Bhopal: This family knows how to fly – with its feet on the ground. Daily wager Amritlal, 54, who worked his heart out to put all three of his sons through flight school, is gearing up to take his Class 12 exams while one of his pilot sons perfects a home-built flight simulator.
Today, the family is under a heavy debt of education loans and money they borrowed for studies. A small piece of land they owned is mortgaged with a moneylender. But Amritlal is at peace as his sons have taken over the responsibility of repaying the dues. All three are commercial pilots.
For decades, Amritlal, of Morena district in Madhya Pradesh, moved around looking for odd jobs, sharing his sons’ dreams of being high-flyers. He recently shifted to a rented house in Bhopal along with his eldest son, captain Ajay Singh, 28, who has been working on a DIY simulator for five years.
Unable to fly aeroplanes during the lockdown, Ajay devoted his energy to the simulator cockpit to feed his passion for flying. Flying clubs in the country import such simulators for over Rs 1 crore per unit, but he has built one at a third of the cost, he says.
This is his contribution towards the dream of an Atmanirbhar Bharat, says Ajay.
“This project was not easy. There was a lot of data to study in order to simulate the exact flight characteristics of an aircraft into the simulator, using the hardware I made. The next challenge was to arrange money to buy raw materials, tools and equipment. I am grateful to my parents and brothers, who supported me financially and mentally as well while I worked 16 hours a day,” Ajay said.
He is giving the final touches to his single engine aircraft simulator, which can be “easily converted to simulate a conventional cockpit as well as multi engine airplane cockpit”, he says.
Every part of the simulated cockpit -- knobs, instruments like primary flight display, multi-function display, altimeter, airspeed and attitude indicator, switches and control column – have been made by Ajay and his young brothers, captain Vijay Singh, 26, and flight cadet Deepak Kumar, 22.
Being a Boeing 737-rated pilot, he plans to manufacture a simulator for this plane, followed by an A320 flight simulator. He hopes to take it to another level and begin manufacturing made-in-India flight simulators and drones to reduce dependence on other countries.
“I am happy today that India is on the path of development in drones. Under the leadership of aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, it will reach new heights. I am hopeful that he will support our project intended at the country's security enhancement,” says Ajay, who aims to build military-grade drones.
In 2016, Ajay did a few projects related to surveillance UAVs with the Indian Air Force, and is a DGCA-approved drone instructor. He is still looking for government help for approvals and funds for his flight simulator and the drones which he manufactured in his startup. His next DIY project: India’s first drone simulator.
19/09/21 P Naveen/Times of India
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