Vimana-ramma

There is a Hindu document which describes the building ofseveral ancient aircrafts called 'Vimana'…

'Strong and durable must the body of the Vimana be made, like a great flying bird of light material. Inside one must put the mercury engine with its iron heating apparatus underneath. By means of the power latent in the mercury which sets the driving whirlwind in motion, a man sitting inside may travel a great distance in the sky. The movements of the Vimana are such that it can vertically ascend, vertically descend, move slanting forwards and backwards. With the help of the machines human beings can fly in the air and heavenly beings can come down to earth.'

The text…which was written 400 years before the birth of Jesus…claims that there are
32 secrets to piloting a Vimana;

(Maantrika)
the invocation of mantras, of spiritual and hypnotic powers,
for the construction of airplanes which cannot be destroyed.

(Goodha)
for the pilot to make his Vimana invisible to his enemies.

(Paroksha)
enables the pilot to paralyze other Vimana.

(Aparoksha) to project a beam of light in front of his craft to light his way.

(Viroopa Karana)
with which the pilot can produce 'the thirty-second kind of smoke', charge it with 'the light of the heat waves in the sky' and transform his craft into a 'very fierce and terrifying shape' guaranteed to cause 'utter fright to onlookers'.

(Pralaya)
-to push electrical force through the 'five-limbed aerial tube'
so the pilot can 'destroy everything as in a cataclysm'.

The privilege of operating a flying machine is great.
The knowledge of flight is among the most ancient of our inheritances. A gift from 'those from upon high'.
We received it from them as a means of saving many lives.'
-Hindu Hakatha manuscript