Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (JD)
Udupi, Jun 13: The country's first home-made single-seater seaplane 'Druthi', built by a team of youngsters here, was unfortunately damaged by Cyclone Tauktae which recently hit the coastal Karnataka region.
The microlight seaplane was built by a team of young and enthusiastic youths from Hejamady and is said to be the first in India. The youths had put in their money to construct the plane and had even successfully completed a trial run in the Shambhavi river in Hejamady.
File Photo
As per sources, the recent cyclone and heavy winds caused severe damages to the plane. Pushparaj Ameen, a young enthusiast was the one who led the team of eight members, which included professional trainee pilots, yacht pilots and drone flyers.
The team had spent more than Rs 7 to 8 lac for this project. They had also plans to build the plane with better features with the help of government resources. As this microlight seaplane was completely built from scratch and was light-weight, the cyclonic winds and intense rains damaged it severly.
As per reports in the media, the team is now facing a financial crisis as the members had borrowed loans from various financial sources for this project. The Karnataka government had even sanctioned Rs 5 lac for this invention, but the amount never reached them.
Even though the team confirmed the incident, they declined to comment further on the matter.