Backyard aviator set to take flight

He has no engineering qualification – but then neither did the Wright brothers. Now Gabriel Nderitu, an IT worker in Kenya, is attempting to follow in their footsteps by building an aeroplane in his backyard.

For the last year, Mr Nderitu has been working on the project every weekend, and is finally ready for a test flight, which is planned for next week – once the rickety craft has a windscreen in place. His technical qualifications consist of six months of research online. "My boyhood interest was in aviation," he explained to Kenyan TV. "So maybe it was a missed career which I'm trying to recreate, or something."