He Built a 12-Meter Helicopter from Scrap Parts Without an Engineering Degree
In Nigeria, Mubarak Muhammad Abdullahi, a 24-year-old physics student, made quite a splash years ago with a helicopter he constructed without any formal engineering training. Abdullahi, who was studying at Bayero University, embarked on a project in his backyard, where he ingeniously assembled parts from old cars, motorcycles, and airplanes to create a 12-meter-long helicopter.
He constructed the helicopter from old vehicle and aircraft parts.
Abdullahi's helicopter was a remarkable concoction, assembled from an array of scrap parts. The vehicle boasted a 133 horsepower engine salvaged from a second-hand Honda Civic, seats stripped from a Toyota car, and parts of a Boeing 747 that had crashed near Kano years ago.
The young student funded the project with money he earned from repairing computers and cell phones. With his father's support, he was also able to purchase aluminum and some basic materials. The helicopter was reported to be approximately 12 meters long, 7 meters high, and 5 meters wide.
The cockpit housed a simple yet functional system. Noteworthy features of the helicopter included the ignition switch, throttle lever, joystick used for balance and direction control, a camera placed on the lower part, and a basic visual system connected to a screen.
He learned from the internet and conducted brief test flights.
One of the intriguing aspects of Abdullahi's story is that he acquired the majority of his knowledge about helicopter construction from the internet. This young man embarked on an extraordinary project armed with basic physics knowledge and manual skills, without the aid of a laboratory, corporate backing, or a professional workshop.
It was reported that the helicopter took off for short periods six times, but it never exceeded approximately 2 meters in any of the tests. Therefore, the vehicle is not ready for actual use; it's considered a functional trial prototype built with limited resources.
Nevertheless, the fact that a structure of this scale, made from old vehicle parts, could lift off the ground made Abdullahi's story stand out. It was also reported at the time that the young student was working on a more advanced, two-seater model and aimed to build a helicopter that could stay airborne for a longer period.
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