ENGINEERING MARVEL

IIT Kanpur is taking innovation to new heights and frontiers. Here, medicine meets engineering meets finance....

- ABHINAV SINGH

Imagination can run wild in a classroom, but it finds wings at the flight laboratory of the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. Inside, half a dozen training aircraft are parked in the hangar. Apart from an airstrip, IIT Kanpur boasts three helipads, too. No other institute boasts such a facility, says Prof G.M. Kamath, head of the department of aerospace engineering, IIT Kanpur. Thanks to the lab, students here get hands-on training.

"We get pilots to fly these aircraft. It benefits students as they can do experiments based on the manoeuvres," says Kamath. "This helps the students get a feel of the aircraft and helps them design better aircraft."

The flight laboratory runs courses in flight testing, wherein students collect, analyse and evaluate performance and handling qualities of the airplanes. And so, students from across the country-from the Punjab Engineering College (PEC) Chandigarh to IIT Bombay, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Madras and the Madras Institute of Technology-flock to the lab. A few years ago, students from the Nanyang Technological University Singapore also visited the lab.

"Close to 300 students from outside come here every year for a 10-day course," says Kamath.

The flight lab is closely monitored, audited and certified by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. On prominent display is the HANSA-3, the first indigenously produced composite aircraft in India. Designed by the National Aerospace Laboratories in Bengaluru, the aircraft carries fibre optic sensors developed by IIT Kanpur's aerospace engineering department. The sensors-each as thin as a hair strand-help monitor the structural health of the aircraft for five to 10 years.

"One can monitor whether the aircraft went through some kind of turbulence or if it had a hard landing," explains Kamath. "Each and every aspect of the flight can be monitored."