraft if I couldn't be a pilot," he told CNN. “Then I'd be able to fly high in the sky."
For the last 10 years, Zeferu has been working 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.
And he did this with the help of some aviation experts, aircraft manuals and YouTube tutorials, according to CNN.
While Zeferu was ready to fly his plane in June, he encountered some technical problems during the process. However, it didn’t deter him from pursuing his goal.
Almost five months later, he is ready to take off, again.
And this will not be the end to his quest – sky is the only limit for this ambitious amateur pilot.
"My dream is to become an aerospace engineer at NASA," he told CNN. "And I will be."
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