This is soul-crushing. Even I could tell him a number of things that would vastly improve his chances. I hope someone who knows better gets in touch with him to point out the obvious missteps he's made and help him out.

looks WAY too heavy for a single....prop if that's what you can call that thing...prop seems kinda smallish too. But I am definitely not an aeronautical engineer.

I don't quite get this though. Is this just some independent hobbyist? Is someone pranking?

I doubt it has enough thrust to move of its own at all - even on smooth Tarmac. I agree, @artician - poor soul.

I have seen my share of fundamentally flawed projects, though - my old man kept building a humongous "winch" of some sorts, which was supposed to be used to excavate soil for building the foundation for a house. Problem was, of course, that the darn thing (apart from being useless) was so big and heavy that we'd need an excavator anyway, just to move it around - and then it would be much better, safer and faster to use said excavator to do the actual digging.

I think he is extremely lucky that it didn't manage to take off.

most of the Red Bull Flugtag gliders, which have no engine and are built to crash into the water 1 time only, have flown further than this thing ever will.

MythBusters built a safer plane (which didn't fly) from bamboo, garbage bags, and duct-tape (MacGyver episode)

Fun Fact: This aircraft weighs 800kg, over twice what a Piper Cub weighs, and 300kg more than a Piper's MAX take-off weight.

Maybe next time, he should try materials lighter than mild steel pipe and angle iron...

I'm sure there's plenty of aircraft grade aluminum just laying around Kenya he could use. I knew it wouldn't fly at first sight, but fuck me I was still rooting for him. Gotta give him credit for following through on his dream.

This is heartbreaking. Kenyan ingenuity is amazing (as it is everywhere in the world where people can't just throw away things and buy new). The vehicles they use would have been condemned decades ago here in the UK, but without a big spares network, dealer servicing or even a garage to work in they keep them running.

He's following his dream and good for him. It's just so painfully obvious that he's never going to get there. Anyone who looks at what he built and even think 'maybe...' is obviously completely oblivious to aeronautics!

There are some great examples of awesome, life changing technologies which have been created out of scraps in the African bush, like the kid who built windmills in Malawi: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8257153.stm

But it seems for every person who does great things, others fall by the wayside.

I'm glad I don't have to live like they do in Kenya, but I wouldn't mind a bit of their spirit. Dude's built more than I have...