Hyderabad: Debutant author's book, a friendly flying manual for air travelers

Hyderabad: '101 Flying Secrets', a coffee table book authored by Hyderabad and Australia-based 23-year-old Rakesh Dhannarapu, a student debutant author, was launched recently in the city. The book clears doubts answering questions curious flyers always want to know but didn't know whom to ask. Answering those questions for the curious flyers on Aviation and Flying is the newly launched book by Dhannarapu, a Masters in Aviation with specialisation in 'Airworthiness" from The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology(RMIT), Melbourne.

As the title suggests, the book covers 101 questions that arise in the minds of the air passengers and are answered in a simple and lucid manner without going into the humongous nitty-gritties involved. Within this book, you'll discover answers to questions like: If aircraft are so safe, why wear seatbelts? Why are aircraft painted white? How fast can an aircraft be evacuated? Do aircraft dump fuel mid-air? What is airport curfew? What is run way excursion? What is the fate of retired aircraft? …and more. The book covers everything a curious and inquisitive air passenger would like to know.

Rakesh did B. Tech in Aerospace Engineering from SRM University Chennai. During his Engineering, Rakesh interned with BrahMos Aerospace, Bharat Dynamics Ltd, GMR Aero Technic Ltd, Tata Advanced Systems Ltd, National Aerospace Laboratories and Zetatek Industries.

After his engineering graduation, he went on to join Asia Pacific Flight Training (APFT), Hyderabad to pursue his dream of becoming a pilot. He completed 900 plus hours of ground training as part of the Commercial Pilot Programme. Like with any aspiring pilot, he had to undergo 'Pilot Medical Certification.' That was when a quirk of fate grounded his plans. Rakesh suffered a health issue and was misdiagnosed/wrongly treated with and underwent a small surgical procedure. Rakesh paid a heavy price for an avoidable surgery which denied him an opportunity to become a pilot.

Rakesh overcame his tryst with ill fate and has authored a book '101 Flying Secrets' is also helping to promote and nurture the dreams of others in his chosen field - Aviation. He has been continuously visiting various schools and colleges, giving lectures about interesting aspects of flying, aviation, careers in aviation etc.

It has just been over 100 years since aircraft were invented in 1903. We fly all over the world, for business, to meet family, to visit new places, etc. But even as adults and perhaps even after commuting thousands of air miles, we wonder at the marvelous aircrafts and the baffling things that we experience or see in connection with them at the airports. We have various questions but don't know whom to ask or fear if we will be able to comprehend the answer given the enormity of the subject.

More and more people are flying than ever before. More than one lakh flights crisscross each other every day across the world carrying ten lakh people at any given point of time, which is equivalent to a city in the sky. 62 per cent of air traffic in India during the year 2017 was towards domestic flying. This shows a surge in regional traveling. Udaan Scheme (RCS) is adding to it. When more and more are expected to travel by air in near future, informed passengers are always an asset to the airlines. He or she can be the Safety Ambassador in their own right. IATA (International Air Transport Association) in its 2018 Airline Industry Statistics released on July 31 revealed that airlines carried 440 crore passengers in the year 2018 alone. The passenger numbers are expected to rise up to 6 per cent this year. With Udaan Scheme in place more and more people are going to fly.

Hemanth DP, CEO – Asia Pacific Flight Training Academy Ltd and former Chief Commercial Officer, GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd has written the foreword for the book. The book received advance praise in the form of testimonials from the likes of Guntreddy Bhaskara Rao, Head of Solutions & Innovations, Etihad Airways; Capt. Atul Chandra, M.D. – Golden Eagle Aviation and CEO – Sylys Aviation; Vijay Mohan Raj, M.D. of Uniglobe Sameera Travels and Intl. Director of SKAL, the world's largest travel organisation of travel and tourism professionals; Ramesh Loganathan, Professor Co-innovation at IIIT Hyderabad and Chief Innovation Officer (Interim), Telangana State Innovation Cell, Telangana, India among other distinguished personalities.