Hyderabad: It’s an irresistible lure that stirs the senses, fires dreams and hooks one for life. The call of the road. The pull of the deep waters. The dare of mighty mountains. The challenge of the sky. Bound to terra firma, man has always been fascinated by the idea of taking wing and soaring across the azure sky. Since ages, millions have dreamt of flying, but it is only the quest of a few that has led to the invention of various flying machines — ranging from the bizarre and whimsical to the technically sound and commercially viable models. So, what is it that sets these dreamers apart? An extreme passion for flying, a thirst for adventure and then of course, a pair of wings — that’s the minimum you need for a vertical takeoff.
A number of aviation-crazy Indians are now aiming to reach new heights — by creating interesting and innovative flying machines. For the first time, the annual Red Bull Flugtag (German for Flight Day) competition will take place in India this September, in Bengaluru. Thirty-seven teams will attempt to fly their self-created flying machines.
Meet some young innovators who are just about to acquire their own “home-grown” wings.
SOAR LIKE AN EAGLE
Flying is almost impossible to describe. It’s as if you are not alone while you are flying, but there are angels watching over you, helping you stay up in the air, defying gravity. Only if you can fly can you understand exactly what I mean.”
I was born to fly. What if I was born without wings? That’s not going to stop me,” says Shreerang A. Kulkarni. At 10, he boarded a plane for the first time, alone, with just a letter from his dad asking the airline staff to take care of him. It proved to be a life-altering experience. “The airline staff gave me a window seat and even showed me into the cockpit. When the plane flew above the clouds, I knew this is what I wanted to do,” he says. Since then, his dream has been to become a pilot.
Aeronautics students Shreerang, Naveen Raj, Sujith Kumar and Lakshmi Narayana are working on a human-powered flying machine. “Flying dynamics is a part of our course, so we are sure our Ego-Shark (a confluence of an eagle with a shark tail for maneuvering) will be a spectacular flier. Details of weight, size and aerofoil structure have been sorted. We just need to replicate it in a bigger model,” says Shreerang who plans to go for pilot training after completing his engineering.
Invention: a human-powered flying machine shaped like an eagle with a shark tail
VINTAGE VANTAGE
When I fly my drone in the sky, it looks like it is surfing on a surface of clouds. It’s like being in a place next to heaven. It’s a heady exhilaration, a blissful wonder.”
While there are those who dream of flying, there are also those who like to make things fly. Sumedh Tare is a computer engineer who was always drawn to aerodynamics. “I always had a passion for things that fly. That’s why though I was a computer engineering student, I had a deep interest in aerodynamics. If you recall that quadcopter in the movie 3 Idiots with four fans,
I made a similar one in college but with six fans (a hexacopter) followed by an octacopter (eight fans). I have made remote-controlled small jets, GPS-guided drones that can travel from point A to B without any assistance. It’s not something I was taught but learned by myself,” he says. His team comprises an MBA (Sachin Bhelkar), entrepreneur (Prathamesh Koli) and a lady doctor (Sanchita Mahadik). “In my experience, the biggest challenge in making a craft fly is to have a stable centre of gravity and centre of point in the structure. When the craft takes off, these points should not shift.
Our craft is ready and with testing, I will soon find the right balance,” adds Sumedh. His aircraft is based on an 1890 aircraft designed by French aviation pioneer Clement Ader, that had not proved capable of a prolonged flight. “I hope Ader will be happy to see his design finally flying in the sky,” says Sumedh.
Invention: Flying Machine based on an 1890 model called ‘Eole’ designed by Clement Ader
BATTING FOR BATMAN
It’s a feeling that can’t be expressed but only felt. A feeling that the whole world is below you, and you are on top of it all. Flying is an act of freedom — with nothing in the way to stop us.”
Shashank Sonnappa wanted to be an aeronautical engineer, and though he ended up with the mechanical branch, he never lost his passion for aerospace. “I want to join Indian Air Force as a pilot. In college, I enrolled in NCC’s Air Wing, logging around 16 hours of flying. I want to be as close to an aircraft as I possibly can,” says the final year student of City Engineering College, Bengaluru, who is planning to go for pilot training after his engineering.
Creating his own machine and actually flying it is a dream he has been nurturing for long and is soon going to realise. Shashank and his team have brought together their two passions — flying and comic books — in their design based on Batman’s aircraft wing.
Invention: Inspired by their favourite comic book super-hero Batman, Knight Wing is designed in the shape of Batman’s aircraft
FLIGHT OF IMAGINATION
I think, in the future instead of using bikes, cars, buses, people will have their own aircraft to travel from home to college, office, market... I feel the aerospace industry is heading toward such a revolution.”
Sunny Rai’s dream of becoming an Air Force pilot was shattered when he exceeded the age limit for joining NDA by just a few months. Since his family couldn’t afford the cost of his training for commercial pilot, he opted for Plan B — becoming an engineer in the aerospace industry.
Today, with his team, he is designing an aircraft that he guarantees will fly, with him in the cockpit. “While I couldn’t become a pilot, this will be my way to take on my fate and fly into the sky, that too without a licence. Take that! Our design comprises a rotating gear and a detachable wing that will assure a long flight for the craft,” he shares.
Invention: Bengaluru Dream Flier is a combination of a rotating gear and spanner with a detachable wing that comes off the base during take-off for a long flight
MODERN RENDITION
It is surreal to defy gravity and pure joy to have your feet miles above the ground and the wind in your face.”
Another vintage model being reinvented is an aircraft by Subbaraya Shastry and Shivkar Talpade — the two Indians who many believe constructed and flew an unmanned aircraft based on Vedic technology in 1895, eight years before the Wright brothers.
“This is the first time we’re making a craft that will hold a pilot. Our careers led to product designing, but flying’s always fascinated us team members,” says Chandrashekhar. “We saw pictures of the aircraft in the Aerospace Heritage Museum and tried to stay close to the original. It’s a modern rendition of the original.”
Invention: Pushpaka is a modern rendition of an 1895 aircraft by indian aviation pioneers Talpade and Shastry, based on vedic technology
