The participating teams tried their best to present an ingenious design which was different from the other planes, so as to improve their chances of victory in this thrilling competition. The event was headed by the Honorary Secretary of IMechE NED Student Chapter, Mr Hassan Muazzam, under the guidance of the faculty advisor, Dr Tariq Jameel. Some special mentions would include Mr. Ahmed Baig and Mr. Abdul Rehman representing Team Technical of IMechE NED University who burned the midnight oil in guiding every team to help make the planes soar high.
The opening ceremony of Propellair’19 was held on 1 July, 2019 at the main auditorium of NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan. The session consisted of the formal opening of Propellair’19 headed by Mr Abdul Rehman who gave a brief overview on the event proceedings to all the participants, faculty and the representatives of different organizations that were sponsoring the event. The briefing was followed by a speech given by Mr Shumail, General Manager Sui Southern Gas Company (GM-SSGC), who motivated the audience as well as the participating teams, and appreciated IMechE Pakistan for providing the student body with a platform for enhancing their skills. Furthermore, he accentuated the importance of events like Propellair in improving the quality of the engineers produced by Pakistan.
Exhibition day on 4 July saw the planes designed by the teams displayed outside the auditorium. Along with the exhibition, the teams were tested on the basic concepts of aerial vehicles, aerodynamics and the practical manufacturing techniques of the aircrafts, in different rounds which included an e-test, viva and Presentations.
The day which everyone awaited, Flight Day, was on 7 July. The teams flew their aircrafts and performed the assigned tasks in NED University’s Cricket Ground. The aircrafts were restricted to be flown by professional licensed pilots to fulfill IMechE Standards. The flying performance was scrutinised by experienced judges. Seating arrangement, food stalls and other stalls were also set up for facilitating the spectators of the event.
Out of the 14 participating teams, the winner of Propellair`19 was Team Shaheen, whilst Team Uqaab was declared as the runner-up.
For the closing ceremony, Air Commodore Saqib Jadoon and Mr Salman Siddiqui, Dy. General Manager - Corporate Communication Dept. - SSGC, acted as the chief guests. Accompanying them, the Faculty Advisor of IMechE NED University, Dr Tariq Jameel, presented awards to the champions with a sum of PKR 50,000 for winner and PKR 25,000 for runner up on their astounding performances. The event was sponsored by Agha Herbonics, Bogo Pakistan, Hubco and Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) Limited.
The event taught everyone that building a plane from scratch is not a game of assembling parts but one that needs dedication, time, knowledge and interest.