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LCA Is Now Tejas Tejas Goes Supersonic The Flight of The Silver Bat
LCA Is Now Tejas Tejas Goes Supersonic The Flight of The Silver Bat
LCA Is Now Tejas Tejas Goes Supersonic The Flight of The Silver Bat
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Aeronautical Society of India
13-B Indraprastha Estate
Fax: 91-011-23370768
Roddam Narasimha
E-mail: aerosoc@bol.net.in
www.aesi.org
Chief Editor
Dr Srinivas Bhogle, NAL
Feature Editors
Dr R Balasubramaniam,
Editor, AeSI Journal
(Technology).
Prof K Sudhakar, IIT,
Mumbai (Academics)
Prof P R Mahapatra,
IISc, (Student Activities)
Gp Capt HC Bhatia (retd)
Secretary (Admn) (HO
and Branch Activities)
Mr Ajay Kumar, Secretary,
AR&DB (AR&DB)
Mr V P Mathur, HAL,
Bangalore (Industry)
Mr Devanandham Henry,
ADA (ADA)
Ms R Swarnalatha, NAL
(NAL)
Mr Shivanandan, Jet
Airways (Airlines)
Mr Lalit Gupta, DGCA
(DGCA/AAI)
Mr B H Malkani, Max
Aerospace & Aviation
Ltd. (Mumbai Centre)
Mr Janardhana, VSSC
(Space)
AM S K Jain AVSM,
VSM, HQ, TC, IAF,
Bangalore (Armed
Forces)
Design Editor
Mr A S Rajasekar, NAL
Copies of AVIA in sufficient numbers will now be transferred to all branches. Members can
pick up their AVIA copy from the Societys Branch offices. The newsletter is also available online at www.aesi.org or
www.nal.res.in or http://www.casde.iitb.ac.in/we-also/.
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L CA is no
wT
ejas
now
Tejas
The Prime Minister Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee
named the light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas
on 4 May 2003 at Bangalore. In a truly
memorable function the TD1 and TD2 flew
in formation, piloted by Gp. Capt R K S
Bhadauria and Sqd Ldr Suneet Krishna
respectively. The PV1 aircraft was also rolled
out. /Devanandham Henry
An
important
milestone of the
Tejas aircraft flight
test programme was
achieved on 1
August 2003 when
the TD-1 aircraft,
piloted by Wg Cdr
Vikram Singh, flew
at a speed greater
than the speed of
sound (Mach 1.0).
The aircraft reached 1.08 Mach at an altitude
of 11 km. This was the 33rd flight of the Tejas
TD-1 aircraft.
Five days later, on 5 August 2003, during its
34th flight, the Tejas TD-1 aircraft, this time
flown by Gp Capt R K S Bhadauria, again
reached 1.15 Mach at 11 km altitude.
During supersonic flight, the unstable (at
subsonic speeds) aerodynamic configu-ration
becomes stable. The air data probes, that
sense air pressure and indicate aircraft speed
and height, face a significant change in the
flow field and pressures at supersonic speeds
Air Marshal S S
Ramdas.
The A
gr
a meeting
Agr
gra
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who
NAL
was
The HF 24?
Thats right. Dr Kurt Tank, a German designer,
and his group of designers of the HAL Design
Bureau, developed the HF 24 (or Marut, as it
was called). It was quite a special project India
was trying to come to grips with the design and
development of a fighter aircraft for the first
from
Perhaps the
single greatest
contribution to
Indian aeronautics
came from Air
Chief Marshal
Latif. His decision
to support an
indigenous fighter
aircraft
development
programme
completely turned
things around.
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Mr C Subramaniam was a
truly outstanding
Indian leader and
thinker.
Tw o ne
w pr
omotional activities
new
promotional
The Governing Council of the Society has
approved two more promotional activities
a national aero quiz and an aviation photo
exhibition as part of the centenary
celebrations of manned flight. The Chandigarh
Branch would be the nodal agency for both
these activities.
Str
at
ospheric air
ships
Strat
atospheric
airships
A presentation titled Stratospheric airships
for defence and civil applications by Lt. Gen.
James A Abrahamson, formerly of the US Air
Force and now the Chairman and CEO of
Stracom International, USA was organized by
the Delhi Branch on 19 July 2003.
In his presentation, Gen Abrahamson discussed the basic principles of airships, explained
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AGM o
anch
off Delhi Br
Branch
The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the
Delhi Branch of Aeronautical Society of India
was held on 12 April 2003 under the
Chairmanship of Mr Satinder Singh. Besides
reviewing the working of the Branch in the
preceding year, the audit report for 2002-03
was passed, and a new Executive Committee
was elected. Mr Ajai Kumar, Director of
Aeronautics, DRDO, was elected Chairman,
AVM Rajkumar and Prof G S Bhatura were
elected Vice Chairmen. The AGM also
nominated Mr H S Khola and Air Marshal A
Ne
w corpor
ate member
New
corporate
memberss
Address for
correspondence:
Aeronautical Society of
India, New Thippasandra
Fax: 91-080-5297159
Graphic designer:
Vaishali Vinay
Circulation and
logistic support:
J Vinayagam
Chandrika R Krishnan.
Mr Lalit Gupta, Deputy Director, DirectorateGeneral of Civil Aviation, is actively involved in the
type certification of the HPT-32, Dhruv and SARAS
aircraft. He specialises in aircraft investigation and
has authored a number of books including Advanced
Composite Materials.
"
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The flight o
er Bat
off the Silv
Silver
19 March 2003 was a day with clear skies in Bangalore
despite the previous evenings rain. On the far side of Jakkur
airfield at 6.30 in the morning a crowd of almost 30 persons
had gathered. The group included Mr N R Mohanty,
Chairman, HAL (and President, Aeronautical Society of
India) and his colleagues, Dr B R Pai, Director, NAL, Lt.
Gen. V J Sundaram, Prof. S P Govindaraju and his team
from IISc and a number of aviation enthusiasts.
In the midst of this group was a person holding a strange
looking contraption. This object had a pair of bat-like wings
with a span of about 4.5ft covered in thin silver coloured
foil with a rudder and elevator at the back mounted on a
slim fuselage. While every one looked on, a tiny switch on
this contraption was turned on and it was launched by hand.
To the sheer amazement of the audience, the model began
beating its wings just like a bird and started flying! After a
brief flight, it glided back to land. Some trim adjustments
were made and the model was off once again flying in
circles, soaring up and swooping down. The flight was so
realistic that immediately a pair of kites began following
the Silver Bat!
This strange model is the creation of Mr K Nanda Kumar, a
35 year old aviation enthusiast from Chennai. Nanda
Kumars profession involves servicing electronic and
communication equipment in ships. His original hobby was
to operate an amateur radio, but, about five years ago,
Nanda Kumar got bored of it and switched his attention to
building and flying radio control airplane models with help
from Mr Sridhar of Chennai. It was while watching a feature
on the National Geographic TV channel that Nanda Kumar
came to know about ornithopters - machines that fly by
beating their wings and started dreaming of building
one himself.
52"
438 g
100 ft.
4 minutes.
Electric motor
Three-channel
(motor speed,
elevator, rudder)
Unlike
the
conventional
radio controlled
airplane models
that use a tiny IC
engine for propulsion, the ornithopter model has an electric
motor and batteries. The motor turns an eccentric crank
through a reduction gearbox to which are attached the wings
through linkages.
There were many trials and
To the sheer
modifications to the design of his
model before Nanda Kumar
amazement of the
achieved first success in the form
audience, the
of a mere two-second sustained
flight! However, once the model flew
model began
on its own, refinements came fast beating its wings
the two-second flight stretched to
just like a bird
22 seconds within a few days and
then to a whopping four minutes! and started flying!
Nanda Kumar took almost two
years to perfect his ornithopter involving experi-mentation
with 10 different types of wings, five fuselages, 20 different
varieties of motor and five types of gearbox! Except for the
micro servo actuators, all other components have been totally
built from scratch or extensively modified. For example, small
motors available off the shelf didnt have the necessary power;
so a motor was modified by rewinding the rotor. A gearbox
with the required reduction that would fit within the small
space was not available and Nanda Kumar designed his own
gearbox and got the gears machined and assembled. Even
the tiny radio receiver required for this model was completely
built by him, as these are not available in India and prove to
be very expensive if imported.
Nanda Kumar also used an innovative technique to gauge
the thrust developed by his model. He used the smoke from
lighted incense sticks in a room and by observing the
movement of smoke when the model started flapping its
wings, he could make a comparison of the capabilities of
various configurations.
Needless to say, all this effort has cost him more than
Rs.30,000 that he has spent from his own pocket!
K S Raman
K S Raman, Scientist, NAL, passed away suddenly on 16 July 2003. This
article was received in April 2003.
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