Small budget, large success

Indigenous plane built by pilot Amol Yadav showcases 'Make In India' spiritHYDERABAD: While the hoopla around international

aircraft

seemed to steal all the limelight at the civil aviation show on Wednesday , an 'indigenous' flight built by a Jet Airways pilot, Amol Yadav, in his own terrace in Charkop, Mumbai, also garnered many compliments. Yadav, who returned to India after his brief stint in the US, where he was able to get hands-on experience in assembling and maintaining planes, built the six-seater airplane on his own terrace over a period of six years.

"I realized that in spite of India's commendable strides in the aviation sector, our country is still dependent on others when it comes to the planes being used by domestic carriers. This is what drove to me to design and build a plane that is truly indigenous," said Yadav, whose creation also found a place in the prime minister's much-hyped 'Make In India' event.

While pointing out that his was one of the two airplanes, among the ones on static display at the event, which were manufactured in India, Yadav stressed on the importance of building more aircraft within the country.

"Even with India's prowess in terms of manufacturing capacity and engineering, there has not been a single airplane built, manufactured and registered in the country. My plane is a demonstration in how building an airplane from scratch is not an impossible proposition," said Yadav .

The venture, he claimed, had cost him less than Rs 10 crore even though he had to import most of the parts used in the airplane.

Making the process of building airplanes in the country difficult, said Yadav, were the Indian Aircraft rules, which have made it 'nearly impossible' for anyone to register their airplanes, after which the Airworthiness certificate can be obtained to conduct test runs.

"Although I had sent an application, for registration of the plane, to the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) in 2011 and followed it up with several reminders later, the organization has denied receiving any of them and this is why my vehicle is still unregistered, although it has been recognized by the civil aviation ministry, which has specially invited me to the Aviation show in Hyderabad," claimed Yadav, while pointing to the word 'Experimental' plastered in red across his vehicle.