SUKABUMI: Indonesia’s notorious traffic gridlock has been known to send commuters into a spin, but one man has decided to rise above the daily grind – by building his very own helicopter.
###
Jujun Junaedi spends his free time in a backyard tinkering with his project, guided by instructional videos, as he dreams of flying above the snarled roads of his hometown Sukabumi.
######
“It’s so incredibly frustrating. You run out of petrol and it’s a waste of time,” the 42-year-old says of congestion in the city, about 110 kilometres (70 miles) south of the capital Jakarta.
###
“You end up being totally exasperated by the time you get to where you’re going.”
###
Buying parts and using scraps from his auto repair shop, Junaedi says he has spent about 30 million rupiah ($2,100) on his creation since he started building it 18 months ago.
###
Junaedi’s young son and neighbour have both been roped into help build the eight-metre (26-foot) long petrol-powered chopper, which has yet to take its maiden flight.
###
“As long as my helicopter takes off then I’ll be satisfied,” he said.
###
His quest may seem a flight of fancy, but Junaedi is not the first person to try and build an artisanal aircraft.
###
Two years ago, a South African man used corrugated iron sheets and other scrap to construct a replica police helicopter, according to local media reports.
###
A farmer in China also grabbed headlines in 2016 after he spent three years trying, and failing, to build his own working chopper.
###
Whether Junaedi’s project gets off the ground remains to be seen, but airworthiness may prove less of a challenge than mounting costs.
###
“When he needs money for the engine or blades, for example, it costs a lot of money,” said his wife Yeti.
###
“If everything is spent on this helicopter we’d have nothing left to buy food.”
###
The Morning and Evening Brief###
The Morning and Evening Brief