Compared to building an OS and support libraies, building your own plane is trivial. Flying it may take balls, though. For the best example I know of: short video at http://www.joostconijn.org/film/vliegtuig/index.php.

The guy built three planes. One didn't take of, one crashed, one brought him across Africa in short hops with landings at rebel-occupied airports where he didn't always manage to announce his arrival.

Short thread at http://www.homebuiltairplanes.com/forums/hangar-flying/12196....

(Apologies for deviating from the subject, but I figure hackers might find this interesting)

Whoah. That's some serious balls - def someone Colbert needs to have on the show.