Rs 5 lakh plane formulated by 3 university students

Updated on: Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Chennai: 'When we sought guidance to develop an amateur airplane, we were advised to give it up but develop toy planes instead. But we decided to stick to our goal.'

This was the expression, with pride, from students of Hindustan University who developed an amateur experimental airplane at a cost of Rs 5 lakh within a short a period of four months.

'This is the first-of-its-kind: an aircraft fully designed and developed by students of a private university and that too at a low cost,' said project guide Prof P.S. Venkatanarayanan.

Justine George, Kishore K and Kalyan Shrestha, final-year students of Aeronautical Engineering, undertook the project and spent only four weeks to build it after three months of research.

They wanted to seek advice from a retired pilot before taking up the project. He had suggested they develop a radio-controlled toy airplane instead of an amateur plane.

In order to demonstrate the working of the aircraft, the students taxied it around the playground of the varsity. 'As we are yet to get permission from the Directorate of Civil Aviation, we cannot fly,' the students said, adding the aircraft was certified by Anna University.

The airplane could fly 3,000 ft above ground level with a speed of 70 kmph, the project guide said.

Kalnimalar

Rs 5 lakh plane formulated by 3 university students

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