Xiaoxiao Xu - Aeronautics in the Backyard
Xiaoxiao Xu - Aeronautics in the Backyard
Xiaoxiao Xu - Aeronautics in the Backyard
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Zhang Dousan works in construction and builds Dousan No. 5 in his spare time. He has spent three years and more than $70,000 working on this coaxial-type helicopter.
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A model airplane rests on a table at Xu Bin’s aviation museum.
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12. Cao Zhengshu working on his plane in his backyard in Mianyan, Sichuan Province.
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Aeronaut He Dongbiao owns a company called Galaxy Helicopters. It sells DIY helicopter kits. Here, an employee spray paints a plane part.
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Yuan Xiangqiu holds a model plane his son made in Tiantai, Zhejiang Province.
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Wang Qiang sits inside the Wang Qiang No.2, a fixed-wing aircraft that uses the Yamaha engine from a boat. It took hime just under four months and about $5,000 to construct. It can reach an altitude of nearly 5,000 feet.
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In 2014, aeronaut Su Guibin was flying in an aircraft built by a friend when it crashed into a telephone pole. The accident left him paralyzed from the waist down.
08Xu Bin opened the China Civil Aviation First Museum last year. It exhibits about 30 aircraft made by aeronauts.
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He Dongbiao sits inside his helicopter Low Altitude Free Man. The aircraft has an MZ202 aeromotor. It took him a year to construct and flies as high as 1,300 feet.
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Wang Qiang refits the engine for his airplane in his backyard in Cixi, Zhejiang Province.
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Plastic shrouds one of Zhang Dousan's DIY helicopters at a storage facility.
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Cao Zhengshu sits on his bed in Mianyang, Sichuan Province. He sleeps in his shed to keep an eye on his aircraft after a burglar stole the airframe and engine.
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An airplane is on display in Tiantai, the village in Zhejiang Province where aeronaut Yuan Xiangqiu lives.
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The son of aeronaut Wang Qiang plays with a toy plane.
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Wang Qiang drives his plane to a test flight site on the outskirts of Tiantai, Zhejiang Province.
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Jin Shaozhi shows off the Sky Horse, a fixed-wing aircraft with a steel frame, aluminum tubing and Rotax 447 motor.
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A cockpit sits idly at He Dongbiao's DIY helicopter factory in Xiaoshan, Zhejiang Province, China.
