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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. Aliseril got his private pilot's license in 2019 . (Ashok Thamarakshan via CNN) "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," he tells CNN Travel. "So that really got me hooked." Aliseril got his private pilot's license in 2019 and soon began hiring planes for short flights. Amateur build 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 to mull over the idea of buying his own plane. Aliseril briefly considered buying an older aircraft, and looked at some that had been built in the 1960s and 1970s. However, he says he felt uneasy about the prospect of flying his family in an older aircraft that he wasn't familiar with, and didn't think it would be a "comfortable journey." 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. "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." Aliseril says his colleagues, some of whom had experience with building aircraft, initially offered to help with the build. But the restrictions brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, which had spread across the world by this point, meant that this wasn't possible. He enlisted his daughters to help. (Supplied/Ashok Thamarakshan) Undeterred, he constructed a small shed in his back garden and planned out the different stages of the project, which would be monitored by the Light Aircraft Association, a UK representative body that oversees the construction and maintenance of home-built aircraft, under an approval from the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The rules for amateur built aircraft differ slightly from country to country. In the US, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has an experimental airworthiness category where special airworthiness certificates can be issued to kit-built aircraft. 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. "These aircraft kits are designed for any amateur to build, provided you're a bit hands-on and you've got experience working with some specialist tools," he adds, describing the detailed "Ikea furniture type instructions" with drawings that came with the kit. "I would say generally, anyone can get involved in these sorts of builds." Aliseril completed the work himself, drafting in Abhilasha to assist with some of the sections that required more than one pair of hands. Their eldest daughter Tara, now nine, was on hand for tasks such as removing the plastic from each of the components. By the end of summer 2020, Aliseril had built the tail and the wings. He began constructing the fuselage section in October, when the next part of the kit arrived. Although he'd initially planned to hire a workshop to construct the aircraft, Aliseril feels that creating a workspace at his home was the better choice. He constructed a small shed in his back garden and planned out the different stages of the project. (Supplied/Ashok Thamarakshan) "I could just step into the shed and work on it," he says. "So having everything just in the back garden really helped, even though space was tight." Each stage of the project had to be signed off by an inspector before he could move onto the next task – the Light Aircraft Association completed around 12 inspections in total. Once the majority of the components were constructed, and it was time to put the aircraft together, Aliseril moved everything from his home to a hangar near Cambridge for the final assembly and engine fit. The aircraft passed its final inspection a few months later. 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. Aliseril recalls waiting on the ground anxiously as a test pilot took the plane he'd spent 18 months building up into the air. "He took it up for about 20 minutes, and then he came back," he says. "It was a big relief. I couldn't lift my head up to see what was happening (during the test flight)." That first flight was hugely significant in many ways. "With these build projects, everyone calls it a project until it's first flown," he explains. "Once it's flown, it's always called an aircraft. You never call it a project anymore. That's psychologically a big step." When it was time to fly the aircraft for the first time himself, Aliseril was accompanied by another experienced test pilot. While he admits to being decidedly cautious, the test pilot was "throwing the aircraft about as if it was a racing car." G-Diya has a range of 1,389 kilometres. (Supplied/Ashok Thamarakshan) "I was feeling very nervous, I didn't want to put any extra stress on it," Aliseril explains. "But (the test pilot) was really pushing it to the limits. And it was good to experience that. I know that (the aircraft) can handle this much. "Once I landed, (the test pilot) clapped his hands and said 'Congratulations, you've just landed the plane you built.' That was a great feeling." G-Diya, which has a range of 1,389 kilometres, went through a number of further test flights before it was issued with a permit to fly in May 2022. The following weekend, Aliseril flew with his wife and daughters Diya and Tara, five, to the Isle of Wight, where they took a short taxi ride from the airfield to the beach. "The kids were really happy," he says. "So that sort of freedom. And the fact that we could just do that on a Saturday and still be back by 4 p.m. That was a great feeling." They continued taking trips together within the UK, flying to Skegness, a seaside town in eastern England and the village of Turweston in Buckinghamshire, before Aliseril felt comfortable enough to take them a little further afield. Last Easter, the family, who've been documenting their trips on their Instagram account, fly_home_or_away, travelled to Bergerac, France, which Aliseril describes as their "most memorable" trip together. According to Aliseril, G-Diya has flown over 300 hours in the past two years, travelling as far as Norway. The family have been documenting their trips on their Instagram account. (Ashok Thamarakshan via CNN) Family trips 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. "I kind of knew that from the beginning, and thought I'd take that risk and try to do it myself," he says. "I knew that once it was done, I would easily be able to find people to share that cost. And it's worked out quite well (for me)." "It becomes a communal thing," he says. "You always have somebody to fly with if your family is not available. Also, having other pilots who are friends – you learn from each other."

Kevan Brown was on board a small seaplane, enjoying the majestic sights of New Zealand’s north island far below, when somewhere over Lake Taupo, the pilot effectively said: “Here, you have a go”. “I’ve always been interested in planes,” he says. “My dad works for NASA and Boeing, so I’ve seen a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff over there.” But there and then, 12-years-old and joystick in hand, he was well and truly hooked. And it explains why passers-by of his Taylor home over the past few months may have spotted parts of aircraft carefully laid out across the front lawn. Now 25, he’s gearing up to become an ultralight aircraft manufacturer. “Pretty much as soon as I got back from New Zealand, I thought: ‘I’m going to do this. I’m going to get into flight training’,” Kevan says. By 17, he was flying solo using a rented two-seat plane from the Goulburn Flight Training Centre. But this was expensive, and if he were to accrue the 2000 hours of experience he’d need to get his dream job as an aircraft pilot with Qantas, he’d have to buy his own. “I was paying somewhere around $250 an hour,” he says. The ultralight aircraft in carefully laid-out pieces on the front lawn in Taylor. Photo: Kevan Brown. The project didn’t exactly get off to a good start. “We came across this good deal over in Parkes, about a three-hour drive west, and decided to go ahead with it,” he says. “We went over to pick it up, but didn’t realise it had a wing span of 5.5 metres on either side, so we had to dissemble it first. The drive home was a disaster. We had to stop a few times to re-rig it and make sure everything was okay.” The ultralight aircraft was designed by a now defunct company, American Aerolights, but another company has since bought the rights to reproduce it as a “no-licence kit” in the US. Loading the plane onto a trailer was the first challenge. Photo: Kevan Brown. “So you buy the kit, and it’d come with instructions on how to build it and how to fly it,” Kevan explains. “The perfect plane for a personal builder.” Well, sort of. It’s still taken him and a mate four days a week over 11 months to get it working, or a combined total of 500 hours. “For the first seven months, it was in my garage in Taylor – I moved everything out and it was literally the plane taking up the whole space.” About two months ago, it was put on a truck again and taken to Goulburn Airport for the certification and testing processes. This includes getting it just off the ground along the runway to see how the controls respond. On Thursday (18 July), he took it up for its first circuit. “It started quick, and I’m getting more confident with the engine,” he says. “I’m keen to take on a big flight.” He estimates the plane costs him about $45 an hour – a big reduction from the $250 he was paying for the rented plane – but his initial ambition to become an airline pilot has waned in favour of becoming an ultralight aircraft manufacturer. The plane took up most of Kevan’s garage. Photo: Kevan Brown. He’s particularly interested in the potential of electric and hydrogen power. “I did want to be an airline pilot, but I don’t think I want to pursue that now because I’ve found a lot of joy in the small ultralights,” he says. It’s a fairly open industry, and Australian legislation allows for people like Kevan to “build my own design straight out of the garage and legally fly it as long as it’s been tested and certified”. “And I think it should stay like that, because that allows people to be innovative and come up with new ways of doing flight.” And it’s up and away. Photo: Kevan Brown. Small aircraft powered by batteries or hydrogen fuel cells are certainly up and coming. For instance, Sydney Seaplanes, the carrier set to be taking off from Lake Burley Griffin in the coming months, also has a stake in Dovetail Electric Aviation, and expects the first test flights of small battery planes early next year. Kevan’s plans focus on the ultralight category. “Ultralight aircraft are perfect for training purposes, but we don’t really have any new versions,” he says. “So I’m interested in bringing this type of aircraft back with hydrogen or electric power.” It seems Gungahlin may have just witnessed the origin story of a future Australian entrepreneur.