The Rig Veda, the oldest document of the human race includes references to the following modes of transportation:

• Jalayan – a vehicle designed to operate in air and water. (Rig Veda 6.58.3)
• Kaara- Kaara- Kaara- a vehicle that operates on ground and in water. (Rig Veda 9.14.1)
• Tritala- Tritala- Tritala- a vehicle consisting of three stories. (Rig Veda 3.14.1)
• Trichakra Ratha – Trichakra Ratha – Trichakra Ratha – a three-wheeled vehicle designed to operate in the air. (Rig Veda 4.36.1)
• Vaayu Ratha- Vaayu Ratha- Vaayu Ratha- a gas or wind-powered chariot. (Rig Veda 5.41.6)
• Vidyut Ratha- Vidyut Ratha- Vidyut Ratha- a vehicle that operates on power. (Rig Veda 3.14.1).

Kathasaritsagara refers to highly talented woodworkers called Rajyadhara and Pranadhara. The former was so skilled in mechanical contrivances that he could make ocean crossing chariots. And the latter manufactured a flying chariot to carry a thousand passengers in the air. These chariots were stated to be as fast as thought itself. (source: India Through The Ages: History, Art Culture and Religion – By G. Kuppuram p. 532-533).

According to Dr. Vyacheslav Zaitsev:

“the holy Indian Sages, the Ramayana for one, tell of “Two storied celestial chariots with many windows” “They roar like off into the sky until they appear like comets.” The Mahabharata and various Sanskrit books describe at length these chariots, “powered by winged lighting…it was a ship that soared into the air, flying to both the solar and stellar regions.”
(source: Temples and Spaceships – By V. Zaitsev – Sputnik, Jan. 1967 and Hinduism in the Space Age – By E. Vedavyas p. 31-32

The mention of airplanes is found many times throughout Vedic literature, including the following verse from the Yajur-Veda describing the movement of such machines: “O royal skilled engineer, construct sea-boats, propelled on water by our experts, and airplanes, moving and flying upward, after the clouds that reside in the mid-region, that fly as the boats move on the sea, that fly high over and below the watery clouds. Be thou, thereby, prosperous in this world created by the Omnipresent God, and flier in both air and lightening. (Yajur Veda, 10.19) The Rig Veda, the oldest document of the human race includes references to the following modes of transportation: Jalayan – a vehicle designed to operate in air and water. (Rig Veda 6.58.3) Kaara- Kaara- Kaara- a vehicle that operates on ground and in water. (Rig Veda 9.14.1) Tritala- Tritala- Tritala- a vehicle consisting of three stories. (Rig Veda 3.14.1) Trichakra Ratha – Trichakra Ratha – Trichakra Ratha – a three-wheeled vehicle designed to operate in the air. (Rig Veda 4.36.1) Vaayu Ratha- Vaayu Ratha- Vaayu Ratha- a gas or wind-powered chariot. (Rig Veda 5.41.6) Vidyut Ratha- Vidyut Ratha- Vidyut Ratha- a vehicle that operates on power. (Rig Veda 3.14.1). Kathasaritsagara refers to highly talented woodworkers called Rajyadhara and Pranadhara. The former was so skilled in mechanical contrivances that he could make ocean crossing chariots. And the latter manufactured a flying chariot to carry a thousand passengers in the air. These chariots were stated to be as fast as thought itself. (source: India Through The Ages: History, Art Culture and Religion – By G. Kuppuram p. 532-533). According to Dr. Vyacheslav Zaitsev: “the holy Indian Sages, the Ramayana for one, tell of “Two storied celestial chariots with many windows” “They roar like off into the sky until they appear like comets.” The Mahabharata and various Sanskrit books describe at length these chariots, “powered by winged lighting…it was a ship that soared into the air, flying to both the solar and stellar regions.” (source: Temples and Spaceships – By V. Zaitsev – Sputnik, Jan. 1967 and Hinduism in the Space Age – By E. Vedavyas p. 31-32 Vimanas  in Ramayana. It was capable of accommodating all the vanaras besides Rama, Sita and Lakshman.              Again in the Vikramaurvaisya, we are told that king Puraravas rode in an aerial car to rescue Urvasi in pursuit of the Danava who was carrying her away. Similarly in the Uttararamacarita in the flight between Lava and Candraketu (Act VI) a number of aerial cars are mentioned as bearing celestial spectators. There is a statement in the Harsacarita of Yavanas being acquainted with aerial machines. The Tamil work Jivakacintamani refers to Jivaka flying through the air. Kathasaritsagara refers to highly talented woodworkers called Rajyadhara and Pranadhara. The former was so skilled in mechanical contrivances that he could make ocean crossing chariots. And the latter manufactured a flying chariot to carry a thousand passengers in the air. These chariots were stated to be as fast as thought itself. The Arthasastra of Kautilya (c. 3rd century B.C.) mentions amongst various tradesmen and technocrats the Saubhikas as ‘ pilots conducting vehicles in the sky’. Saubha was the name of the aerial flying city of King Harishchandra and the form ‘Saubika’ means ‘one who flies or knows the art of flying an aerial city.’ Kautilya uses another significant word ‘Akasa Yodhinah’, which has been translated as ‘persons who are trained to fight from the sky.’ The existence of aerial chariots, in whatever form it might be, was so well-known that it found a place among the royal edicts of the Emperor Asoka which were executed during his reign from 256 B.C. – 237 B. C. The Vaimanika Shastra (Hindi edn) refers to about 97 works and authorities of yore of which at least 20 works deal with the mechanism of aerial Flying Machine, but none of these works is now traceable. The Yuktikalpataru of Bhoja includes a reference to aerial cars in verses 48-50 and a manuscript of the work belonging to the Calcutta Sanskrit College dated at 1870 A.D. We are thus in possession of some manuscript material and from the above it appears that there were Vimanas or aircrafts in ancient India and they followed the route over the western sea i.e. Arabian Sea – Africa – Atlantic ocean – Latin America/Mexico, this being the shortest route. Some ships also might have followed this route, but most of the cargo ships, however, had to follow the longer route over the Pacific ocean via Indonesia – Polynesia – Latin America/Mexico because of the favorable trade winds and the equatorial currents which made the navigation easier. And if the ancient Indians could perhaps boast of some form of air travel the Nazca lines of Peru acquire an added significance. Not only the scriptural references of aircrafts and the routes of navigation, even some base landing sites might have possibly been found in the tangled outlines and figures in the Pampas of Nazca. Maria Reiche, a German scientist, through her life-long dedication studied these seriously, preserved them from destruction and publicized them before the world. The huge figures which are visible from the sky might have helped the ancient pilots (Sauvikas) of India to land in Peru. (For more information please refer to Chapters on Pacific, Suvarnabhumi, War in Ancient India, Hindu Scriptures and Seafaring in Ancient India). The Nazca lines of Peru seem to be landing signal for the air chariots of pre-Colombian times. There are several references in Sanskrit texts about the Indian Vimanas carrying kings and dignitaries to pataldesa.Ramayana describes Ravana’s flight from Varunalaya (Borneo) to Rasatala (Peru). Prof. D. K. Kanjilal analyses the legend of the Matsya Purana (chapters 129) in his Vimana in Ancient India in the following words: “Behind the veil of legend and scientific truth comes out that three flying-cities were made for and were used by the demons. Of these three, one was in a stationary orbit in the sky, another moving in the sky and one was permanently stationed in the ground. These were docked like modern spaceships in the sky at particular time and at fixed latitude/longitudes. Siva’s arrow obviously referred to ablazing missile fired from a flying satellite specially built for the purpose and the brunt spaceship fell in the Indian ocean. Vestiges of onetime prosperous civilization destroyed in battles only flicker through these legends. These references sharply point to the use of some kind of aerial flying vehicles known as Vimana apart from mechanical contrivances, armored cars, various types of missiles etc. These references sounding queer and unscientific even in recent past have been approximated to the present-day technology through the innovation of highly sophisticated weapons and of the space-satellites likeMariner, Vostok, Soyuz, Aryabhatta etc. These facts require more than a passing notice. The flying vehicles were firstly designated Ratha (vehicle or carriage) in the Rig Veda. Vimanas possessed a very high speed. This aerial vehicle was triangular, large, 3-tier uneven and was piloted by at least three persons (tribandhura). It has three wheels which were probably withdrawn during aerial flight. In one verse the chariot is said to have three columns. It was generally made of anyone of the three kinds of metals, gold, silver or iron but the metal which usually went into its make up according to the Vedic text was gold. It looked beautiful. Long nails or rivets were attached to it. The chariot had three types of fuel. Possessing very fast speed, it moved like a bird in the sky soaring towards the Sun and the Moon and used to come down to the earth with great sound”. (source: The Indians And The Amerindians By Dr. S. Chakravarti p.141-146).

In addition to the Vaimanika Shashtra, the Samarangana Sutradhara and the Yuktikalpataru of Bhoja, there are about 150 verses of the Rig Veda, Yajurveda and the Atharvaveda, a lot of literary passages belonging to the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Puranas, the Bhagavata and the Raghuvamsa and some references of the darma Abhijnanasakuntalam of Kalidasa, the Abimaraka of Bhasa, the Jatalas.

The Avadhana Literature and of the Kathasaritsagara and a number of literary works contained either references to graphic aerial flight or to the mechanism of the aerial vehicles used in old ages in India. In the Ramayana both the words “Vimana” and “Ratha” have been used:

• Kamagam ratham asthaya…nadanadipatim (3. 35. 6-7). He boarded the aerial vehicle with Khara which was decorated with jewels and the faces of demons and it moved with noise resembling the sonorous clouds.
• You may go to your desired place after enticing Sita and I shall bring her to Lanka by air.. So Ravana and Maricha boarded the aerial vehicle resembling a palace (Vimana) from that hermitage.
• Then the demons brought the Puspaka aerial vehicle and placed Sita on it by bringing her from the Ashoka forest and she was made to see the battle field with Trijata.
• This aerial vehicle marked with Swan soared into the sky with loud noise.

Reference to Flying vehicles as Vimana occur in the Mahabharata in about 41 places of which the air attack of Salva on Krisna‘s capital Dwaraka deserve special notice. The Asura king Salva had an aerial flying machine known as Saubha-pura in which he came to attack Dwaraka.

He began to shower hails, and missiles from the sky. As Krishna chased him he went near the sea and landed in the high seas. Then he came back again with his flying machine and gave a tough fight to Krishna staying about one Krosa (about 4,000 ft) above the ground level. Krishna at last threw a powerful ground-to-air weapon which hit the plane in the middle and broke it into pieces. The damaged flying machine fell into the seas. This vivid description of the air attack occurs in the Bhagavata also. We also come across the following references to missiles, armaments, sophisticated war-machines and mechanical contrivances as well as to Vimanas in Mahabharata.

The inscriptions of emperor Asoka are by far the most authentic records in support of the existence of aerial flying vehicles which are mentioned as Vimana. The existence of aerial chariots in whatever form it might be was so well-known that it found a place among the royal edicts of the Emperor Asoka which were executed during his reign from 256 B.C.- 237 B.C. Vatsyana in his Kama Sutra referred to mechanical contrivances in their origin among 64 ancillary Sciences. The Arthasastra of Kautilya (3rd century B.C), a treatise mainly dealing with political economy but containing information on kindred scientific topics refers to a class of mechanic known as Saubhika…

A discussion regarding the existence of and the use of flying vehicles in ancient India naturally waits for an advanced state of knowledge in cosmogony. A close and careful study of the Vedic literature shows that it was not just a collection of primeval poetry but a varied literature of a powerful and dynamic society where the people had the knowledge of cloud and vapor, of the season and of the monsoon, of the different types of wind, of the expanse of the sky, of the strength of the wind blowing at high speed and so on.

Three types of cloud have been referred to in the Rig Veda (1.101.4). which also states that smoke and vapor surcharged with water turn into cloud. Formation of vapor through heat and the subsequent formation of cloud has been referred to in the Vedas. Indian meteorological concepts thus date back to the age of the Rig Veda.

Citations.

http://trusciencetrutechnolgy.blogspot.in/2013_07_01_archive.html

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/vimanas/esp_vimanas_2a.htm