Plane JRD flew to soar again

For the past many weeks, the master foreman of Juhu’s Bombay Flying Club and around a dozen students of aircraft maintenance engineering are in their workshop even before the sun is out.
They are on a unique mission — restoration of India’s oldest airworthy plane — a Piper Super Cub PA 1 brought in 1940s, making it first such reparation in the country’s aviation history.
Flying club authorities said historical value fuelled the project to re-launch into the skies this two-seater, around 70-year-old aircraft, in which the father of Indian aviation, JRD Tata, enjoyed many a sortie. Other great Indian pilots too have flown this plane, also landing it at Panchgani and on the beaches of Murud, Kashid and Kihim.
Restoration of the plane, grounded around five years ago, would cost Rs 12 lakh. It was purchased by the club for Rs 8,000, and will fly again in a month’s time. The task, however, is tedious and needs precision. The club’s president, Mihir Bhagwati, explained the process, "This plane has a metal frame and its wings had fabric over that frame.
“We are putting polyfibre, which is four times stronger than fabric. It’s not an easy job at all, but we have men capable of pulling it off. The engine is in perfect condition, though.”
Dr Firdaus Bativala, a senior member of the club, said: “Weaving poly-fibre on the metal frame is an art. Our foreman Eric Lobo is the only trained personnel in Mumbai who can put the wings together.”
Though purchased in the 1940s, the plane was registered by the club only in 1951. Till late 1990s, it was used extensively by trainee pilots. Post restoration, it will again be used by trainees and also senior members of the club.
07/02/11 Yogesh Naik/Bangalore Mirror

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Feb 2011, New Feb 2011