Pilot gets registration for plane built on terrace

Acommercial pilot who single-handedly built a six-seater aircraft on a terrace atop his residential flat, in suburban Kandivili, has now been granted registration by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis formally handed over the DGCA certificate to Captain Amol Yadav, a deputy chief pilot with Jet Airways, on Monday.

Yadav thanked the CM for his support and intervention, in helping him to overcome obstacles while trying to get his prototype aircraft registered with the DGCA, and for writing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about his venture.

The 41-year-old Yadav has also set up his own company, Thrust India.

US inspiration

When Yadav was in the US in 1995, he says he was surprised and interested in the way aviation enthusiasts, including middle class people, bought old, phasedout aircraft to remodel and customise them into new flying machines.

That is where he got the idea.

“The terrace atop my three-BHK flat is spread over 1,600 square feet [150 square metres] and served as my workshop for this aircraft which I created in the past six years.”

He designed and built the six-seater from scratch, from an old aeroplane, and the end product is a completely indigenous one.

Presently parked on an airstrip in Dhule, his plane can fly up to a height of 4,000 metres, climbing at 500 metres per minute, achieve top speeds of 185 knots with a range of 2,000km.

The government is planning to give him a 60-hectare plot in Palghar near Mumbai, where he plans to build up to 20-seater aircraft over the next few years through his company.