A Mumbai School Dropout Nears His Dream Of Building Helicopter Before It Killed Him

In last two years, 28-year-old Ismail Shaikh used car parts, metal and scrap material from junk yards to design his chopper to give wings to his dream of flying machine that can be accessible to all

Representative Image

Delhi: It takes sweat, determination and hard work to achieve your dream. And the example holds true for Ismail Shaikh, who chased his dream to build a helicopter but ended up giving his life on the mission.

A 28-year-old school dropout from Mumbai realised that helicopters cost millions and he doesn’t have the money to afford it. It is when he took upon this challenge of building his very own helicopter, according to Vice World News.

Unfulfilled dreams

In the last two years, Shaikh used car parts, metal and scrap material from junk yards to design his chopper to give wings to his dream of flying machine that can be accessible to all. He ultimately succeeded at building the machine, but unfortunately his dream only killed him.

In a turn of events, the helicopter enthusiasts and welder by profession died at the spot where he took the helicopter for a test drive. The young welder had a dream to make helicopters affordable by bringing its cost down to Rs 3 million ($40,404), said Inspector Vilas Chauhan, a police official to VICE World News.

Inspiration for all

Shaikh, who was often called Yavatmal’s ‘Rancho’ for his mechanical experiments  ended up getting killed after a rotor blade of his copter-like contraption collapsed onto him, killing him instantly during the test drive. Shaikh also built steel cupboards to earn a living, but spent nights building the copter. He used a car engine and welded metal parts collected from a local scrap dealer.

 “He was a craftsman and taught himself how to engineer the helicopter,” said Chauhan. The budding genius spent his time and money to fulfil his dream.

On Wednesday, Shaikh wanted to test his helicopter for which he took it to an open ground near his workshop and hoped to make it public on Independence Day, according to the police. According to the report, his friends who filmed a video of the trial run, Shaikh started the engine but the tail rotor broke hitting the main rotor that fell right onto the young researcher, who got trapped inside his machine.

Shaikh managed to take his machine two to four feet above the ground, but failed to control the speed of the rotors that led them to fall off. He was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital, but health officials declared him dead before he could be admitted.

The family is still udner shock because of this tragic loss including the whole village.

Such experiments have happened in the past as well. In 2019, an Indonesian man attempted building a 26-foot helicopter in an attempt to do away with traffic jams. In Pakistan, a popcorn seller built his own airplane by watching YouTube videos, but was arrested for flying it without a license when he took it out for a test drive.