Teens take flight with self-built plane
After final inspections and flight certifications were done, the team charted their course across Africa.
Seventeen-year-old pilot, Megan Werner, and her team of 19 teenagers are undertaking an historic aviation challenge that will see them embark on a flight from Cape Town, which is one of the furthest south points on the continent, to Cairo, Egypt, which sits clear across the entire Africa.
They won’t just do the more than 10 000km distance once – they will do it twice, as they have to return to South Africa! They took flight on 12 June and will compete against numerous other teams.
This is not the first time the News has written about Megan. Last year, the then 16 year old spoke to the News about learning to fly and writing a motivational book when she was only 13.
Over and above taking on the major responsibility of piloting the plane, Megan is also an author and motivational speaker, and founded the U Dream Global Foundation to uplift, empower and transform the lives of thousands of youth throughout Africa.
After final inspections and flight certifications were done, the team charted their course across Africa, planning to visit cities in Namibia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea and finally, Egypt.
Voluntary support for logistical aspects of the flight is being provided by CFS, ExecuJet, Worldfuel and Mike Blyth, founder of The Airplane Factory, who built the original Sling plane, of which the Sling 4 design was chosen for this flight. Using specially modified, self-made drones, the Challenge will be documented on video as some of the teenagers fly alongside adult supervisors who will use a second Sling-4 aircraft for support and to monitor proceedings.
