A TEAM OF THREE aeronautical engineering students of ACS College of Engineering, Bangalore Tabrez Nadvi Anser (21), Pawan MJ (21) and Vignesh Arul (20) were declared winners of the inaugural Boeing National Aero-modelling competition staged in Delhi on April 12. Over 170 teams nationwide competed for the winner’s trophy and prize money purse of Rs.1 lakh.

A first-of-its-kind joint initiative of India’s celebrated IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology) and the Chicago-based civil aviation giant Boeing Corp, the two-phase aero modelling competition was conducted to stimulate the interest of undergrad engineering students in the aerospace industry. All participating teams were obliged to build and demo radio-controlled (RC) aircraft which were assessed on the basis of their design, climbing, gliding and manoeuvrability capabilities.

After our model was shortlisted by IIT-Kharagpur on the basis of the blueprint, images and video clips, with financial assistance from the ACS College management, we designed and built a three-dimensional RC aircraft of balsa wood and depron foam. In the zonals held at IIT-Kgp on February 2, our model was ranked #3 which qualified us for the finals in Delhi, where it was adjudged the best on the basis of its fantastic manoeuvrability. To improve our model aircraft for the finals, all of us worked in close cooperation and learned valuable lessons in teamwork. Beating the IITs on their own turf has given us a tremendous high, enthuses Arul.

An occasional flyer of radio-controlled aircraft at Hoskote in suburban Bangalore, like his colleagues, Anser is elated but a trifle disappointed with the award. I would have preferred an opportunity to work with Boeing rather than a cash award because we’ve started to design, build and fly a single-seater ultra-light aircraft. A stint at Boeing would have certainly helped! he says.

Nevertheless, there’s little doubt this team of young engineers is set to fly high.

Garima Upadhyay (Delhi)