South African teens assemble a plane to fly from Cape to Cairo

South African teens have decided to embark on a journey from Cape Town to Cairo, and back again, But that’s not all…

The 20 teenagers have also assembled their aircraft, which is a Sling-4 that uses ordinary motor fuel. And they built it in just three weeks.

The excursion

The trip will begin on 12 June 2019 and will see different teams pilot and charter a course that will take them across several African cities and towns as they spread their unique African message.

Pilot, author and motivational speaker, 17-year-old Megan Werner from Krugersdorp, is the founder of U Dream Global Foundation. The foundation aims to uplift, empower, equip and transform the lives of youth throughout Africa and the world by encouraging them to exist beyond expectations and to dream of the impossible.

Megan says, “The Challenge has enabled us to take a lot of teenagers from different backgrounds to teach and equip them with life skills that they can take with them into the future.”

“Throughout Africa, we are hoping to do the same by impacting thousands of lives of the youth who are the future of the continent.”

Once final flight certifications and inspections have taken place, the teams are set to fly from Cape Town, via Namibia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Egypt. The return flight is set to take them through Uganda, Rwanda and Zambia.

Support for the flight

Voluntary support for logistical aspects of the flight is being supplied by CFS, ExecuJet, Worldfuel and Mike Blyth, founder of The Airplane Factory – the enterprise that designed and built the original Sling plane series.

Using specially modified drones, the Challenge will be captured on film as some of the teenagers will fly alongside adult supervisors who will use a second Sling-4. The Sling-4 was selected as this type of aircraft has already flown around the world twice.

BackaBuddy campaign

In order to fund the fuel, accommodation, crew support, commercial flights, branding and documentation of the Challenge, the teams are hoping to raise R350 000 through a crowdfunding campaign on BackaBuddy.

Megan says, “By doing this project we can show the youth and people right across the world that anything is possible if you set your mind to it. If teenagers can build a plane and fly it Africa what is stopping you? We hope the public will support our BackaBuddy campaign because a journey of 1000 miles starts with a single step!”

To support this incredible venture, click the BackaBuddy link.

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