The world has been isolating and retreating indoors during waves of COVID infections for the last two years. While many used this time to discover a new hobby or passion, a UK-based Indian family spent their lockdowns on a challenging project of building a four-seater plane from scratch, The Sun UK reported
Essex-based Engineer Ashok Aliseril, 38, along with his family fulfilled their lockdown dream after finally finishing building a small plane in their backyard garden. Wife Abhilasha Dubey, 35, and children Tara, 6, and Diya, 3, couldn’t wait to get in the air after completing the 1,500-hour, £140,000 ($264,101.60 AUD) project.
The couple funded the project by saving money on school breakfast clubs, commuting, and socialising. The family spent over two years on the project with just an instruction manual and YouTube videos for guidance, The Telegraph reported
“It’s like having a new toy, except much more exciting,” Ashok Aliseril said, according to The Free Press Journal.
“Ashok has been working hard for the last two years and now our dream has finally come true,” said Ashok’s wife.
The decision to build came after the family wanted their own plane to fly around in. But as there were no appealing options available for sale, Ashok decided to take matters into his own hands, literally.
“We started saving money during the first lockdown, we always knew we wanted to own a plane, we saved a lot of money in the first few months, so we thought we could do it, ”Ashok said. “It will be amazing, every hour late at night, and once we get to the sky it will be worth it,” said Abhilasha.
Ashok ordered the parts for the plane in March 2020, just as the UK-based Indian family found themselves in-home quarantine due to COVID-19.
“It was worth it in the end, when we were together in the sky,” Ashok said.
With a pilot’s license under his belt, Ashok Aliseril plans to take the Abhilasha, Tara, and Diya on their first flight in the family plane.
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