Villager in Gansu builds airplane with $4,500

In Pingliang, northwestern China’s Gansu Province, a villager named Chen Lianxue built his own airplane.

Chen, 50, is a machinist. The serious traffic jams today had inspired him. He was always wondering if ordinary people could also make use of the aerial space, it surely would reduce the pressure on the ground. In 2010, Chen Lianxue who only has a junior high graduate degree developed a keen interest on airplane. He read books, searched online, and did some reasearch at home. Chen spent 28,000 yuan on purchasing engines, aluminum alloy, rubber tires and other materials to build an airplane himself.

The silver plane Chen built is 4.2 meters long, 10.5 meters wide, and 1.6 meters tall. “I had flown before, but did not succeed. Now I am going to make the wings 8.5 meters long and 1.4 meters wide. And I will also work on the empennage. I will try to fly again after the New Year. If it works this time, I hope this plane can one day be used for commuting, as well as applying fertilizers or putting out a fire,” he said.