Aircraft Assembled, and Flown, By SA Teenagers Lands Safely in Egyp

The first aircraft assembled, and flown, by South African teenagers arrived safely in Cairo, Egypt, on Monday, after it jetted off from Cape Town last month.

The aircraft was assembled by a group of 20 students from vastly different backgrounds.

According to the BBC, the four-seater Sling 4 plane landed in Namibia, Malawi, Ethiopia, Zanzibar, Tanzania and Uganda during the 12 000km trip to Egypt.

Pilot Megan Werner, 17, founder of the U-Dream Global project, told the BBC that she was thrilled with the accomplishment.

“I’m so honoured to have made a difference around the continent at the places we’ve stopped. The purpose of the initiative is to show Africa that anything is possible if you set your mind to it,” she added.

The teens built the aircraft in two weeks under the guidance of The Airplane Factory, U-Dream mentors and five team leaders from Denel Aviation.

Werner, who is from Krugersdorp, told the BBC that the team encountered some issues along the way, such as struggling to get fuel in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa and having to fly alone for two hours during the last leg of the trip from Addis Ababa to Cairo via Aswan.

“Driaan van den Heever and I flew alone for 10 hours, without the support aircraft, so it was two teenagers, all by ourselves with no support,” Werner said.