To change their city's bad traffic, students at the National Polytechnic Institute of Cambodia (NIPC) have designed a new type of manned (载人的) plane. It is from a rather usual furniture— a school chair. The group hope to use it to carry people around capital city and even help fight fires.
With eight propellers (螺旋桨) and a school chair for the pilot 's seat, the plane was developed on the outskirts (郊区) of the capital.
"We wanted to solve some problems for our society by making a taxi plane and inventing for firefighters," said Lonh Vannsith, 21, the pilot of the plane. They hoped it could reach the upper floors of a building to bring a hose (软管) where a fire truck could not reach.
It took three years of research and development and cost around $20,000 to build. The plane can carry a 60 - kilogram pilot and fly for about 10 minutes for a distance of 1 km. When manned, the plane now only rises to as much as four meters. The team plans to improve the design to allow it to take more weights, as well as fly further and more smoothly at a higher level.
"The project faced delay ( 延期) because of the international transport. Many parts of the plane had to be ordered from abroad," said Sarin Sereyvatha, who is NPIC 's head of research and development technology.
"Generally, if we make one plane, the cost is expensive but if we make them to sell on the market, the cost will go down, " said Sarin.
