Giriprabhu Seshadri was fascinated with air planes from childhood. This led him to take up aeronautical engineering in college. “I thought air planes were all about magic, but now I know they are about mechanics” he smiles. He along with his friends, Mohammed Rasik, Gokulnath G P, Rajkumar Annamalai and mentor Naveen Krishnamurthy recently launched a new start up called WeThe5Pilots.
Started in April, the team conducts paper plane workshops to teach the basics of aerodynamics and raise funds for their future projects. “There is a difference when a child learns about a subject by experimenting with it. A paper plane is a miniature of a real air plane. We teach students how to make different models and explain the concepts of thrust, drag, lift and weight that are responsible for flight,” explains Gokulnath.
Krishnamurthy was a mentor to these students at Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College for Smart India Hackathon 2017. “I realised their potential and asked them if they were interested an aeronautical-related venture. Now we are a team and plan to provide engineering designs and developmental services of rockets, planes, mini-satellites, parachutes and vehicles.”
Their plane workshop is available in three levels with increasing complexity. Levels one and two deal with paper planes and level three deals with wooden gliders. They will cover six models in level one, three in level two and two in level three. Their models include Ratail, Bullet, Bomber, Destroyer and Interceptor. Krishnamurthy says, “The Bomber resembles a fighter plane called Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit. It has no tail, but only wings. The Destroyer is based on the Sukhoi Fighter Aircraft and the Bullet is modelled on XB 70 Valkyrie.”
The team learnt to make paper planes online. Annamalai says that creating sharp creases and balancing the weight of the paper plane evenly are important. “A well made paper plane when launched correctly can cover more than 10 metres if the external factors are favourable”, he adds. The team now works on mini-satellite kits for children. “All that they will have to do is assemble it. The kits will be available in the market soon”, says Krishnamurthy.
Visit https://www.facebook.com/ WeThe5Pilots/ for more information
Next Workshop
Level one paper plane workshop and flying competition for children.
Registration fee is ₹150 inclusive of materials
May 26; 4.00pm to 7.00 pm
@Decathlon, Neelambur, Avinashi Road.
