An aircraft handmade by Hong Kong students will be ready to take to the skies in a year, but the government's refusal to inspect it and to issue a permit means it may be grounded indefinitely.
The two-seater plane, now in its final stage of assembly in a classroom at St Paul's Convent School, is a collaborative effort between Cathay Pacific pilot Hank Cheng Chor-hang and students over four years.
Cheng, a Hongkonger educated in the US, said he contacted the Civil Aviation Department before he bought the HK$1.4 million kit from the US in 2008.
But the government's stance was not clear until a stern refusal to inspect the plane in May.
The department cited busy traffic at Hong Kong International Airport as a reason for declining Cheng's request.
But he said: "We just need to leave and land in the airport. For the rest of the time, we'll be out in the air. I can't see why we can't test-fly," he said. A plane needs to go through 25 hours of test-flying before it is considered safe.