Mahindra’s malaria fund-raising plane reaches Bangalore

BANGALORE - A single engined turboprop aircraft of Australia’s GippsAero, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mahindra Aerospace, landed in this tech hub Saturday on its global tour to raise $1 million for eradicating malaria.

The eight-seater GA8-TC Airvan, which took off from Bendigo in Victoria (Australia) May 8 on a world tour sponsored by the $6.3-billion Mahindra Group, was flown to Bangalore from Mahe in the Seychelles by Australian pilots Ken Evans, 33, and Tim Pryse, 51, after a 16-hour non-stop cruise over the Indian Ocean.

“We flew from Seychelles at 110-120 nautical miles per hour at an altitude of 9,000-11,000 feet through the night covering 1,702 nautical miles. The cruise was smooth though we encountered some turbulence and heavy clouds on way over the Indian Ocean,” Pryse told IANS.

The utility aircraft, with ‘Millions against Malaria’ slogan painted on its airframe, is stationed for mandatory checks in the golden jubilee hangar of the state-run National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) adjacent to the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) airport, currently used for test flights of military aircraft.

Propelled by a 320 horsepower Lycoming turbocharged fuel-injected engine, Airvan has a capacity to carry 1,332 litres of aviation turbine fuel to fly around 22 hours non-stop.

“On our first lap, we flew from Bendigo over the Pacific Ocean to Arizona in the US, with stop-overs on way at Norfolk island, Pago Pago, Christmas Island, Hilo, Mojave, McNeal, Scottsdale and New Orleans, covering 9,012 nautical miles,” Evans said.

The next port of call for the white-coloured aircraft is Phuket in Thailand, 1,282 nautical miles away. After transit halts at Zamboanga in Philippines, Wewak and Port Morseby in Papua New Guinea, the small plane is scheduled to return to Bendigo in mid-July.

Funds to create awareness and eradicate the dreaded malaria disease are being raised online to two nominated charities - Australian Foundation for the Peoples of Asia and Pacific (AFAP) and Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF).

The donations are made directly to these charities and the pilots have flown over and landed in several malaria-hit countries en-route.

“We are thrilled to land in India and appreciate the warm hospitality being given to us here. Our mission is progressing well. The Airvan has proved to be an ideal choice for such a mission. Mahindra’s support is helping us fulfill our dream of circumnavigating the globe and we look forward to completing the two-month long mission in July after covering 28,190 nautical miles,” Everse said.

“Setting off on a multiple mission to prove its ruggedness and reliability, Airvan is the first Australian designed and manufactured aircraft to circumnavigate the globe,” Mahindra vice chairman and managing director Anand Mahindra said on the occasion.

The GA8-TC of Gippsland Aeronautics (GippsAero), Australia’s leading turboprob aircraft manufacturer, carries FAR-23 certification, indicating the highest measure of safety allowing fare paying passengers to be ferried between small and remote airfields in full comfort and security.

Mahindra Aerospace acquired 75.1 percent stake each in GippsAero and Aerostaff Australia for Rs.175 crore in December 2009 jointly with Kotak Private Equity.

Aerostaff is a manufacturer of aerospace components and assemblies for large aerospace original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).