Almost exactly a year ago, I watched Aditya Singh, the ACJC alumnus, go on stage and get the First Prize for the annual international competition organized by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Amazing.

That very day I went to check up the competition on the internet. Before I reached the end of that webpage, I knew I was going to enter this competition myself. My fascination with flying goes back a long way. I have built model aircrafts, studied aircraft structure and dynamics and I used to look out the window of aircrafts with an academic wonderment. To me, then, this competition was exactly what I needed. So there I was, ready to go at it with all my heart.

The task was to design a workable model of a supersonic aircraft. It was not easy. From January till March I spent all my waking life thinking, planning, designing and writing. On 22nd April 2009, I got the result. Though completely unexpected, I won the competition. Top prize. Amazing.

I have a lot of people to thank, most importantly my ever-patient physics teacher Mr. Daniel Tay. My gratitude goes also to Mrs. Fabiola Soong, without whom absolutely nothing would have been possible, and my friends who have literally lent a pen in times of need.

Many people look at my design and say, "Why are its wings pointing the other way? Isn't that wrong? It looks funny." I know if I hadn't created that baby, I would laugh my head off just looking at it. Happily, NASA didn’t react that way.

Siddarth Krishnan (2SB3)