The drone of aircraft engines stirred up the surroundings of the Puducherry airport — where efforts are on to revive operations of real passenger aircraft — though this time the noise and hectic activity had to do with some of the most adept micro-aircraft flyers in the NCC ranks competing in an aero modelling event.
There were two-member teams from most of the units under the NCC Directorate for Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and Andaman and Nicobar executing radio-controlled sorties with mini-planes.
The contestants were vying for the top spot that will earn them the honour to participate in the Republic Day programmes on behalf of their Directorate.
There was considerable skill on show as the cadets went about radio-controlling the miniature planes through take-off, steep climb and the straight glide. And, like the breathtaking air shows of the Air Force, these boys too guided their mini-aircraft to paint patterns in the sky.
“There is so much skill progression at the unit level itself that most cadets are pretty good flyers by the time they reach this stage of the competition,” said Chandrasekhar, aero modelling instructor, NCC Air Wing.
The best performance is often judged on its closeness to perfection, the instructor said.
The aero modelling routine is all written down in the NCC manual, from take-off to landing the aircraft within a 2-metre circular patch of ground.
The standard is to keep the engine running for 60 seconds to ascend, cut off the engine and let the plane glide for two minutes before the skill sets turn all pomp and flair — the planes are controlled to execute little twists, 180 degree turns, loops, spins or the horizontal flying in the shape of an eight.
The competition was organised across three segments — radio-controlled glider model, radio-control power model and control line aerobatics.
The cadets had come with the micro aircraft they themselves assembled in respective units. For about two days preceding the competitions, they had test flights to get used to the field conditions and wind speed.
Unlike the terrain, other field conditions such as wind speed and direction are variables. So, participants need to be able to gauge the conditions through visual observation and the engine noise and make mental notes of these factors while they compete.
“The two best candidates from this camp will go for further training and participate in the national-level competitions later for the R-Day camp,” said M. Pargunan, Commanding Officer, Air Squadron, NCC.
Sometimes, new teams are formed when the two best flyers from the event hail from different NCC units. Last time, for instance, the team that represented the vast NCC Directorate in the region were from different units.
