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PUNE: Two engineering students from the Vishwakarma Institute of Technology (VIT) bagged awards at the Society of Automotive Engineers’ (SAE) International’s prestigious ’Aero Design West 2011’ competition held in Texas, US, recently.

Varun Garg, who is a third-year mechanical engineering student, and Prasha Sarwate, a final-year chemical engineering student, combined their efforts to design a remote-controlled micro aircraft that withstood almost all evaluation parameters at the contest, co-organised and hosted by military aircraft manufacturer Lockheed Martin.

The team won the first prize in operational availability and third prize each in the micro category and for lifting of highest payload. University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, US and Poznan Institute of Technology, Poland, bagged the overall first and second positions, respectively.

The competition, which featured 58 teams representing premier institutions from across the world, is designed to provide exposure to real-world situations that engineers face in their everyday work environment. The participating teams were required to submit a written design report followed by an oral presentation and two days of flights that test every design aspect of their planes.

"The aircraft designed by Varun and Prasha has a wing span of 53 inches and a fuselage (aircraft body) of 30.4 inches width and flies on a two battery power system. Made of Balsa wood and carbon fibre, its empty weight is 800 gm and has the capacity to lift payload up to 1,750 gm," VIT faculty S P Komble, who guided the duo, told TOI on Wednesday.

"The team had no technical guidance whatsoever from any professional aeronautical or aerospace engineer. The design and performance of the aircraft was appreciated by everyone including the judges, other teams, and volunteers present at the event," said Komble.

Varun and Prasha have earlier excelled at various national events. They are now looking forward to pursuing advanced studies in aerospace and aeronautical engineering.