Ethiopian Youtube Plane

It's hilarious that they say 'the wheelbase was taken from a Suzuki motorcycle'. Don't they know that wheelbase is a measurement and not a motorcycle part?!????
 
I just hope they advised him to give a good bit of toe out. If he has any toe in, he won't be able to control the landing. There is no sim that simulates a ground loop well.

I don't know if she wants to get the wedding license signed before he takes off or not. Better a widow or single?
 
I admire the fellow's dedication and his craftsmanship looks good (especially the wing portion in one of the pictures), but I wish he'd take a few lessons first.

I'm kind of surprised that he didn't choose to build a WSC trike for a self-taught venture into the skies. They're a bit more intuitive, slower, simpler, and somewhat more forgiving than airplanes. They're also a heck of a lot easier and cheaper to build.

Rich
 
RJM62 said:
I admire the fellow's dedication and his craftsmanship looks good (especially the wing portion in one of the pictures), but I wish he'd take a few lessons first.

I'm kind of surprised that he didn't choose to build a WSC trike for a self-taught venture into the skies. They're a bit more intuitive, slower, simpler, and somewhat more forgiving than airplanes. They're also a heck of a lot easier and cheaper to build.

Rich
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He did way better than the Kenyan dude. The problem for them building light craft is power plant availability. Remember, this guy sacrificed eating to build this thing as it is, and most parts likely came from a scrapyard. He's either limited to small B&S type engines, or car engines. A nice, light, high density 2 stroke with 25hp+ is not within his means.
 
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Henning said:
He did way better than the Kenyan dude. The problem for them building light craft is power plant availability. Remember, this guy sacrificed eating to build this thing as it is, and most parts likely came from a scrapyard. He's either limited to small B&S type engines, or car engines. A nice, light, high density 2 stroke with 25hp+ is not within his means.
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I dunno, Henning. I once flew an ultralight trike powered by a big chainsaw engine with motorcycle-chain gear reduction. The performance wasn't exactly breathtaking, but it did fly.

Rich
 
Untested airframe + untested engine + untrained pilot = bad outcome

The human interest side of this story may be inspiring, but its really hard to see how this can end well. His prop disintegrated on the first engine start (imbalance?) before he even moved an inch. What does this say about the rest of the aircraft, which looks rather rough and features a drastically modified auto engine? The laws of physics don't make allowances for sentiment.

I can't help wonder if this story is really legitimate? Is there no civil aviation authority in Ethiopia?
 
RV8er said:
Untested airframe + untested engine + untrained pilot = bad outcome

The human interest side of this story may be inspiring, but its really hard to see how this can end well. His prop disintegrated on the first engine start (imbalance?) before he even moved an inch. What does this say about the rest of the aircraft, which looks rather rough and features a drastically modified auto engine? The laws of physics don't make allowances for sentiment.

I can't help wonder if this story is really legitimate? Is there no civil aviation authority in Ethiopia?
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It looked like he used the wrong kind of wood from the pic of him holding it and it started shredding itself.
 
RV8er said:
Turns out there's more than one young Ethiopian building an airplane (looks like a Cri-Cri):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9TJzCOCfiE

This one at least manage to taxi without coming apart.
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He doesn't have enough horsepower for that wing. That's a small, fast wing, it's gonna need at least 45hp to fly that weight if he built it light.
 
This reminds me of growing up in the inner city in the 60's and 70's. My buddies and I would go to the junk yards, back when you could roam them for fun, with basic tools and build go karts, bikes and all kinds of things. Debris can inspire the engineer in anyone. I'm not sure I'd bet my life on any of our contraptions, though.
 
LandSickness said:
This reminds me of growing up in the inner city in the 60's and 70's. My buddies and I would go to the junk yards, back when you could roam them for fun, with basic tools and build go karts, bikes and all kinds of things. Debris can inspire the engineer in anyone. I'm not sure I'd bet my life on any of our contraptions, though.
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We always did, how we survived, typically unhospitalized remains a question, but the junkyards were the source of most of our toy box supplies, in fact, one buddy's dad owned the junkyard.:lol:
 
Henning said:
He doesn't have enough horsepower for that wing. That's a small, fast wing, it's gonna need at least 45hp to fly that weight if he built it light.
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Put a good pipe on those engines and you would be surprised how much you can get out of a little 2 cycle.
 
1RTK1 said:
Put a good pipe on those engines and you would be surprised how much you can get out of a little 2 cycle.
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There's no reduction on them so the props have to be tiny and perfect. If he can get more than 15hp converted to thrust out of both of those heavy cast iron engines, proper expansion pipe or not, I'd be amazed.
 
Henning said:
There's no reduction on them so the props have to be tiny and perfect. If he can get more than 15hp converted to thrust out of both of those heavy cast iron engines, proper expansion pipe or not, I'd be amazed.
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I fly RC also and with a NON piped 116cc engine I can get 50+lbs static thrust on a 29x10 prop turning 7000-8000rpm, pipe it and I can do much better. The engine weighs less than 5lbs. You would be amazed at what you can do with a RC plane that weighs 25+lbs with over 50+lbs of thrust:) It is the one pictured..
I saw a cri cri fly well running two RC 3W 106cc engines.
 

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1RTK1 said:
I fly RC also and with a NON piped 116cc engine I can get 50+lbs static thrust on a 29x10 prop turning 7000-8000rpm, pipe it and I can do much better. The engine weighs less than 5lbs
I saw a cri cri fly well running two RC 3W 106cc engines.
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Those are much more advanced, expensive, engines than he has. Those are 5hp engines.
 
Hell, most any decent 2 cycle engine with a little work and a pipe can be made into a power house. You are correct it only takes money to make power.
 
1RTK1 said:
Hell, most any decent 2 cycle engine with a little work and a pipe can be made into a power house. You are correct it only takes money to make power.
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Exactly, yes it can be done, he just doesn't have access to the resources to do it. African junkyards are not like American junkyards, the base stock is not very advanced.
 
This thread must be deleted immediately! If 6PC sees it, he'll try to put a chute on it and claim as his own masterpiece.
 
1RTK1 said:
I fly RC also and with a NON piped 116cc engine I can get 50+lbs static thrust on a 29x10 prop turning 7000-8000rpm, pipe it and I can do much better. The engine weighs less than 5lbs. You would be amazed at what you can do with a RC plane that weighs 25+lbs with over 50+lbs of thrust:) It is the one pictured..
I saw a cri cri fly well running two RC 3W 106cc engines.
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I've been out of RC for 20+ years. Has anyone yet done a Cirrus with a working chute?
 
Jaybird180 said:
I've been out of RC for 20+ years. Has anyone yet done a Cirrus with a working chute?
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As a matter of fact, someone has. I'm sending out a request for photos and video, as I didn't have any recording devices with me when it flew.
The model was a scratch built 1/4 scale, made with composite. After some short flights to adjust trim, balance and a few other issues, it flew very well.

The chute deployment was quite scale and realistic.
He was moving too fast and too low. When the chute deployed it broke the plane in half. The cockpit half fell to the ground, the rear half floated down and got caught in the trees.
We build 'em, we fly 'em, we wreck 'em.
 
Shepherd said:
As a matter of fact, someone has. I'm sending out a request for photos and video, as I didn't have any recording devices with me when it flew.
The model was a scratch built 1/4 scale, made with composite. After some short flights to adjust trim, balance and a few other issues, it flew very well.

The chute deployment was quite scale and realistic.
He was moving too fast and too low. When the chute deployed it broke the plane in half. The cockpit half fell to the ground, the rear half floated down and got caught in the trees.
We build 'em, we fly 'em, we wreck 'em.
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Did he have the inflation brake on the chute lines?
 
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