began to fix all kinds of electronic items. For a short tenure, he also worked as a vehicle mechanic which later helped him immensely. When Saji was 14, something happened in his village which turn ed out to be a life changing incident in his life. For spraying pesticides in the rubber plantations, two helicopters were used near his village. Fascinated by the sight, Saji spent hours watching them. Later, he made friends with the pilots from Mumbai who offered him a ride in the helicopter. Before parting ways with Saji Thomas, wife and son them, Saji took down their Mumbai address and very much to their surprise, dropped in at their office the very absorbers were those of scooters. The frame contained alunext year. Seeing his genuine enthusiasm in learning about heli- minium pipes and metal sheets. He even fitted it with the encopters, the pilots took him with them for two weeks providing gine of a two-wheeler. It was exhibited in several exhibitions him books and a list of aviation companies which could help him. and later bought by an institute to teach their students about Since most of the books dealing with his favourite subject were in lightweight aircrafts. English, he started to learn English also. The hard work paid off By then, some local newspaper covered Saji’s passion and well. His love for the subject made him learn the language faster. efforts. His next lightweight aircraft was booked by an assoOnce he became acquainted with the language, he collected as ciation for the local fair which former President Dr APJ Abdul many books as he could on the subject to reach his ultimate dream Kalam inaugurated while he was in Kerala. Though Saji wanted of building and flying his aircraft. Years passed by and several things changed but evidently not Saji’s dreams. His life was now shared by Maria, his loving better half. To make a decent living, he also took the role of a wedding photographer and covered local events even though a lion’s share of it went to purchase things wanted for making his aircraft. Initially, Saji’s dream made her angry. “At first I tried to discourage him from pursuing his dreams as it was always very expensive. Though he sourced several things locally, there were still some parts which had to be brought from Bangalore or abroad. But soon, I found out that he was very much obsessed with his idea of building and flying that aircraft. So, I began to support him,” Maria comments. Saji’s first effort was to build a helicopter. In the 90’s, he even successfully built the frame but couldn’t afford to buy an engine for that. So he turned his attention towards a lightweight aircraft. After five years of hard work, he made a small aircraft by using recycled materials and cheaper alternatives. The propellers were of wood instead of metal or expensive fibre glass and the shock
For a brief tenure, Saji also worked with a local engineering college. He assembled and repaired the old aircrafts used for research there. It helped him in knowing more about the technical side of aircrafts. Now, he wanted to venture into the real lightweight aircraft. He travelled several places and met many to clear his doubts. The right help came in 2008 in the form of SKJ Nair, a retired Wing Commander.
TECHAGAPPE
OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2017
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