South African teens make history flying a homemade plane to Namibia

By Samuel Abuya

A homemade plane assembled by 20 South African teenagers made a historic touch-down in the southern coastal town of Luderitz, Namibia on June 17, 2019 after it left South Africa en-route Cairo, Egypt.

The teenagers are determined to realize their dream of flying across Africa in their self-built aircraft. The first target is flying from South Africa to Cairo, Egypt, a distance of 7,455 miles or 12,000KM, in at least six weeks.

The homemade plane assembled by the team of teens has a flying range of six and a half hours.

The 17-year-old Megan Werner, the founder of U Dream Global, an aviation outreach that supported the teens in building the plane, and who piloted the plane to Namibia, couldn’t hide her joy saying she is really proud of the achievement that the team has managed so far, referring to flying the homemade plane from their home country to Namibia.

“It flies so smoothly and the views were breathtaking,” she said of its maiden voyage from Johannesburg to Cape Town ahead of the official start of the trip.

Another youngster, 15-year-old Agnes Keamogetswe Seemla, from the Munsiville township in the Guateng province said she felt so proud of herself as well on the achievement.

While saying that she hopes her efforts would inspire other young people like her, Agnes said: “Looking at the plane, I am so proud of myself, I can’t believe what we’ve done. I feel like this is my baby. I cherish her,” she said. “At first, people in my community were shocked – they didn’t believe me when I told them I helped build a plane which we will be flying from Cape Town to Cairo. But now they are very proud of me,” she added.

From Namibia, the next stop for the homemade plane will be Windhoek, Victoria Falls, Likoma, Zanziba, Arusha, Nairobi, Lalinela, Asmara and finally Cairo.

However, the team is expected to take an absolutely different route on their way back home making stops in Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia and Botswana.

A support Sling 4 plane flown by qualified or professional pilots will accompany the teens as they fly their homemade plane.

Africa Global News Publication