Asmelash Zeferu decided to
buld his own plane when he was told that he’s too short, the Ethopian did not want
anything to stop him from flying a plane.
This weekend, the
35-year-old, plans to take his handcrafted K-570 light aeroplane to the air
near the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa and marry his fiancé Seble Bekele when
he lands.
He has never flown before
and he hopes the attempt will be more successful than five months ago when a
broken propeller thwarted his dream.
He learnt every aspect for
aircraft manufacture from youtube videos and tutorials.
Fifteen years ago he tried
to enrol at the Dire Dawa branch of the Ethiopian Airlines Aviation Academy. He
was rejected, because at 1m 70cm (5ft 7ins) he was 1cm too short.
He 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,'
Five months ago, he failed
to take-off in his machine, on November 28 2015, Zeferu will return to the same
air field and rev his newly-modified machine.
Taking off at 90 mph, he
will aim to reach an altitude of 10 meters which is not mean feat considering
he has 'no parachute or anything to protect me.
'To fly an aircraft is not
a big deal,' he explains. The greatest danger will be in landing.'
Despite support from his
family, he says:
'The biggest challenge in building my aircraft
was the people around me... people calling me mad. People were asking 'How can
you build an aircraft in Ethiopia? In Africa?' ''My dream is to become an
aerospace engineer at NASA, and I will be,'
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