BENGALURU: Fourteen-year-old Kiran Ravindra Patil is being touted as a promising young scientist since he released his book RC World: A Journey to Remote Control Planes Edition I at inter-school fest HobbyMaster on February 7.
The Class 9 student at CBSE Nagarjuna Vidyaniketan, Yelahanka, has compiled a book which highlights technical components, methods and precautions in building miniature aeroplanes.
Kiran Patil loves trying aerobatics with planes. His machines range from 5 to 500 inches. He flies flow sticks, sky surfers and 3DXs. He also flies macro and micro planes.
He became fixated on toy planes as a five-year-old, when his parents bought him one. “When I was 11, I moved on to learning from the RC kit, a tool set used to construct electronic planes,” Kiran says.
The book highlights his trials and errors, and his journey of creating his own type of plane.
“It took me five to six years to be able to build a miniature model plane. I had at least 10 failed attempts before I figured out how to construct the plane,” he says. “In the first attempt, I identified a flaw in the design structure. Later, I figured out the configuration was wrong, especially with a battery size that would not synchronise with the rest of the components.”
He also tried to fix the wing, the aerofoil that makes the plane fly.
Finally, he realised that replication could only result in failure, and creating his own design would work best. “I had issues with the power specification of the plane and finally managed to tailor-make it,” Kiran explains.
The book also contains his guidelines on how to build an emergency flying vehicle. “It is a quadcopter that is activated as soon as an emergency siren is sent out. Internationally, 50 per cent of the deaths occur due to heart attacks. I wanted to do something for the welfare of society through my hobby, to put my skills to medical use,” he tells City Express.
Three hundred students from over 30 schools took part in the fest. It was Kiran’s third year. In the previous two editions he was mentored by people with similar interests. This year, however, he was there just to showcase his skills.
His parents have been supportive all along -- they even help him import parts. In his free time, he goes to a playground 2 km from his house in Yehlahanka. “I enjoy the applause of passersby and family, when they see me fly the plane,” says Kiran.
Two months ago, he bagged the third place at the IIT Powai Techfest, a competition held at IIT Bombay. Kiran, who flew his quadcopter, was one of 15 to be chosen from thousands of participants.