The dream to fly in the sky while watching an airplane pass high fascinates many of us. As a child, IAS officer Dr. S. Siddharth also dreamt of flying his own aircraft. Now the Principal Secretary to CM, Bihar, Dr. Siddharth’s dream is about to be realised. He has got his pilot’s license. and just 10-15 hours of flying training will get him ready to soar in the skies.
The wish list of this officer with a passion for electronics though is full of surprises. He wants to pilot that plane, which he himself puts together.He has already collected all the parts of a small aircraft, and it is just a matter of time before he assembles those and gets them ready.
During a conversation with Indian Masterminds, Dr. Siddharth shared his experiences and
difficulties of a trainee pilot.
STARTED WITH MODEL AIRPLANES
Like any other child, Dr. Siddharth used to dream of flying aircraft right from the time he started to assemble Meccano sets (model airplanes) and tried to fly them. “I used to tie it with rope and roll it hard so that it flies. But, it never did,” he said. While doing B.Tech from IIT Delhi also, he used to try making gasoline models.
THE TRAINING
It was during the first phase of Covid when he enrolled himself in a flying club. After passing the medical and then studying about aircraft and radio he wrote the exam. The trainee pilot said: “Even to sit in the cockpit, you need the license. It isn’t like any other vehicle where you can directly start with practical training.” Dr. Siddharth has already completed his first practical training session and is hopeful of touching the sky soon.
MULTI-TALENTED
The 1991 batch IAS of Bihar cadre who hails from Tamil Nadu and is also into
photography, video editing, and script writing, when asked about the difficulties he faced during training to be a pilot, said: “Airplanes are not single access. It goes on three dimensions. You can’t start or stop it as you can do it with another vehicle. The controls are too sensitive. One needs to be patient while flying an aircraft.” So it’s just a matter of time before he will take off in his own aircraft and create a new milestone.
