13-yr-old Bengaluru aero-modeller flies into national contest

BENGALURU: It took Harsh Mathur about seven hours to build the remote-controlled aircraft that flew into the finals of the Boeing-IIT National Aeromodelling Championship. The 13-year-old student of Bishop Cotton Boys' School will be the youngest contestant in the championship to be held in April.
It started as a hobby when his father, a banker, bought him an almost ready-to-fly model when he was a seven-year-old. Soon, the Class-8 student took to semi-professional aeromodelling. In the south zone contest held a fortnight ago, Mathur single handedly beat over 30 teams - comprising college students and even IITians - with the airplane model he built from scratch.

"My house looked like a carpenter's workshop," Mathur recalls. The aircraft's wing and aileron are made of balsa wood. It's fuselage is made of depron, a form of styrofoam. He named the aircraft Chotee, meaning 'peak' in Hindi.

Although the contest is open only for teams comprising college students, Mathur's passion moved the organisers to allow him. "I built two models at home but they didn't perform. I perfected the design just in time for the competition," Mathur says. His aircraft uses a 1,400 KV motor, a 1,250 mAH 3cell battery, an electronic speed controller and a receiver, to fly.

"I was nervous when I reached IIT Madras for the south zone round. Day one was a glide round and my aircraft hit the ground. I managed to get it up again. On day two, I hit the bull's eye by dropping the payload into the designated spot," Mathur beams.

Meanwhile, Mathur's school has permitted him to use the playground to practice for the finals. "Being my first ever competition, it feels nice that I could set myself apart," Mathur says. Mohsin Pasha, director at TM Aerosports, a professional aeromodelling institute, who trained Mathur, says, "He joined a couple of years ago as just another enthusiast but was a quick learner. To fabricate an aircraft and take part in a national-level competition is a big achievement for a 13-year-old."

The annual Boeing-IIT National Aeromodelling Championship in New Delhi is organized by Boeing and five IITs. Mathur will be up against three teams. "Aero-modelling and flying an actual plane involve the same basics although the former requires more application of mind. There's no autopilot," he says.