BHOPAL: This family can fly – down to earth. Daily Bet Amritlal, 54, who has worked with all his heart to send his three sons to flight school, prepares to take his Class 12 exams while one of his pilot sons perfects a homemade flight simulator .
Today, the family is heavily in debt with student loans and money borrowed for their studies. A small piece of land they owned is mortgaged with a usurer. But Amritlal is at peace because his sons have taken on the responsibility of paying back the dues. All three are professional pilots.

For decades, Amritlal, from Morena District in Madhya Pradesh, moved in search of odd jobs, sharing his sons’ dreams of becoming great pilots. He recently moved into a rented house in Bhopal with his eldest son, Captain Ajay Singh, 28, who has been working on a DIY simulator for five years.

Unable to fly planes during confinement, Ajay devoted his energy to the simulator cockpit to fuel his passion for piloting. Flying clubs nationwide import such simulators for over Rs 1 crore per unit, but it has built one at a third of the cost, he says.
It is his contribution to the dream of an Atmanirbhar Bharat, Ajay said.

“This project was not easy. There was a lot of data to study in order to simulate the exact flight characteristics of an airplane in the simulator, using the equipment I made. The next challenge was to find the money to buy raw materials, tools and equipment. I am grateful to my parents and brothers, who supported me financially and mentally while I worked 16 hours a day, ”Ajay said.

He is putting the finishing touches on his single-engine aircraft simulator, which can be “easily converted to simulate a conventional cockpit as well as a multi-engine aircraft cockpit,” he says.

Every part of the simulated cockpit – buttons, instruments like the main flight display, multi-function display, altimeter, speed and attitude indicator, switches and control stick – were manufactured by Ajay and his younger brothers, Captain Vijay Singh, 26, and Air Cadet Deepak Kumar, 22.

As a Boeing 737 rated pilot, he plans to build a simulator for this aircraft, followed by an A320 flight simulator. He hopes to take it to the next level and start making flight simulators and drones made in India to reduce reliance on other countries.

“I am happy today that India is on the path to developing drones. Under the leadership of Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, it will reach new heights. I hope he will support our project to strengthen the security of the country, ”said Ajay, who aims to build military grade drones.

In 2016, Ajay completed a few projects related to surveillance drones with the Indian Air Force and is a DGCA approved drone instructor. He is still seeking government help with approvals and funds for his flight simulator and the drones he made in his startup. His next DIY project: the first drone simulator in India.

The happy dad, meanwhile, is about to take off – through upper secondary education. “I passed 8th grade in 1983 and 10th grade in 1996. Now my kids want me to pass 12th exam. They say there is no age to study. I believe so, ”he said.