Eyes fixed on the sky above him, V Srihari takes a step back and launches his glider. It flies briefly before landing on the ground. Before his second try, he checks the direction of the wind.
“This is a triangle delta force design. If the glider has thin, long wings, it will generate too much of a lift and it will not stay up in the air for long,” the 12-year-old aeromodelling enthusiast explains. His stays afloat for exactly 3.77 seconds.
Srihari was one among the many enthusiasts (totalling to 150 teams), both from schools and colleges, who gathered at the grounds of Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science on an overcast day, to have their innovations take to the skies as a part of an aeromodelling competition. Around 150 teams from schools and colleges in Chennai and other cities participated in across the junior category which had a ‘chuck glider’ competition, a ‘fixed wing micro’ competition for the senior category, and an open category, which required participants to showcase their ‘RC (remote control) model’ aircrafts in designated loop maneuvering and dropping a designated payload.
From being an area of interest when they were younger, a developing hobby, or even as an activity they first got introduced to on YouTube, every participant at the competition had a story to tell about their passion for the wings in the skies.
Commercial airplanes flying above his house prompted Syed Rayan to seek out videos online to learn aeromodelling. A student of B. S. Abdur Rahman Crescent Institute Of Science And Technology, Syed Rayan and his teammate Laila Musthafa, a student from Karunya Institute, had a model aircraft, made of balsa wood that had many gathering to watch them tinker with it before the competition started.
Participants at the Aeromodelling competition, at Hindustan Institute of Technology and Sciences (HITS) | Photo Credit: R Ravindran
“Based on the truss structure used for bridges, this model weighs only 300 grams. We wanted to build something which was as light as possible, but also able to carry a heavy payload. Balsa wood is commonly used in the aeromodelling industry to make lightweight aircrafts,” he explains. A self-taught enthusiast, Syed has participated and found success in several competitions. “Aeromodelling is, however, an expensive passion to pursue. To make a model aircraft from scratch costs anywhere between ₹15,000 to ₹20,000,” he says. Srihari, Syed and Laila’s aircraft models won the top prize in their respective categories.
An active member of the Madras Aero Club, M Siju, a student from the Indian Institute of Management Tiruchi, also emphasised on how the right guidance and mentors could help one take their hobby to the next level. “It was a dream of mine, to make something fly in the sky,” he says, holding up his model aircraft. It was just minutes ago that his remote controlled aircraft flew around the field where the competition was being held and made a safe landing, to applause from the viewers.
An aircraft model being checked before the competition | Photo Credit: R Ravindran
Most participants say that they turned into aeromodelling enthusiasts during the pandemic lockdown. Aeromodelling clubs on college campuses, including the one in Hindustan Institute saw a spike in numbers. “Many students saw how unmanned aerial vehicles were used to drop off medicines and other aid when cities were under lockdown. This piqued their interest,” says S N Sridhara, Vice Chancellor, Hindustan University.
A participant operates a remote controlled model | Photo Credit: R Ravindran
Watching the participants come forth and exhibit their innovations, he says he is quite sure of one thing. “Students are coming up with intelligent modifications, and this means we will have many interesting innovations in this space.”
