- 7-year-old Graham Shema has already flown three times on a Cessna 172
- The young boy said his dream is to be a pilot and an astronaut, and travel to Mars
- His interest in flying was sparked when a low-flying helicopter blew off the roof of his grandmother’s house, while he was playing outside.
A 7-year-old Ugandan boy, nicknamed ‘Captain’, who has already flown Cessna three times and whose role model is Elon Musk has become a sensation in his country for his aviation skills.
The young boy has already flown as a trainee three times on a Cessna 172.
A lover of math and science, he says his dream is to be a pilot and an astronaut, and someday travel to Mars.
He said: ‘I like Elon Musk because I want to learn with him about space, to go with him in space and also to get a handshake.’
Graham’s passion about flying was triggered when a police helicopter flew so low to the ground that it blew off the roof of his grandmother’s house.
The incident took place on the outskirts of the Ugandan capital Kampala while he was playing outside and according to his mother Shamim Mwanaisha, 29, a travel agent, it ‘triggered something in his mind.’
She said it was then when her son started bombarding her with questions about how planes work – up until she contacted a local aviation academy and he began lessons at home on aircraft parts and aviation vocabulary.
Five months later Graham was thrilled to start flying lessons.’I felt like a bird flying up,’ he said of his first flight.
Since then he flew three times as co-pilot and during the pandemic he has been focusing on aviation theory, and immersing himself in videos about aviation and space exploration on his virtual reality viewer.
