Zephyr '08
"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return." - Leonardo da Vinci.
Zephyr, the annual aviation festival of the Aerospace Department, took place during 10th to 12th October, 2008. The exponential levels of growth seen within just three years of its inception is evidence enough to show that it is slated to grow bigger and better.
Lectures
Zephyr this year kicked off with the unveiling of the front cover of the new edition of the Department magazine, Airspace. Then came the lecture by Dr. Mayank Vahia, a scientist of eminent repute at TIFR. The lecture was entitled On the irrelevance of being Pluto. The most awaited talk by Dr. Daniel Raymer, the president of the design and consulting company, Conceptual Research Corporation and former design director of Lockheed - where he worked on prestigious projects such as the B-2 Bomber and F-22 Raptor - was very well received. In this talk Dr. Raymer talked about projects he has headed and the importance of innovation. Dr. Tessy Thomas, currently associate project director of the 3,000 km range Agni-III missile project and - more famously - known as The Missile Woman of India, gave a lecture on Missile Technology in India which was a revelatory insight into the work and challenges faced by those involved in the India's missile program.
Workshops
Among the six workshops that were held, the one definitely to check out for all the fun, learning and the sheer delight of attending a first-of-its-kind workshop was the one on Ornithopters – aircraft that fly by the flapping of their wings, much like birds. Out of an overwhelming 140 registrations, only 60 could attend due to limited kits. The workshop was conducted by Nathan Chronister. It was quite a sight when all the birds flocked to the flying ornithopter mistaking it for some bird.
The Boomerang workshop again was widely appreciated and attended. Unlike earlier year, almost 8 of the 15 persons who attended the workshop made perfect returning boomerangs. The CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) workshop was attended by 30 people. Also an aeromodelling workshop, where gliders were made from balsa wood, was conducted by aeromodeller Kiran Verma. The Astronomy workshop and Groundstation Workshop were the other two workshops.
Competitions
In MACHinfinity, the remote controlled aircraft building competition, there were 8 teams as opposed to none last year. However the competition had to be postponed to a later date because, though their RC Planes worked properly, none of them actually knew how to fly and control it. AeroRace was an on the spot event where four problem statements were given, each problem statement emphasising one of the four specialities of Aerospace – Propulsions, Controls, Aerodynamics and Structures.
AirShow, conducted by Kiran Verma, Head of the Bombay Aeromodelling Club, brought 15-20 MAVs (which included RC planes of different sizes) and some RC controlled choppers. The show went on for one and a half hour in which he demonstrated different maneuvers like rolling, diving and some two-plane aerobatics. And then there was Dogfight, an aerial fight between fighter planes.
What with this year's success, we are sure that Zephyr will return to set unprecedented milestones.
- Amrit Raj
Volume XI
