Kenyan flight enthusiast aims to soar the skies with home-made aircraft

Since childhood, Gabriel Nderitu, a Murang’a based flight enthusiast, wanted to understand how aircrafts work.

Today, every time Nderitu sets foot at Kambirwa airstrip in Murang’a County with his homemade aircrafts for testing, the villagers gather to watch his innovations in amusement.

This is no small fete for the 47-year-old IT specialist who has a passion for the aviation industry.

The journey to make the aircraft begun in 2007 and Nderitu has had to contend with several successive failures yet has remained undeterred in his pursuit to realise his lifelong dream of making a craft that will soar the skies.

Using a remote control, Gabriel Nderitu shows how to operate the aeroplane he built.

(PHOTO: BEVERLYNE MUSILI/STANDARD)

“In 2007, I purchased a Toyota engine which I used to make the first model. After three years of progress, it was ready for a field test but there were many troubles with weight and engine power.

"After the difficulties with this model I wanted to give up but opted not to. I embarked on some more lighter and slightly better designs. I decided to import a couple of important parts such as the engine and propeller. I also opted to use remote control in testing some designs,” he says.

He imported the remote control system from the US which came with a transmitter, receiver and heavy duty linear servos. He then designed the system so that it can start and switch off the engine, move the rudder and elevator.

“I embarked on some lighter and better aircraft designs and so far, I have have built four designs but only three are still in good condition.

Some of the others crashed badly while others were too heavy. I discarded the heavy ones and the current three are lighter. I am trying to overcome the weight problem by using aluminium in my projects because it is lighter,” he says.

Nderitu says he incurs a lot replacing propellers which are expensive and break during field tests but says this has not stopped him from moving on with his dream.

In June 2012, he designed UPENDO 6, a light aircraft with wooden wings covered with plywood.

“UPENDO 6 was a huge improvement from the first design.

The experience I gained from this made me proceed to the latest designs where the wings are covered with Aluminium 0.5mm sheets,” he says.

He also designed UPENDO 9 before embarking on VIWANDA with two separate interchangeable set of wings with one having a wing area of 62 square feet and the other 90 square feet.

“ELIMU 14 weighs 135kg and is remote controlled. My next project (project 15) is the lightest since it is all aluminium and weighs 100kg,” he says.

Although he does not intend to get into a career in the aviation industry, Nderitu says the purpose of his projects is to inspire research in Kenya and Africa and to challenge students to take their education with the seriousness it deserves.

He reveals that he has so far spent Sh1million on his project and says he has never received any funding.

“This is my private project and I have not received any funding except a guy in the US who donated an engine. The labour is also expensive since I have to pay my technicians,” he says.

The IT expert, with a degree in Physics from the University of Nairobi, says Government should take science and technology seriously since it is the driver of manufacturing and can create jobs.

“I believe that in the near future, Kenya will be able to produce indigenous aircrafts,” he says.

Nderitu, who appeals to Government to fund innovators, subscribes to online innovation centres in order to acquire more knowledge for his project.

He notes that the challenges innovators go through might tempt one to stop working on a given project but says he has learned how to overcome these challenges.

“Innovation needs persistence and patience because you can easily be frustrated and give up. During one of my tests, my propeller broke when it was new,” he says.

By 2017, Nderitu says he should be able to produce a viable two-seater aircraft and then progress to making bigger ones.

He was lucky to be among innovators who participated in the Nairobi Innovation Week which run from August 5 to 7.

“In the not so far future, domestic airline services should be within the reach of virtually all counties. The costs will not be very different from fueling a small car only that this time, it will be for an extra fast and convenient mode of transport,” he says.