Meet the Chennai youth who flies high on a remote-controlled aircraft

CHENNAI: While pursuing a course in aeronautical engineering at a Chennai college, R Vasanth Kumar was disappointed by what he saw as an overdose of theory.

He never got the chance to enter a cockpit as part of his training during the course, but found a solution soonafter passing out of college: Making his own remote-controlled miniature aircraft.

Now, every evening, he sits with students from nearby schools and trains them in aeromodelling at his institute in KK Nagar.
With pieces of thermocol and softwood, Kumar teaches them how to make an aircraft.

Aeromodelling is not only a hobby, but also a great sport," said Kumar, who has travelled across India to learn more about the sport from various experts.

Aeromodelling is the art of making working aircraft on your own, said Kumar. At his institute Airsport.in, founded three years ago, aircraft models are made in different sizes and shapes. "We make different models, with a beginner starting with smaller models. We draw a plan for every model and make each part of that aircraft based on that," said Kumar.

"We train children and youngsters in various disciplines in aeromodelling and also conduct regional competitions. The training and competitions are conducted under the rules of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI), the world governing body that monitors air sports," he said.

"The same engineering skill and technology applied on a real aircraft is applied here too. The only difference is that this is pilotless. All the aircraft are remotely controlled," he said.

Kumar, who has conducted many inter-school competitions in Chennai and other places, is making plans toorganise an inter-school drone competition in the city in May.

"We developed our own aircraft and drones here. Getting permission from authorities is a big problem," hesaid. "I have got a private ground where I will conduct a drone competition in May," he added.