DHANGADHI, Sept 16 :In a first of its kind in the country, an aircraft museum has been completed in Dhanghadi.
The museum, housed inside an old aircraft of the now defunct airline Cosmic Air, has on display 200 down-sized prototypes of aircraft ranging from the first plane flown by the Wright Brothers to other models since.
The country´s first aircraft museum has been set up at Hasanpur, Dhangadhi by Bed Upreti, a Dhangadhi local who is currently working as a pilot trainer for an airline company in Indonesia.
Captain Upreti claimed that Nepal´s first aircraft museum is a first of its kind in the entire world. The fact that the museum is housed in an airplane sets it apart from others.
Upreti told Republica that the museum can become a resource center for those interested in learning about different types of aircraft built in the world since 1903.
He hopes that the museum will not only provide visitors, especially students, information about various types of planes, but also inspire them to take an interest in aviation. As per Upreti, a lab for engineering graduate students for making airplanes has also been set up at the museum.
In addition to the aircraft material, 60 pictures of important sites from different parts of the country, including the far western region, and 30 from foreign countries are also on display at the museum.
While four or five prototypes kept at the museum are of planes that are still in use, the remaining have been showcased for purposes of study. People visiting the museum can observe and study different types of aircraft.
The museum will be officially opened for visitors from Thursday. An entrance fee of Rs 50 has been set for students and Rs 100 for other visitors.
Fifteen percent of the entrance fee will set aside for the Bed Upreti Trust, to be spent on treatment to cancer patients and on scholarships for students, according to museum founder Upreti.
As per him, Rs 15 million has been invested for setting up the museum. It was completed in seven months.
Locals are optimistic that the museum will help promote tourism. Sanjay Chaudhary, a tourism entrepreneur, said Dhangadhi can emerge as one of the key tourist destinations of the country following the establishment of the country´s first aircraft museum.
Source: myrepublica.com
