seven years ago, Kandivali (North Mumbai) resident and a former commercial aircraft pilot Amol Yadav had manufactured a six-seater aircraft on the terrace of his house in the year 2011.
His dream of starting an aircraft company has got 'wings' now that Maharashtra government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Yadav's company 'Thrust Aircraft Pvt Ltd'. The MoU of Rs 35,000 crore was signed at the Magnetic Maharashtra Summit on Monday.
As per MoU, the state government has promised to give infrastructural and financial support. Amol Yadav has identified 157 acre land near Palghar in Dahanu for his ambitious project.
Speaking to India Today, Yadav said, "It was not at all difficult to build an aircraft, the procedure to get several permission was. I had to run from pillar to post in the DGCA for registration to conduct trials. The mindset was that we cannot build an aircraft in India. I wanted to change that. My dream got entangled into red tape. I displayed my aircraft during Make in India Summit in Mumbai in 2016 and since then the Maharashtra government has shown keen interest."
Yadav also had to face a lot of financial constraints during the entire procedure of building his first indigenously made aircraft.
"We have airstrips in almost every District place in Maharashtra. This system has been in existence since the British era. But in last 70 years we have not built aircrafts to make use of them. My aircraft with a carrying capacity of 19 passengers needs a smaller runway. So this will help in a great way in regional air connectivity," Yadav added.
"If everything goes well, my first aircraft will be ready in next 4 to 5 month. Then its upto the government to speed up the necessary permissions," Yadav said.