iPhone | iPad
Android
Huawei
Suraj Kumar revealed that he used to visit Mannat, SRK's residence everyday
KT APPDOWNLOAD
7-year-old Ugandan boy shows off his precocious flying skills
Ugandan "Captain" Graham Shema, 7, is seen inside the cockpit of a Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft at the Entebbe International Airport, in Entebbe Uganda on December 17.
Entebbe (Uganda) - A lover of math and science, the student has flown as a trainee three times on a Cessna 172
A 7-year-old Ugandan boy has become a sensation in his country with his precocious display of aircraft knowledge and budding flying skills.
Graham Shema has been interviewed on local television and his name is prefixed in newspapers and on social media with “Captain”. Germany’s ambassador and the country’s transport minister have invited him for meetings.
A lover of math and science, the student has flown as a trainee three times on a Cessna 172.
He says he wants to be a pilot and an astronaut, and someday travel to Mars. “My role model is Elon Musk,” said the boy, a pilot’s white shirt and black slacks hugging his small frame.
“I like Elon Musk because I want to learn with him about space, to go with him in space and also to get a handshake.”
Musk founded SpaceX and the private rocket company recently launched two Americans into orbit and hopes to one day send humans to Mars.
One recent morning at Uganda’s Entebbe International Airport, his instructor asked him to explain how the engines worked on a Bombardier CRJ9000 plane parked on the tarmac. His voice struggling to rise above the roar of a plane’s running engines, Shema rattled off the answer: “The inlet tubes suck in the air and inject it into the compressor, the compressor squeezes it with the fans, after squeezing it with the fans, it becomes hot,” Shema said, playfully gesturing and proceeding to detail how an engine creates thrust.
Shema’s curiosity for flight was piqued by a freak incident.
When he was 3 years old, a police helicopter flew so low to the ground that it blew off the roof of his grandmother’s house on the outskirts of the Ugandan capital Kampala while he was playing outside.
“It triggered something in his mind,” said his mother, travel agent Shamim Mwanaisha, 29. Her son began peppering her with endless questions about how planes work, she said.
Last year, she contacted a local aviation academy and Shema began lessons at home on aircraft parts and aviation vocabulary. After five months of coursework, Mwanaisha paid for practical flying lessons for her son.
“I felt like a bird flying up,” Shema said of his first flight. He had never flown on a plane before.
He flew three times as co-pilot between January and March before the pandemic stopped his practice.
He has since been focusing on aviation theory, and immersing himself in videos about aviation and space exploration on his virtual reality viewer.
More news from
Shihab Chottur crossed into Saudi Arabia through Kuwait in the second week of May, this year
As soon as the incident was reported, the firefighting team of the Civil Defence Department rushed to the site
Fishing communities told to halt operations for next five days in the eastern and central Arabian sea, and along the Indian Saurastra and Kutch region
After this unforgettable experience, my friends and I decided to go cycling every week
Rs30 billion earmarked for the solarisation of electric tube wells, besides removing all the taxes from imported seeds, says Ishaq Dar
The interaction was both fun and educational with Mansoor, the Dubai Police mascot, engaging the students
The target of exports has been estimated at $30 billion and remittances target has been set at $33 billion; Rs7,303 billion would be spent on interest payment