Who doesn’t like to travel? But have you ever considered building your own means of transport to pursue your dreams? Ashok Aliseril Thamarakshan, a native of Kerala built a four-seater aircraft to go on holiday along with his family. He is the son of MLA A V Thamarakshan and moved to the UK in 2006 for his master’s degree after completing BTech from Palakkad Engineering College.
The idea to construct a private plane struck him during the Covid-19 lockdown. According to the report by The Sun, the family had spent nearly Rs 1.4 crore and approximately 1500 hours to complete their project.
While speaking to The Sun, Ashok described his experience and said, “It’s like having a new toy, except much more exciting. We started saving money during the first lockdown, and we knew we always wanted to have our own plane, and in the first few months, we were saving a lot of money so we thought we would give it a go."
His wife, Abhilasha, further elaborated and said that Ashok has worked incredibly over the last two years and now their dream has finally happened.
Ashok, who now works for Ford said that initially, he used to rent small two-seater aircraft for trips after acquiring his pilot license. However, looking at his family, he realised that he needed his private aircraft. He explained how the family started saving money during the first lockdown and in the first few months they managed to save a good amount.
He has travelled to many places aboard this aircraft. These places include many European countries including Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic. He has also taken trips with his friends.
He now hopes that Indian laws also permit home-built aircraft as the entire family is wishing to come back home for a vacation. Abhilasha explained how this project had brought so much excitement to the family. She told how the girls cannot had only flown a few times before but it was never with their dad as a pilot. The family booked a flying trip to Newquay as their first family holiday.
