Who Said That Nigerians Arent Innovative?
donne4real | October 21, 2007
Here is a heart-warming story of Mubarak Muhammad Abdullahi, a 24-year-old physics undergraduate in Northern Nigeria who builds functional and operational helicopters with spare parts of old cars and trucks. His chopper have actually flown briefly on 6 different occassions. One is fitted with a Honda Civic car engine and seats from an old Toyota car.
Here is a brief excerpt of the story:
For a four-seater it is a big aircraft, measuring twelve metres (39 feet) long, seven metres high by five wide. It has never attained an altitude of more than seven feet.
The cockpit consists of a push-button ignition, an accelerator lever between the seats which controls vertical thrust, a joystick that provides balance and bearing.
A small screen on the dashboard connects to a camera underneath the helicopter for ground vision, a set of six buttons adjusts the screen’s brightness while a small transmitter is used for communication.
“You start it, allow it to run for a minute or two and you then shift the accelerator forward and the propeller on top begins to spin. The further you shift the accelerator the faster it goes and once you reach 300 rmp you press the joystick and it takes off,” Abdullahi explained from the cockpit.
He said he learned the rudiments of flying a helicopter from the Internet and first got the idea of building one from the films he watches on television.
But as usual, the government has not been useful in any way. They saw the demo and were excited then. But till date, no one has lent a helping hand.
When will we start honoring and helping our own people who are making such magnificent and note worthy efforts?
Tags: helicopter, innovation, Miscellanous, technology
