HARGEISA — Three men from Somaliland who, ever since they were young dreamed of building a helicopter have designed and built their own helicopter in their own backyard using scrap metals and an old engine from a van.

The trio, Mohamed Abdi Barkadle, Saed Abdi Jide and Abdi Farah Lidan  said the purpose of their helicopter was to be used to fight fire in the city and surrounding area. They receive no major sponsors, financial nor material support from any one including the government, it is a three men vision and ingenuity.

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This is the first ever helicopter built in any Somali speaking state. The fact that the trio could do so much with so little will inspire a lot of Somalilanders.

To many Somalilanders, this is historical moment for Somaliland and it is possible very soon others will start manufacturing their own electronics and devices.

This is the time to support these promising Somalilanders!, all stakeholders and regulatory agencies should rally round and assist these men to achieve their goal.

We wish them all the best from here Somalilandpress, we are certainly with you and we hope all the Somalilanders, friends and others who might be inspired by them get involved.

Somalilandpress, 9 January 2010

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1 COMMENT

  1. Woow this is truely inspirational and bright day for Somaliland, we about to put the first ever Somali made helicopter out there thanks to the tree genius men.

    I bet if one of those rich Western firm hears about these three men they would want to send them a visa and right to work for them.

    I would personally, look what they have built in their small backyard, look how every thing is functioning and smooth, look at the design and colours.

    I am very impressed.

    • Have they thoughted about health and safety issues here? There test ground is a residential area for God sake! war kala taga xaaafadaha waxan aad isku xidhxdheen, every person can put scraps together.

      • Everyone starts from such then eventually improves and gains more knowledge, materials and support.

        Do you expert them to build a modern helicopter with the first go? This guys are three guys doing what they love what are you doing? whinging about them right? Talking is cheap.

        Geelaga iska ilasho.

        • Horeba loo yidhi soomalidu amaanta way la degdegtaa. War, caruurta iyo guryaya haynaga burburinina yaa ku yiraahda!!!! niman qayilay iga dheh!!!

    • As a "real" helicopter pilot myself, this is the worst piece of jury rigging I have ever seen. As far as I am concerned, they just ruined a perfect van engine. For crying out loud, does anybody reading this post think that this piece of shit will ever fly?

    • This piece of shit will never fly and these 3 guys could not find a job in Europe fixing bikes. On a positive note they are not out doing terrorist acts.

      • Always the hater, could you not praise them and there efforts? This is the probelem with somali's and why your country is in the dogs.
        These men are truely admirable.

  2. Rageedi. Halkan waxaan hambalyo uga dirayaa afartan muwaadin ee u dhashay dalka Jamhuuriyada Somaliland waxaanaan leeyahay walaalayaal sii wada dedaalka oo kiciya kuna guubaabinayaa muwaadiniinta kale ee reer Somaliland inay gacan qabtaan una soo diyaraan qalabkeedi iyo talooyinba mar haday dowladii gabtay hawsheedi oo ay ahyd inay gacan qabtaan muwaadiniintan iskood wax u qabsanaya inshalah doorashada ka dib waxaa iman doona maamul dhiiri galiya dhalinyarada Somaliland. Hambalyo ururka wadaniyiinta Somaliland

  3. How can we Somalilanders in the diaspora help? is there a phone number we call, an address we can send materials to they need?

  4. Don't want to spoil the show but is this thing actually flying (I would be *verry* surprised if it does) ?!

    • It's not flying yet, not at that stage yet, they only showed this because people who are passing by keep bothering them, so some media wanted to see what was going on.

      It's not ready to fly yet but not long to go.

    • I don't think it will fly since they are using and old engine that came from a Van. Helicopters & planes rquired turbine engines not normal car engines. Besides; The blade should rotate with the engine as soon as you start the engine. You can't start them separtely as shown on the clip.

  5. I encourage their efforts and their determination but I don't think this helicopter would fly because it is not equipped with right engine.

    But the efforts of these young men could be the beginning of an impressive aviation in Somaliland.

    Jamal

    • I think that it is very well suited as a mass-decapitator. Just ad a little staircase in front and the amazing machine will do the rest.

  6. wow, that's amazing, truly inspirational and a fighting story to Somaliland's endurance and hope.

  7. Kudos to the three engineers, they should be encouraged and supported. Anything is possible if you put your mind to it. Anything and everything.

  8. And another thing, whilst those in Somaliland are trying to create, others just wish to destroy..allegedly some guy wanted to blow up a Mosque and kill Imam Siro today in Hargeisa..Is there something I am missing here?

  9. It is for the government or Somalilanders in US and Europe to hire one technician specialized in Helicopter making to help these three citizens to make it fly. they need little technology and experience and they will make it fly.

    You, the Somalilanders, should stand alongside the three men to make such dream come true, they got pretty minds. It is surprising to see three men thinking to build helicopter, while many others are struggling to earn their daily food.

    Finally, i say to Somalilanders in Europe and North America… the big pay cheque will not help you always, if you dont sponsor such projects in your home.

    Thanks
    Abdulaziz Al-Mutairi

  10. I am very impressed by what these fellow citizens are trying to achieve. Their intentions are laudable but the reality is that their helicopter will not get off the ground until it is equipped with the right engine and control systems. This project is not unachievable, but requires some funding and few people with expertise in aerodynamics and control systems. It is also important that safety is taken very seriously and protective gear is provided to these young intelligent men. We surely don't want to lose them in an avoidable accident. Also I hope they move their helicopter from their backyard to a suitable location away from the houses and people. I urge all Somalilanders who have expertise in the fields of aeronautical, mechanical, and control systems engineering to contribute their time and skills to this national project and the others who can afford to help fund it. In this way, Somaliland will build not only helicopters but also aeroplanes, ships, and ultimately rockets and satellites.

  11. I know this Somalilander mechanical engineer who works for an engineering firm he can help but how can we get in touch with these guys and they need to move it to a warehouse away from nosy people

  12. I think if you send an email to Somalilandpress team they can link you up. That would be a good idea and will help those guys develop their helicopter.

  13. These young men are emerging talent and chasing a dream. They need both moral and financial help to realize this dream.

    A fundraising in their honour from the Somali Communities around the globe would go a long way, morally, technically, and financially. Let us help them to get this Helicopter of the ground and make them proud.

  16. Safety is first!!

    do the guys think what they are doing , this is Helicopter not a car which they are going to fly …..it needs experience not easy thing , but they come up with good idea and deserved to support them , i am very proud of them but they shoud be very careful.

  17. those guys they do alot of work, so if we are somaliland student Malaysia we are send very big congratulations, so i am sure they will success ed this helicopter. really i am proud to be somalilanders .. also we must help and i am believe that we do every thing this helicopter give for us full recognition be cause we first african country who make helicopter thank you all guys tht doing this work and make alot of effort plz don't feel disappointment if every thing happened wasalama calaykum

  18. This is amazing and full determination of these three young men, what they came up with surely will inspire others who Just chewing ..QAAD. condrts guyz may allah bless us all .Keep up the good work.

  19. it is amazing. and truly inspirational . but the helicopter needs right engine
    It is good start , everything has begining keep the jop guys

  20. this is good start, keep on the good work. Even if it is car turned to helicoptar this is what i call James Born 007. Very creative.

    cheers,
    sharif

  22. Lmao, a bunch of doofus's make a ramshackle piece of junk pseudo "Helicopter" and suddenly there's a technological revolution?

    No, you're all still useless.

    Sorry.

  24. To the negative little white kids:

    You wont understand because there were time that your grand grand fathers were at this stage or even lower point, things gotto start from some where.
    It's not about the fact that it doesnt look flash like a modern helicopter out off Boe's factory but rather the fact that they iniatiated something new in this region where war is the national sport.

    Keep being negative its good for us and we will proove you wrong.
    This is not recognized country and once it is it will have access to better technologies and resources. Keep hating kids 🙂

    • the the negative little black kids:

      the great grand fathers didn't see a helicopter in the sky and try to copy it with a van engine.

      The early helicopters were rubbish true
      But this scrap metal will not fly!!!

      • Little white boy:

        news flash: helicopter was invented by a black man (Paul E. Williams), so please stop trying to steal and take credit for it 🙂 you make fool of your self.

        Besides the helicopters that we all fly are built by multi-national corporation firms not by one race or colour.

        Im just saying stop hating this is our own techno revolution 🙂

        Yes behind everyone was at one point maybe before we didnt see the point of having one but now these two guys want to build it to fight wild bushfires.

        You suppose to support it if you know something otherwise silence is better.

        • You are building this up way more than it should be. I can appreciate getting behind some ingenuity, but this thing is a death trap. Taking a car engine and tilting it on it's side and welding rotors to the axle is insanity. First, it has no pedals or means of controlling it. They just put a pretend helicopter shell around the engine. Second, there is no tail rudder to offset the torque. If this thing actually had an engine strong enough to get it off the ground, it would spin like a top and kill someone when it crashed. Encouraging people to build something like a helicopter or airplane with no understanding of how these things work is suicide or worse, murder. I applaud the effort, but encourage them to stop.

        • One other thing- Paul E Williams was born in 1939 and patented a type of helicopter for Lockheed in 1962. Igor Sikorsky (a Russian) invented the first helicopter in 1940 and some versions existed earlier but his is considered the first real one. Helicopters were flown in the Korean War when Paul E Williams was on 14 or 15 years old well before he patented the Lockheed Model 186 (XH-51). This is to his credit, but he didn't invent the helicopter.

  25. The helicopter appears to be missing a tail rotor, can someone please tell them that it will spin uncontrollably without one and the rpm of the blades should be over 1,000 and not what appears to be around 60. Has it been planned in a wind-tunnels and do the "flight engineers" have access to any aerodynamics texts or linear algebra.

    I am just a bit worried that it might crash and people will get hurt.

  29. Mashallah, What the brothers have done should be Congratulated and thats it.

    no need for negative comments about if it'll fly or if they used the right sort of engine. they're on a road of adventure and will inshallah iron out the finer issues.

  33. waar maahee naga daaa, waa arin fiican haduu jiro, meee sawirkii.
    haday shekadaasi dhab tahay, waa laba xaalo mid , nimankaa waa la kaxaysan ama waa la khaarajin.
    yaa wax inoo ogol.