Traveling to different places or countries can be expensive but if you have your own plane – there is no need to worry. A man from Kerala is living his dreams by traveling with his family through Europe on a home-built plane. Yes, you read that right!
During the lockdown when most of us were busy making banana bread and dalgona coffee, Ashok Aliseril Thamarakshan, a native of Kerala’s Alappuzha, built a four-seater aircraft. He built the plane himself from scratch during lockdown so that he and his family could go on holiday.
London-based Thamarakshan built the four-seat aircraft in nearly 18 months, the Times of India reported. Now, he and his family are traveling across the UK in their aircraft G-Diya, named after his younger daughter Diya.
Ashok Aliseril Thamarakshan is the son of former MLA A V Thamarakshan. He moved to the UK in 2006 to pursue his Master’s degree and he currently works for Ford Motor Company. Thamarakshan completed his BTech from Palakkad Engineering College.
“We started saving money during the first lockdown, in the first few months of lockdown, we were saving a lot of money so we thought we would give it a go,” Thamarakshan, who is currently based in London asserted while speaking to The Sun. He further described his experience of owning a plane as having a new toy.
Thamarakshan, who has a pilot’s license, has traveled with his wife and daughters to Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic.
Speaking about why he thought of making this aircraft, Thamarakshan said, “Initially, I used to rent small two-seater aircraft for trips after acquiring my pilot license in 2018. But since my family comprises my wife and two daughters, I required four-seater aircraft. But they are rare and even if I could get one, they were very old.”
To find a proper four-seater plane, he had to do a lot of research about the subject and learn more about home-built aircraft. After visiting their plant, he ordered a kit home to construct the plane. The pandemic-induced lockdown gave him enough time to work on his aircraft.
During the process of building his plane, Thamarakshan occasionally visited the factory of Johannesburg-based company Sling Aircraft. At that time, they were launching a new aircraft – Sling TSI. Post his visit to the factory, Thamarakshan got more serious, did more research, and ordered a kit to build his own plane.
While it may come as a surprise, home-built aircraft are not new in the UK, says Thamarakshan. The total cost to build this aircraft was somewhat around Rs 1.8 crore.
