Building Zenith aircraft is a pleasure we all enjoy.  Being a little more than 'naive' my team got to build the aircraft, the hangars and the airfield - as well as work on the regulations and approvals process for Ghana!  Today, we administer the training and assessment, as well as licence issue for the National Licence (LSA equivalent) on behalf of the Authorities.  It has been a long journey, and we have further to go.…

It is hard to believe that it is nearly one month since the annual pilgrimage of the faithful came to an end.   We are all back in Ghana, and busy getting ready to start 4 more girls from the bushlands on a 4 year programme of learning to fly, build and maintain aircraft, run an airfield and use a computer...as well as drive a tractor and a truck!  …

Incredible as it may sound, that is the fact of today.

At the request of a teacher in a rural African community we were asked to extend our drop run to fly around a remote school so that the teachers could tell the girls 'that is a plane built by Ghanaian girls and flown by them' - and then to use that towards an 'anti-teen-pregnancy' talk.…

Lydia is already known to many of you, she has undergone a lot of challenges in her little life.... yet, through the amazing healing power of Zenith Aircraft, she is getting above her problems...

As we beat out the circuits with the occassional 12kt gust that made her work harder, we started to chat....

'How many 16 year old girls learn to fly?'…

Despite being cut short due to bad weather, we flew 127 children on Saturday, as part of our annual fly-me day at Kpong.  It is all part of a complex health education programme and the children are from rural communities - and it is a great life changing motivator.  Many of the children have never experienced electricity in their homes, let alone tap water, some may never have slept inside a building with windows... these are the same youngsters that we be in our sights as future aircraft…

Our heartfelt thanks go to Randy and Tim for kindly sending their 'left-over' cleco's, wiring, instruments, clamps, breakers and other goodies to us in Ghana.  Randy and Tim both built Zenith aircraft, and at the end had some parts that had some good deeds left in the packaging... They responded to the Medicine on the Move…

Ghana will be back at Oshkosh this year - and we are camping!

Not only will Patricia Mawuli be back but we hope to also bring the only disabled student pilot in Ghana too, Lydia (she is 16).  If you are likely to be at Oshkosh, and particularly camping, and would like to share some stories of building and flying in Ghana, West Africa,…

Yesterday we moved all but the last few parts from the old site, ready to sell the family house (we call it the 'farm - 52 acres with its own runway)  to raise funds, to clear debts and hopefully contribute towards the purchase of floats for the 801... IF you know anybody interested in a unique property in Ghana, please contact me asap... 

Suzy Patey is responsible for the following challenges in Ghana.  Thank you Suzy...

You see, SHE pasted nice pictures of a windshield fairing on her 801.  Our girls told me that our 'silicon putty windshield seal looked ugly'.  So, I told them 'If you can do better - go do!'.... and they did.

When we teach the girls here in Ghana, they have to…

In Ghana, Santa has been giving inspirations to the CH701 building ladies of WAASPS and Medicine on the Move.

Consideration was given to renaming the the aircraft as 'Metal Sleigh', for, afterall, both the Wooden Sleigh of the red-coated-white-bearded aviator (Reindeer powered, of course), have great similiarities....

1. STOL capabilities - both…

Hi fellow builders... would you like to have a part in helping to train girls to build Zenith aircraft in West Africa?…

Thank you Zenith for making the growth of light aviation possible in Ghana, West Africa and for giving so many young people new hope. The ability to produce parts from scratch build, and to have kit parts coupled with excellent manuals and plans and outstanding support from the factory and Zenith community is what has made it possible for WAASPS, Medicine on the Move and the AvTech Academy to succeed in changing lives, one flight at a time.  

The changes to these girls lives…

I decided not to write about Oshkosh - since there was a lot already.. .but the Medicine on the Move (MoM) team are just winding up their USA tour - and looking forward to getting home to the team that are still in Ghana working hard on keeping the airfield ready for our return (they chose to dig out some large stones whilst we are away... and now need to fill the holes!!)

Last week we had the wonderful opportunity to visit the Zenith Factory.  For Patricia this was her…

Some of you remember Lydia, the young lady we found in a market last year with an arm contracture.  Well, a year on she has been busy building and maintaining aircraft and today is undergoing flap surgery to start the repairs to her right wing.

Before going to surgery our team of West African girls sent to the workshop for an oil change...…

Ok, so here is your challenge - a floating airport.

We are seriously considering taking on a disused hospital ship and converting it into a 'Health Education Vessel with Advanced First Responder Capabilities'.  If successful, which is more than 50%, we would want to keep the vessel at large the majority of the time, anchored at a number of points along the thousands of kilometers of lake-coast on the largest man made lake in the world.  Moving crews and supplies on and off…

A documentary is underway about what we do in West Africa, much of it with Zenith aircraft... Many people ask to see a video of what we do, but our internet is 'inter-mittent-net'....

Happily, here is a link to the preview to the documentary.... http://vimeo.com/21946586 , donated by Rex and Melissa Pemberton, watch out especially for the Zenith across the setting sun and rising sun pictures.... we had a great time shooting this, but…

It is pretty certain that we will be coming to Oshkosh... 

Oshkosh is a long way from home... a long long way from home... 

it is a shame that there are not a few places to top up the tanks on the way over...

or some calm waters…

Reality TV is for sissies. Honestly, I have seen these programmes of 'challenges' in remote areas - they are really not reality at all... IF you want reality, you have to spend some time amongst the real life challenges that West Africa has on offer - in abundance, raw and ready to make you question the 'necessities' that we all take for granted - after all, YOU have power and a computer in front of you - and they work, as does your internet connection.... so that is a…

In West Africa light aviation is still massively under-utilised, yet in great need.  So, with the harmattan dust restricting our flight movements, and with Detective Erin Nolan from the NYPD on a visit, we took to the road to check out the airfields we hoped to 'stimulate' either back to use or to improve.  We scored 2/3 and get some very interesting tales to tell.…