RAWALPINDI: Acknowledging the passion of mini-aeroplane maker Mohammad Fayyaz, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) returned the flying machine, confiscated by local police, on Thursday.

A spokesman for the CAA said that on the directives of Secretary Aviation Shahrukh Nusrat, a CAA team headed by Deputy Airport Manager of Lahore Airport Nazeer Ahmed Khan, got the aircraft released from Rang Shah police station in Pakpattan and handed it over to Fayyaz.

Explore: Pakpattan man arrested over 'flying machine' demands return of impounded airplane

Rang Shah police had registered an FIR against Fayyaz on Sunday on the complaint of Sub-Inspector Shaukat Ali, who said that he was informed that at least 500 people had gathered at Chak No50/SP Wali Pul Rajbah where a man, who had invented a mini aeroplane, used the metalled link road as a runway to take off on its maiden flight and took several rounds in the air.

Aviation secretary says guidance will be provided to Mohammad Fayyaz to acquire expertise

Soon the sub-inspector reached the spot and found the man landing the plane on the road. On being asked, Fayyaz was unable to provide a government-issued permit to operate the aeroplane.

There was a hue and cry on social media with many tagging Prime Minister Imran Khan and his ministers on their Twitter handles with a request to release him and his aircraft immediately.

TV personality and flying enthusiast Fakhr-e-Alam also took to Twitter and urged everyone to support the young man. “A man in a village near Pak Pattan made a small aircraft out of his own limited resources. This should be your story to look upto & be inspired by. This brings glory to Pakistan. Don’t taint it.”

Fayyaz had earlier told Dawn that it was his childhood dream to become a pilot of a fighter plane. “When I was in school, I read about the valour of Rashid Minhas and decided to join the air force.” He said he could not continue his studies but his ambition to become a pilot did not die down.

“Around four years ago, I decided to make my own plane and visited Lahore’s Chauburji area several times to have a glimpse of the Boeing plane, that had been put on display there, and examine how it looked like and what material and parts had been used. A programme Air Crash Investigation at the National Geographic helped me a lot and I started working on my project some one and a half years ago,” he said.

“I planned to fly my plane on March 23 but was not allowed by the district administration as well as the security agencies whom I had contacted for permission,” he said. He said he was asked to contact the CAA to get permission to fly his plane. “Owing to my limited resources, I was unable to contact the civil aviation officials and finally decided to take test flights without getting permission,” he said.

Secretary Aviation Shahrukh Nusrat said the passion and skills of Fayyaz was appreciated and guidance would be provided to him to achieve more expertise. However, he added that a technical team of the CAA would inspect the aircraft to decide if it can be allowed to fly or not.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2019