Geoff Thomas
Sitting on the flight line among the exotic machinery from the world's major aircraft manufacturers is a small, white-painted, monoplane.
With a wingspan of 8.3m (27ft), the high-winged all-metal aircraft, powered by a 48kW (64shp) Rotax 582 with a twin-bladed propeller, is called a Zenair CH-701 and it's made from a kit produced in Canada.
Built by UAE students at the Dubai Men's College - part of the Higher Colleges of Technology, hence the HCT logotype on the fuselage - the aircraft has now logged just over two flying hours.
Its airborne future is somewhat uncertain. No home-built light aircraft has ever been registered in Dubai, but the project supervisor at the college intends to apply for certification to see what happens!
Canadian Michael Davidson is supervisor of the aircraft technology department at the college and says the exercise began with a grain of an idea about three years ago.
"We wanted to give our students some 'real' experience of aircraft structures," he says, "and building our own aircraft seemed like the best way of achieving that aim.
"The kit cost around $20,000 and took us more than 18 months to assemble.Visitors to the college's stand at Dubai '95 may remember the fuselage on display, before we tackled the wings."
Anxious
A critical moment for the project came in March this year when Col Mohammed Al Dowais of the UAE air force flew the two-seater aircraft for the first time, watched by the anxious students.
He completed a one-hour flight reporting no problems whatsoever.
So delighted was the squadron's commanding officer (many of the students are from the air base) that he offered to buy the college a second - and more powerful -version of the aircraft. The students have just completed the fuselage and it is scheduled to fly in around six months.
Source: Flight Daily News