For much of 2020, countries around the world fought against the COVID-19 pandemic. Many countries went into lockdown to control the fast spread of the virus. The unusual restrictions and confinement of the lockdown brought about new challenges for people’s everyday lives. With flexibility, adaptability, and problem-solving at the core of its nature, creativity has the potential to help people cope with harsh and uncertain circumstances. Were people more, the same, or less creative in their everyday life during the period of lockdown, and in which ways? The below article will show the creativity of a man from Kerala who built a plane and traveled to Europe.
A man from Kerala is traveling through Europe
A man from Kerala is traveling through Europe with his family on a home-built plane. The plane was built by Ashok Aliseril Thamarakshan, who is now based in London, during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Mr. Thamarakshan, a native of Alappuzha in Kerala, took nearly 18 months to build the four-seater airplane.
The four-seater aircraft model “Sling TSI” has been named “G-Diya”, with Diya being the name of his younger daughter. Mr. Thamarakshan moved to the UK in 2006 to pursue his Masters’s degree and he currently works for Ford Motor Company.
Mr. Thamarakshan – who has a pilot’s license – has visited Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic so far in the four-seater with his family.
Speaking about how he zeroed in on the idea to build an aircraft, Mr. 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.”
This difficulty in finding a proper four-seater aircraft made him research the subject during the lockdown and learn about home-built aircraft.
To build his own plane, the 38-year-old visited the factory of Johannesburg-based company Sling Aircraft upon learning that they were launching a new aircraft, Sling TSI, in 2018. After the factory visit, Mr. Thamarakshan ordered a kit to build his own plane.
With plenty of time at hand due to the pandemic-induced lockdown and the money saved during this period, he got the opportunity to work on the ambitious project. The total cost to build the aircraft is estimated to be ₹ 1.8 crores.
