Nigerian Man Builds Helicopter With Honda Civic Engine
Have you got a ratty old Civic sitting around your house? How about putting the engine to good use by building your own helicopter around it? That’s exactly what a man in Nigeria did.
Mubarak Muhammad Abdullahi, a 24-year-old physics undergraduate in northern Nigeria, decided to build this helicopter from scraps of a wrecked 747 and the engine out of a Honda Civic. He had hopes of building them for customers, like the Nigerian government, but so far no orders have come in.
The helicopter may only fly a few feet from the ground, be lacking most conventional instrumentation, and looks hideous, but Abdullahi thinks the government should order them anyway. “No one from the NCAA (Nigeria's Civil Aviation Authority) has come to see what I've done. We don't reward talent in this country,
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Comments
Jesda
He funded the project with junk e-mail.
Ron
Seriously 'boy'? He's 24 years old, how racist can you guys be?!?!
Clint
Screw this JDM crap. Nigerian econo-copter tuning is going to be the next big thing. See "Fast and the Furious: Nigerian Flight" - Summer 2008.
Jeff
Wow, that's impressive. Nice to see that at least someone is still resourceful and creative. And yeah, I agree Clint- think of the size of the wings they'll throw on these things!
Jeb
"We don’t reward talent in this country"
Yeah, not really seeing evidence of that yet...
Carlos
This is impressive. To think that he did not use any CAD tools to design this and make it fly albeit a few feet deserves commendation. This goes to show that there is talent available.
Mena
"Seriously ‘boy’? He’s 24 years old, how racist can you guys be?!?!"
I didn't even notice that. I've never heard a 24 year old referred to as a "boy". Usually, 24 year olds are considered men since they have reached the age of 18.
Abdul Sachedina
"No orders have come in"?
Is it any wonder, the "boy" needs yet another wrecked 747 to build a second helicopter. If he's so brilliant, why doesn't he just fix the 747?
Why didn't he build a car from the wrecked 747? He already had an engine.
LandCrusher
1. In aviation we don't say something is flying unless it leaves what we call ground effect. So, this thing doesn't really fly. It is not a functional helicopter.
2. A physics undergraduate should know that 4 seats was two too many for that engine. Especially in Nigeria and without light weight rotors.
3. He should be stopped until someone qualified can verify that the craft will not kill someone the next time it is started.
4. The young man does have some talent. Getting it off the ground without it losing control and/or coming apart is no small feat. Hopefully he will get pointed in the right direction.
5. He could have tried something really stupid like try to fix a wrecked 747, or proved nothing by building a car. Seriously, was that supposed to be a useful comment?
killpoint
Let me think when the last time anyone you knew built a damm helicopter. In his backyard nonetheless, thats the kind of young talent and creativity that grows technology.
Troy Cardenas
My hat is off to him. He showed creativity and inginuity. There should be more young people like him.
Phil Floraday
I'm very sorry for referring to him as a boy instead of a man. It was unintentional and the corrections have been made.
Jonathan Fung [Gotakon]
Wow. That's pretty impressive that he even got it off the ground. Just have to wait till vTech kicks in, yo.
Steve K.
At first thought, I was thinking "great another scam".
At least someone in Nigeria was working on something other than a way to scam someone.
Alexander López
As an aircraft technician with ample experience with helicopters, my thoughts are two-fold:
1.- This man does deserve credit for doing a working machine with so few resources and making it fly, altough it's evident it was only a ground-effect hovering. This kind of 'junkyard wars' talent is really needed everywhere.
2.- By looking at the picture I can't tell if there's a proper cyclic & collective control of the main rotor, so maneuvring capability seems to be certainly on the verge of the danger zone.
And let's be honest, no government would risk to make an order for a product made by a lone man without a company that offers some warrants of building quality and readily available after market service.
But I still think this man should be encouraged to put his talent to good use.
Gillis Onyeabor
I need more information about this young man. I hope I am not too late. I want to help him/me/us/Nigeria/Africa. Everything he used can be fabricated somewhere after review of any existing foreign patents on those parts.
StarMan
I agree with the comment posted by LandCrusher.
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