A rural mechanic who dreamed of the skies has been brought down to earth with a bump, after aviation authorities announced that flying home-made aircraft is strictly forbidden.

Xu Bin, a 31-year-old from the countryside near Quzhou in East China's Zhejiang Province, made a successful flight in his self-designed and assembled gyroplane on July 8.

Xu flew the plane for 25 minutes at a maximum height of 50 metres, and completed some difficult manoeuvres such as an emergency turn and dive.

The General Administration of Civil Aviation of China said since Xu did not apply for permission from air traffic authorities before the flight, he violated China's Civil Aviation Law and Regulations for General Aviation Flight Control.

"We understand rural residents want to pursue their dreams," said Wang Jian, an official with the Zhejiang Civil Aviation Office. "But they must obey the law."

Wang said home-made aircraft are unsafe and could pose a threat to pilots, passengers and people on the ground.

Wang promised that the government would forbid and punish illegal flights to ensure public safety.

Despite only having a high school education, Xu has been crazy about aircraft since middle school.

In 1994, he made his first aircraft, a helicopter with a motorcycle engine. It failed to take off because of insufficient power and heavy weight.

After seven years of hard study, in 2001 Xu made his second helicopter, buying a new motorcycle for 6,000 yuan (US$740) and using the engine.

However, this attempt was a failure as well, as the helicopter got just several centimetres off the ground.

Xu did not lose heart, and in 2004 he stumbled across gyroplane information in a magazine. A gyroplane, also known as an autogiro, has unpowered freely rotating horizontal vanes and a propeller.

He bought a second-hand engine online from the Netherlands for 16,000 yuan (US$1,980), and made rotors out of aluminium alloy.

He also went to Jiangxi Province to meet with experts, culminating in his successful flight this month.

Xi Ping, a professor with Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, said most amateur planes were just toys, albeit dangerous ones.

"Making aircraft is a highly complicated process needing precise calculations. Home-made planes have hidden dangers even if they can take off."

(China Daily 07/24/2006 page3)