THE DELIGHT OF MICROLIGHT FLYING

In conversation with Viraf G Edulji

Brief your journey from becoming a service man to a hobby flyer. How did you get introduced to the world of Micro-light flying?

Hi, I am Capt. Viraf G Edulji, a retired Ship Captain/Master Mariner from the Merchant Navy and have taken to hobby flying since over a decade. Now, one may reasonably wonder why and how was I attracted to flying? The story begins at a beach in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) in 1987, where my ship’s officers and I had decided to go for a picnic. During the time spent at the beach, a two seat powered hang glider landed on the beach and the pilot, who was barefoot and only wearing swimming trunks offered me a joyride for 10 dollars. Taking up the offer, I was soon airborne over Rio’s famous sites like the statue of Christ and Sugarloaf Mountain. It was such a thrill to be in this tiny, totally open, windowless little aircraft, that I decided there and then that some day, I too would own and fly a similar machine.

Can you brief us about the process of buying Microlights in India? How to get Pilot License on Microlights?

I did a little research and found out that such aircraft were produced in Bangalore and could be bought. The hurdle those days was getting a security clearance from DGCA/ MHA, which was a slow process and took me almost a year. Without this document, it was not legal for the manufacturer “Albatross Flying Systems” to sell me a Microlight, nor for me to own/operate one. Having overcome this hurdle with the help of Mr. Javad Hassan, the owner of Albatross Flying Systems, I finally placed an order and was handed over my dream machine.