Soaring high on a plane

Doctor's Passion

You know Dr Vikram Sharma is not ‘just’ a doctor the moment you enter his Saket flat. A life-like 72’ B-25J Bomber sits pretty on the sofa to the left. An Edge 540 yellow and red stunt plane ado­rns the right-hand corner, and several more models of planes and copters are tucked away in various stages of assembling and de-assembling in different corners of his house.

That is because Dr Vikram Sharma is not ‘just’ a senior urologist at Max Hospital, Saket, but also lives his childhood dream of being a pilot by crafting and flying models of helicopters and aircraft!

Dr Vikram reminisces, “As a kid, I loved to make paper and cardboard planes and hoped to become either a pilot or a railway engineer. Coming from a family of doctors, tho­u­gh, I was expected to follow suit. When I expressed the desire to at least obtain a private pilot’s license, I was also refu­s­ed that for the fear of accide­nts. So, I did the next best thing – I began making models of copters and aircraft.”

Vikram further informs Metrolife that certain companies manufacture kits of aeroplane model parts especially for flying enthusiasts like him. These kits are also accompanied by instruction booklets and there are several groups on the net which guide one on how to put them together.

He says, “When I started doing this about 15 years back, it was much more difficult because only a few American and European companies made these kits at astronomical rates. Nowadays, everyone from the Chinese to Vietna­m­e­se produce them at half the pr­ice. Initially, there used to be only basic kits which wo­u­ld take weeks to assemble. Tod­ay, you get Almost Ready to Fly kits which take four to six hours of assembly time.”

The rise of groups like the Aeromodellers Association of Gurgaon has also proved to be very helpful. These comprise personalities like erstwhile maharajas, politicians, businessmen and well-off professionals. Vikram says, “Thanks to these people, we get access to places like the Safdarjung flying strip, Noida Golf Course etc. Though, we usually go to Bhondsi, in Haryana because Delhi is just too crowded.”

So every other Sunday, Dr Vikram and his co-pilots bring out their ‘toys’ – War Birds, Stunt planes, helicopters, jets, Multi-rotary aircraft (like the one in 3 Idiots), those with electric motors and fuel engi­n­es. Vikram himself has put together at least 70 aircraft till now. These comprise an F-14 Tomcat, Sukhoi SU30, Mig 21, Mig 25, Spitsfire, Fighter 15 and many more.

He expresses, “It’s been so many years now but the fascination does not end. Even wi­th my tough work schedule, I look forward to taking my pla­nes out on weekends. It’s very tiring and time-consuming to assemble and then de-assemble them on the ground. But to see them soaring in the sky is the ultimate stress buster.”

“You just have to be careful about one thing. Fly them cautiously so that they don’t crash. A basic plane kit costs about Rs 30,000. The high-end turbine jets cost anywhere betw­een five to seven lakhs. So you have a fortune flying up in the air. Make sure they don’t plunge to the ground.”