Im gobsmacked
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQb0d7rYp9o
HARGEISA — Three men from Somaliland who, ever since they were young dreamed of building a helicopter have designed and built their own helicopter in
their own backyard using scrap metals and an old engine from a van.
The trio, Mohamed Abdi Barkadle, Saed Abdi Jide and Abdi Farah Lidan said the purpose of their helicopter was to be used to fight fire in the city and
surrounding area. They receive no major sponsors, financial nor material support from any one including the government, it is a three men vision and
ingenuity.
This is the first ever helicopter built in any Somali speaking state. The fact that the trio could do so much with so little will inspire a lot of
Somalilanders.
To many Somalilanders, this is historical moment for Somaliland and it is possible very soon others will start manufacturing their own electronics and
devices.
This is the time to support these promising Somalilanders!, all stakeholders and regulatory agencies should rally round and assist these men to
achieve their goal.
We wish them all the best from here Somalilandpress, we are certainly with you and we hope all the Somalilanders, friends and others who might be
inspired by them get involved.
Ha ha, that will never get off the ground, can you see it shake!!!
Nice vid though
Rich
crikey that takes the Darwin theory to a whole new level. aprat from the blades rotating the wrong way it looked like it would have ripped its self to pieces and killed everyone around it if they had given it any more revs.
Urrmmm the engine doesn't exactly sound sweet does it. Unreliable engines are a pain in a van..... kinda gets serious in a aircraft
complete death trap! 
I hope they all get it off the ground.... 
quote:
Originally posted by MakeEverything
I hope they all get it off the ground....
Oh my goat! A diesel helicopter. A wonderful eco friendly invention if you run it on vegetable oil. If it gets off the ground it'll help
solve over-population as well.
I wouldn't be standing that close if I was the camera man!
its got about as much chance of leaving the ground as gary glitter has got of having a comeback tour
I think they may have slightly under-estimated the wing area and power requirements...
I'd love to see how they have managed to build a swash plate assembly though. Presuming they did of course.
It's amazing what you can built out of old Caterham parts!!
I also love they way the cameraman gets up on a ladder to get his head level with the 'rotor disc' and how they are all just wandering about
it!! I'm a helicopter engineer, and this is just shocking!!
luckily i speak somali the guy at the end is saying he's putting it on ebay as his wife isn't happy about the amount of time he's
spending in the garage ...... i can't wait for the book " how to build a helicopter for £250"
[Edited on 25/2/10 by woodster]