Indian Defence Review

Pratyush Kumar, president, Boeing India with participants,judges and officals at the Boeing-IIT National Aero Modelling Competition finals at IIT

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• Competition attracts participation from 215 teams comprising more than 670 engineering students from across the country
• Encourages next generation of engineers to work for the success of India’s aerospace industry

Hundreds of young Indian engineers competed in the finals of the annual National Aero-modelling Competition organised by Boeing in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).

The 2016 competition at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, which provided a national platform for students to demonstrate their aero modelling skills, was designed to encourage future engineering professionals towards aerospace careers.

“It is inspiring to see the momentum that our National Aero-modelling Competition has gained over the past three years,” said Pratyush Kumar, president, Boeing India. “This initiative has captured the hearts and minds of young engineers like never before, and will help develop talent that will shape the future of the Indian aerospace industry. We would like to thank the IITs for helping us to enable this competition where more than 670 young engineers participated this year.”

Launched in 2013, the Boeing-IIT Aero-modelling Competition is designed to enhance participation and interest in aviation activities, while it educates, recognises and rewards talented aerospace enthusiasts and innovators in India.

“We believe that technical events such as National Aeromodelling Competition greatly help in exciting our present generation of students about science, engineering and technology,” said Dr.Anurag Sharma, Dean, Academics IIT Delhi. “Activities such as this align with IIT-Delhi’s vision to promote design/practical experience among students through multiple curricular and co-curricular activities.”

Starting January 2016, the zonal competitions were organised in conjunction with the technical festivals at IIT-Madras, IIT-Kharagpur, IIT-Bombay and IIT-Kanpur and the final national competition was held at IIT Delhi. A total of 13 winning zonal teams, made it to the national level in New Delhi. Along with the competition, Boeing also sponsored aero-modelling workshops conducted by the respective IITs. This was an additional platform where students interested in designing and building radio-controlled planes got real time experience in designing and building them.

Boeing has an ongoing partnership with IIT-Mumbai for the National Centre for Aerospace Innovation & Research (NCAIR) to promote aerospace manufacturing capability development.