A Kerala man flew around Europe in his self-made plane

London: While the flight services were stopped during the covid-19 lockdown, a man from Kerala built an airplane on his own initiative. He traveled Europe with his family in the said flight. It took 18 months for Ashok Aliseri Thamakan of Kerala’s Alappuzha region to build a 4-seater plan.

Ashok named this Sling TSI model plan G-Diya after his younger daughter.

Former Kerala MLA A.V. Thamarkan’s son Ashok went to UK in 2006 to pursue his master’s degree. He is currently working there at Ford Motor Company. He has traveled to Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic in the aircraft he built. After getting his pilot’s license in 2018, he used to rent a 2-seater plane. However, since there were 4 members in his family, 4-seater aircraft were rare. That’s why he decided to make a plane himself. There was plenty of time on hand during the lockdown. At that time he was busy working on his dream project Ashok said that a total of Rs. 1.8 crore was spent on making the aircraft.