Nano-sized dreams: A Bihar man who wanted to be a pilot has turned his car into a helicopter

In 2008, when then Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata unveiled what he called the people’s car, he said, “This is been referred to as one man’s dream and indeed it was.”

While the decade long journey of the car has remained tumultuous, with no sales made in January and news that production of the car would stop from Aril 2020 – in a small Bihar village, the Tata Nano is helping a farmer fly.

A resident of Chhapra village, Mithilesh Prasad gave his Nano what one could call an aerodynamic makeover.

Prasad who has always wanted to become a pilot told Ruptly, “Since I was a child, I wanted to become a pilot. But because of our financial status – as I belong to a farming family – that would not be possible. So I bought a car and gave it a helicopter look.”

With a rotor blade, a tail, a tail boom and a rotor mast Prasad’s copter-car can’t fly, but it does at least feel like a helicopter.

Fitted with new controls and done up with a new coat of paint, Prasad’s car-copter may not be a great idea when looking for parking space, but has won the awe of neighbours and certainly Chhapra’s children.