Panafrican News Agency

South African teenage heroes land in Cairo

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA)  A light aircraft built and flown by a group of South African teenagers landed safely in Cairo on Monday following an epic journey across the continent.

As previously reported by PANA, the four-seater Sling 4 aircraft departed from Cape Town last month and travelled to Namibia, Malawi, Ethiopia, Zanzibar, Tanzania and Uganda. They were accompanied by a support aircraft flown by experienced adult pilots who were in constant radio contact with them and ground crews.

Lead pilot Megan Werner who is just 17, said the crew and ground support staff had worked well to ensure that there were no problems during the 12,100 kilometre journey.

She said the flying conditions were good and they have had no serious problems apart from faulty radio and navigation equipment in Namibia and difficulty finding aviation fuel in Addis Ababa.

They were also forced to fly the last leg from the Ethiopian capital to Cairo because there were technical problems with the support aircraft.

Werner said the aim of the initiative was “to show Africa and even the world that anything is possible if you set your mind to it”.

She founded U-Dream Global with 19 other students in an attempt to promote engineering, science, technology, and skills development.

It took the team just two weeks to build the aircraft.

The first flight from Cairo to Cape Town took place 99 years ago.

-0- PANA CU/MA 9July2019