Sweet 16 is when you dream of flying. At 16, Jesse Van Kuijk dreamt just that and at 19 flew, not at a flying club or the Air Force, but on a plane he built on his own, over three years of studying fluid mechanics and aircraft making . His aircraft runs on pedal power. The lad is from a Dutch town Budel near the German border.

He used everything possible to learn aviation on his own. And made the plane with Balsa wood, polyurethane and light rip-resistant foil. The plane’s wings are 26 meter wide. Weighing 56 kgs, it lifted a few meters but for its bicycle chain that gave way.

The aircraft is seven meters long, four meters high, which he and his parents set up over three hours at Kempen airport. The attempt shows what mere passion for something can take you places, even the sky.

Via: Spiegel de