PESHAWAR, March 6: A self-taught flyer will start the first cross-country flight in his handmade ultra-light aircraft on April 1.

Announcing his programme at a press conference in Peshawar Press Club on Thursday, Qazi Sajjad said he would fly from Karachi to Peshawar in 16 hours with eight stops, to be covered in three days.

The itinerary includes Karachi, Hyderabad, Nawabshah, Sukkur, Rahimyar Khan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu and Peshawar.

Mr Sajjad, who is the lone civilian glider instructor at the PAF Academy, Risalpur, has been designing and flying his own gliders from mud tracks in Landi Arbab, a suburban village of Peshawar, for over 10 years.

He claimed to have demonstrated in the Pakistan Military Academy, Kakul, and recently received an offer from Saudi Arabia.

The 43-year-old voyager, a secondary school certificate holder, is part of a small group of local amateur flyers all of whom have flown hundreds of hours using self-designed motor-gliders.

The Qazi family devoted itself to aeronautical engineering and started work on designing light gliders in 1978. Mr Sajjad’s younger brother Farhad was killed last year when his two-seat glider crashed during a test-flight on the outskirts of Peshawar.

Mr Sajjad said he, along with his late brother, designed a single-seat motorised glider in 1985 which was successfully operated in Matani village near Peshawar. Later, he designed two-seat glider and fitted 64 horse power Rotex engine which could fly 70 to 90 miles per hour.

Speaking about the objectives of his forthcoming cross-country air journey, he said: “I will fly to promote national harmony, introduce indigenous aeronautical technology, raise funds for designing light helicopter in near future and attract youngsters towards aeronautics.”

He said the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) recently granted registration and authorised him to use its property during his scheduled cross-country journey and would also provide fuel for his two-seat ultra-light aircraft.