A man from Kerala identified as Ashok Aliseril Thamarakshan is flying a home-built aircraft around Europe with his family while the aviation industry works to recover from the negative effects of the Covid-19 outbreak.
During the Covid-19 lockdown, the aircraft was built by Ashok Aliseril Thamarakshan, who is currently living in London.
The four-seater plane was built by Mr. Thamarakshan, a native of Alappuzha in Kerala, in just under 18 months.
According to The Times Of India, the four-seater “Sling TSI” aircraft has been given the name “G-Diya,” with Diya being the name of his younger daughter. Mr. Thamarakshan, who is currently employed by Ford Motor Company, travelled to the UK in 2006 to complete his master’s degree.
Ashok Aliseril Thamarakshan is the son of former MLA A V Thamarakshan.
The four-seater has already taken Mr. Thamarakshan and his family on trips to Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic. He is a licenced pilot.
When asked how he came up with the concept to build an aircraft, Mr. Thamarakshan responded, “At first, after getting my pilot’s licence in 2018, I used to rent small two-seater aircraft for vacations. However, since my family consists of my wife and two daughters, a four-seater aircraft was necessary. However, they are rare, and even if I could find one, it would be very old.
During the lockdown, he did some research on the subject and learned about home-built aircraft due to his difficulty locating a suitable four-seater aircraft.
The family had begun accumulating money during the first lockdown, according to Mr. Thamarakshan’s wife Abhilasha, who spoke to The Sun in January, a month before the family took their first flight on the aircraft he had built. We had always desired our own plane, and since we had been saving a lot of money in the beginning, we decided to try it, according to Mrs. Thamarakshan.
The 38-year-old went to the Sling Aircraft plant in Johannesburg to build his own aircraft after learning that they will be releasing a new model, the Sling TSI, in 2018. Mr. Thamarakshan placed an order for a kit to construct his own plane following the factory tour.
Due to the pandemic-induced lockdown, Mr. Thamarakshan had plenty of time and the chance to embark on the big project thanks to the money he had saved. The aircraft is estimated to cost Rs 1.8 crore to build in total.
The Chenab Times News Desk