Chinese man spends US$120,000 building full scale replica of Airbus A320 (but it won’t fly)

Chinese man spends US$120,000 building full scale replica of Airbus A320 (but it won’t fly)

A farmer in China has spent all of his savings realising his childhood dream – to own an aeroplane. Zhu Yue, from Kaiyuan city in Liaoning Province, claimed he taught himself how to build aircraft by studying technical drawings and plane models. He has so far spent over £90,000 (800,000 yuan) on the aircraft, according to People’s Daily Online.

Mr Zhu said he has liked aeroplanes since childhood, and because he couldn’t afford to buy one, he decided to build one by himself.

His A320 is a full-size copy of Airbus’s narrow-body, twin-engine airliner, which sells for £74 million ($99 million) on the market. Its wing span is 35.8 metres (126.3 feet) and overall length is 37.75 metres (123.8 metres). So far, Mr Zhu has used 40 tonnes iron building the aircraft which is due to complete next May, said the People’s Daily report citing Beijing News.  Apparently Mr Zhu’s A320 is not to be flown. Once the plane is built, the farmer plans to open a restaurant inside or turns it into his home.

Mr Zhu told local reporters: ‘The reason why I chose to build a plane is because it has been a dream since my childhood.’ He said he had worked as a welder and motorbike mechanic, and he decided to realise his dream after earning enough money.  Mr Zhu is building the plane with five friends in a rented industrial park in Kaiyuan. He said after he decided to build the plane last October, he spent three months studying the models and technical drawings of A320 before coming up with his own construction plan.

The man is also live-streaming himself building the plan on Chinese video sites, which has led some people to claim that he started the project solely as a way to promote himself. Mr Zhu defended himself on Chinese media: ‘In order to build the plane, I spent over 800,000 yuan, these are my life savings. Some people said I am promoting myself in sensational way, who would spend so much money and time doing so?’

He said the live-streaming sessions motivate him and his team to work harder.

Courtesy : Dailymail