Meet 8-Year Old Ugandan Pilot That Has Flown A Cessna 172 Aircraft 3 Times

In Uganda, eight-year-old Graham Shema has earned his nickname “Captain Shema” thanks to his impressive aircraft knowledge and flying skills.

In 2020 when he was just seven, the boy became a sensation in his country with his display of aircraft knowledge and budding flying skills. He has even flown three times as a co-pilot.

According to Reuters, Graham who is a lover of math and science has flown as a trainee three times on a Cessna 172.

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Graham Shema started flying lessons at the age of 7 after his mother enrolled him in an aviation academy. He developed an interest in planes at the tender age of three when a police helicopter blew off the roof of his grandmother’s house. After the experience, he started asking his mum questions on how planes work.

The mum had to contact a local aviation academy and he started lessons on aircraft parts and aviation vocabulary. He thereafter began flying lessons. Describing his first flight, Graham said: “I felt like a bird flying up.”

One recent morning at Uganda’s Entebbe International Airport, his instructor asked him to explain how the engines worked on a Bombardier CRJ9000 plane parked on the tarmac. His voice struggling to rise above the roar of a plane’s running engines, Shema rattled off the answer: “The inlet tubes suck in the air and inject it into the compressor, the compressor squeezes it with the fans, after squeezing it with the fans, it becomes hot,” Shema said, playfully gesturing and proceeding to detail how an engine creates thrust.

The young aviator acknowledged that  his role model is Elon Musk, said he wants to be a pilot and an astronaut, and travel to Mars someday.

Graham Shema has been interviewed on local television and his name is prefixed in newspapers and on social media with “Captain”. Germany’s ambassador and the country’s transport minister have invited him for meetings.

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