Aviation enthusiasts have a memorable day at RSC

Nagpur: It was the experience of a lifetime for aviation enthusiasts to sit inside the cockpit, observe control system closely and touch instruments at Raman Science Centre (RSC) on recently. The budding aeronautical engineers also got lessons in flying from retired air vice-marshal Suryakant Chafekar during a three-day Orange City Science Fair, organized in association with Aeronautical Society of India.
A Shaurya Chakra awardee, Chafekar was delighted to interact with youngsters and believed that the city's children have great potential to create history in the field of aviation. Appreciating the initiative, he said, "Schools should encourage children to visit RSC. Such programmes are mandatory for giving students exposure which makes a difference. When they touch and feel the aircraft for real, their thought process will trigger which will incline them towards designing."

In the long run, RSC and AeSI have plans to expand the aerospace pavilion and display missiles, aircraft panels and other vintage components which can be used to understand science better.

Chafekar also spoke about the historic landing of AN-32 aircraft of Indian Air Force at Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO), the highest landing airstrip in the world in Leh division of Jammu and Kashmir. The flight was led by Chafekar. He spoke about the various challenges he faced and explained the geographical conditions which made the task difficult.

College student Joy Mukhopadhyay was mesmerized with Chafekar's detailed description. Being a son of Air Force officer, he had seen aircraft, but Chafekar's point of view and brilliant techniques were something he never heard before. He said, "I feel lucky to be part of the event and make use of the opportunity. This will indeed be memorable."

A brainstorming session of science quest was held in which education officer at RSC Abhimanyu Bhelave asked interesting questions based on experiments. He conducted a science demonstration on fun at low temperature and used liquid nitrogen to states of matter, conversion of energy and plenty of chemical and physical reactions.