EVERY weekday, weather permitting, Frantisek Hadrava throws on a white scarf and a leather helmet before he takes the scenic route to work.

    Instead of commuting by car, Hadrava has built himself a speedier option: an ultra lightweight plane called Vampira.

    Hadrava, a 45-year-old locksmith from the southwestern Czech village of Zdikov, took about two years of his spare time to built the plane based on the U.S.-design of light planes called Mini-Max.

    He cut his 14-minute commute to his 6 a.m. shift at a local factory in half. And since he’s considerate of those sleeping below, he takes the long way.

    “By plane, it would take around four to five minutes if I flew directly, but I take a bit of a detour so that I don’t disturb people early in the morning. So it takes about seven minutes,” Hadrava said.

    The plane has an open cockpit, propeller powered by a 3-cylinder engine made by Czech firm Verner, and maximum speed of 146 km an hour. The mostly wood plane cost about €3,700 (US$4,200) to build.

    Hadrava has a simple system for parking at the machine tool factory roughly 16-km from his home. He lands in a nearby meadow and pushes the plane into a car lot. It spans across up to four spaces.(SD-Agencies)