How Not To Build An Airplane - Africa-Style

[Delirium]

See Rule #4

[Zimme83]

See Rule #4

[Vraciu]

See Rule #4

[eagl]

Even if it was it doesnt mean they are dumber than others. IQ is not considering educational level, nutrition status, fatigue etc. If you are poor, hungry, tired etc your score on an IQ test will drop, especially with low educational level.

In this case is also about resources, his plane looks like crap because its build from scrap metal and whatever he could find/afford. If you dont have any money you will not succeed no matter your skill level.

It's not necessarily about resources.  He has no understanding of how critical weight is and no idea how to build strong lightweight structures.  If his entire design were the same except made from the lightest possible materials it might get off the ground, however briefly.  That would be a step forward that he could build on.  As it is, it's a bit like a cargo cult attempt to mimic an advanced technology without any understanding of a couple of critical concepts.  As if the general shape and effort alone would produce the desired results.

If he stepped back and recreated the wright flyer or any number of early aviation designs using materials that he does have available, he very well could build a flyable aircraft.  But again, what he lacks is the knowledge of how critical weight is, and the basics of engineering mechanics that would permit him to build lightweight but strong structures. 

Specifically, he used very few triangulated braces.  90 deg welds with no bracing are all over the thing, and if it's not strong enough he used a bigger piece of metal.  That just doesn't work no matter what resources you have available.  The materials he has used so far are probably fairly expensive, representing at the very least the better part of the structure required for a small house and the powerplant for a vehicle.  Wood and fabric would be much better. Or he could swap all of the steel he has used for aluminum tubing, if he only understood why a triangle is strong and a square is not, why an arch works where a circle or rectangle fails, etc.  The ancient Egyptians understood many of these concepts so they're not out of reach, he just either doesn't know about them or he's dismissed them as minor inconsequential details.

[eagl]

Regarding the IQ part of the equation...  It's pretty well known that poor nutrition will affect brain development.  Some malnourished kids grow up smart and short, some grow up normal sized but with significantly lower intelligence, with all sorts of variances in between.  You can't take the general truth (poor nutrition stunts growth) and apply it to an individual because everyone grows differently even with similar environmental conditions, but in general you're going to have a population with reduced capabilities across the board if they don't get enough of the right food when growing up.

My father in law is about 5 ft 4 inches, but all of his kids are well above average height, with one son over 6 ft.  They're also all well above average for IQ.  The difference between the father and the kids was nutrition growing up.  My father in law grew up in a war zone during WWII, so his diet for years as a child was extremely protein limited.  When he got to the US he made damn sure his kids got enough protein and the results really speak for themselves.  They're as smart as their dad, but significantly taller and better physically developed.  What makes this somewhat sad is that the difference may be as small as getting the equivalent of one egg per day, and there are still lots of places where one egg a week is considered a luxury.  The people in those places are, as a group, going to be at a disadvantage.

Again, the generalizations can't be specifically applied to any one person because of natural variances.  But on aggregate it's going to be true that a population with poor childhood nutrition is probably going to be stunted in one way or another.  Anyone who has travelled much in third world countries sees this instantly.  Almost everyone is *small* compared to us and it's surprising at first because those same people's relatives in the US are often "normal" size.  You can sometimes even tell who comes from a rich family vs. who made their own fortune.  The ones with a rich family are often strong and tall, the ones who made their own fortune are short and slightly overweight.  The difference is due to when they started eating better food than everyone else.  Again, this is a generality and may not be used to explain any one individual, because of natural variances...

Don't shoot the messenger, I've been to places where this is a real thing and saw it with my own eyes.

[pembquist]

I think the guy is a little crazy so maybe methodical design isn't his strong suit but getting things built in a place of scarce resources and not much money is. You know if some clever art dealer rebranded his aircraft as Outsider Art he could probably sell them for more than a real trainer.

I does make me wonder what would happen if someone gave him a Zentith 701 kit, would he follow the instructions or would he "innovate?"

[Vraciu]

Regarding the IQ part of the equation...  It's pretty well known that poor nutrition will affect brain development.  Some malnourished kids grow up smart and short, some grow up normal sized but with significantly lower intelligence, with all sorts of variances in between.  You can't take the general truth (poor nutrition stunts growth) and apply it to an individual because everyone grows differently even with similar environmental conditions, but in general you're going to have a population with reduced capabilities across the board if they don't get enough of the right food when growing up.

My father in law is about 5 ft 4 inches, but all of his kids are well above average height, with one son over 6 ft.  They're also all well above average for IQ.  The difference between the father and the kids was nutrition growing up.  My father in law grew up in a war zone during WWII, so his diet for years as a child was extremely protein limited.  When he got to the US he made damn sure his kids got enough protein and the results really speak for themselves.  They're as smart as their dad, but significantly taller and better physically developed.  What makes this somewhat sad is that the difference may be as small as getting the equivalent of one egg per day, and there are still lots of places where one egg a week is considered a luxury.  The people in those places are, as a group, going to be at a disadvantage.

Again, the generalizations can't be specifically applied to any one person because of natural variances.  But on aggregate it's going to be true that a population with poor childhood nutrition is probably going to be stunted in one way or another.  Anyone who has travelled much in third world countries sees this instantly.  Almost everyone is *small* compared to us and it's surprising at first because those same people's relatives in the US are often "normal" size.  You can sometimes even tell who comes from a rich family vs. who made their own fortune.  The ones with a rich family are often strong and tall, the ones who made their own fortune are short and slightly overweight.  The difference is due to when they started eating better food than everyone else.  Again, this is a generality and may not be used to explain any one individual, because of natural variances...

Don't shoot the messenger, I've been to places where this is a real thing and saw it with my own eyes.

Nutrition is huge.

We whipped the Brits during the Revolution in part due to being bigger and stronger.   Same genetics but a different environment (i.e. better food, etc.).   

[SysError]

See Rule #4

[BOBO]

A lot of a person's mental limitations are due to lack of education.  They're capable of achieving far more than they do it's just a matter of being taught how to think.   "Learning how to learn" is what we used to call it.

I will say that based on firsthand experience (in part training jet pilots in Nigeria) that they have a different way of thinking than the average Westerner.  I'll also note that my European pilots thought differently than American ones, too.  Culture has a lot to do with it.

A few friends and I have been secretly studying this phenomena and running our own clandestine in game experiments on nrshida to see if it's possible to get him to embrace doing things "the cowboy way".  The fact that he is now dive bombing indicates that progress is being made and eventually we hope that he will also innovate and eventually help us become better at Americaning.  Hopefully soon we'll have enough DARPA funding secured to send him a steady supply of Skoal, Budweiser and a Stetson hat in order to accelerate the process so we can implement phase 4 ahead of schedule.

[horble]

See Rule #4

[DaveBB]

See Rule #4

[Skuzzy]

This has wandered off off the rails.