Every Sunday morning, Sandeep Jain, an aeromodelling enthusiast, meets a bunch of other flyers, near a run-down air strip on the outskirts of Gurugram. With a childlike enthusiasm, he unloads and unpacks his fleet of aeromodels or reduced-scale models— some the size of a toy while some the size of a racing car. “These are scaled-down models of real airplanes. Some are simple gliders, while others are powered by electric motors or fuel engines,” says the 59-year-old Jain, who has been flying model aeroplanes for over 15 years.
Flying is not an easy dream. So is aeromodelling. Some of these models can cost up to a few lakhs depending on the design and engine. “Ninety per cent of these models are imported. In the good old days, you used to get a box full of wood. You paste a drawing on a board, and cut pieces of wood accordingly, then you stick them. It’s called scratch building and would sometimes take over 200 hours. But now you get cut pieces. All one has to do is assemble and fly. These are called the Almost Ready to Fly (ARF) models,” explains Jain carefully fixing the propeller. Once the planes take off in the sky, he maneuvers it in loops, rolls, punts, figure of eight and other different aerobatics.
“The most difficult thing is hovering the plane vertically in the air—just like a helicopter,” he says hanging his radio-controlled airplane in air just a few inches above the ground. Flying some of these jets can cost up to `10 lakh—and one wrong move could end in a crash. Weather plays a big role too; gusty winds can create turbulence, just like in full-sized aircrafts. Landing can be tricky. “You hardly land without some damage. On days, it doesn’t even land in one single part. But, then you repair it, assemble it again. That’s what hobbyists love,” Jain smiles.
Seventy-nine-year-old Ajit Kumar Nagar, a former flight engineer for Airbus 300, has been passionate about the hobby for over five decades now. He often visits the field with his grandsons and has been training them for the past two years. He says, “My grandkids first experienced flying on a video game or a simulator. Then, I brought them on field once they had understood the fundamentals of flying.” His 18-year-old grandson, Abir, who dreams of becoming a pilot, shares, “Passion for flying runs in our blood. My father is a pilot, and my grandfather is a retired flight engineer. I’ve been learning aerobatics from him for the past two years.” He intends to learn to build models soon.
India has some 30,000-odd flying enthusiasts. But the high tax on imports has made flying difficult especially for newcomers. There are only one or two manufacturers in India producing RC models; most enthusiasts still rely heavily on imports. Until 2017, the government levied a 10 per cent import duty on these scaled-down models. But in an effort to curb toy imports from China, the duty was significantly increased—and aeromodels got caught in the crossfire. As a result, the cost of flying models is now almost double compared to what enthusiasts in the US or elsewhere pay, emphasis Jain.
Despite all the odds, aeromodelling hobbyists continue with their sheer thrill of flying. When asked about the next models he is planning to add to his fleet, Jain says, “I have no space in my room for new planes, but I still keep adding more and more models. Like little boys you want more and more toys.”