Day 4347: Man builds plane for his family, Holly tree (Ilex aquifolium).

"Oh No!": collage, acrylics, digital.

 

  

Want music?

 

    

Click : Chi-Lites, Have You Seen Her?

 

  

 

 

2GN2S

This man built a plane for his family in his garden

 

It wasn’t until he moved near to an airfield in the UK over a decade ago that mechanical engineer Ashok Aliseril Thamarakshan began to seriously consider learning to fly a plane. He got his first taste of flying a few years later, when his wife Abhilasha bought him a 30-minute flight experience for his birthday.

Aliseril, who is based in Essex, England, booked in some flying lessons at a local airfield and flew to the Isle of Wight, an island off the English south coast, during his first session. “That was quite an eye-opener into how (flying) gives you the freedom to just go places if you have that ability, and access to an aircraft,”. “So that really got me hooked.

Aliseril got his private pilot’s license in 2019 and soon began hiring planes for short flights. But as his family grew – he and Abhilasha now have two daughters – the two-seater planes typically available for private hire became even less suitable, and he began  the idea of buying his own plane.

Engineer Ashok Aliseril spent 18 months building a four-seater plane during the pandemic, helped by his daughter.

Aliseril briefly considered buying an older aircraft, and looked at some that had been built in the 1960s and 1970s. 

 Aliseril began to look into the possibility of building a plane himself, reasoning that this would allow him to gain a better understanding of the aircraft so that it would be easier to maintain in the long term.

After researching self-assembly aircraft kits, he came across a four-seater plane manufactured by South African company Sling Aircraft that ticked all the right boxes. In January 2020, Aliseril flew to the Sling Aircraft factory facility in Johannesburg for the weekend in order to take the Sling TSi aircraft on a test flight and was so impressed that he decided to purchase it.

Aliseril's home improvement experience came in handy while constructing the four-seater Sling TSi aircraft. 

“This was pre-Covid, where travel was still very easy at the time,” he explains. “I ordered the first kit when I got back. And by the time it arrived, the UK was in full lockdown.” Amateur-built airplanes in the UK are investigated by the CAA, who will issue a “Permit to Fly” once satisfied that the aircraft is fit to fly.Although the start of the build was delayed slightly due to the Covid-19 restrictions in place in the UK at the time – the Light Aircraft Association inspector assigned to the project was required to visit his working space beforehand – Aliseril was able to begin in April 2020. While he notes that his engineering background helped in some ways, he believes that it was actually his home improvement experience that proved most useful while constructing the aircraft, which has a length of 7.175 meters and a height of 2.45 meters. It was one of the first Sling TSi homebuilt aircraft constructed in the UK. G-Diya, named after his youngest daughter, was signed off for its first flight in January 2022.

The aircraft, which has a range of 1,389 kilometers, was issued with a permit to fly in May 2022. 

For Aliseril, one of the main benefits of the plane, aside from the freedom it provides him and his family, is the friendships he’s formed with other pilots. He was always mindful that owning an aircraft could become a financial burden, but has been able to get round this by working out an arrangement to share it with three others. “To get your private license, it costs quite a bit,” he adds, before noting that many of those who’ve taken on similar projects are either retired, or are people “who have the time and financial status” to fund the process.

More stuff I didn't know  ...

Holly

If a Holly tree (Ilex aquifolium) finds its leaves are being nibbled by deer, it modifies its DNA to make them spiky when they regrow. So on taller Holly trees, the upper leaves (which are out of reach) have smooth edges, while the lower leaves are prickly.

Holly leaves from the same tree.

 

  

 

A 4 minute video, Bat nap, here

 

 

 

  

 

Just because ...

  

Red Avadavat

 

Sunday's Smiles ...