N. Adarsh's passion for radio-controlled flying is also a money spinner. As a child, just like many young boys, he too wanted to be a pilot.
As a child, just like many young boys, I too wanted to be a pilot. But my parents were against my getting into the Indian Air Force and being a commercial pilot was too expensive for a middle-class family like mine (an investment of nearly Rs 20-25 lakh for taking a course that would lead to a commercial pilot’s licence). However, radiocontrol (RC) flying was very much within my reach and to an extent it let me fulfil my flying ambitions, though in a surrogate way. But scale models are also quite expensive. Each model costs approximately Rs 30,000-plus.
Around 1997, soon after I landed my first job as a marketing executive, I started saving and took a loan of Rs 30,000 from a bank to buy my first kit. I undertook a course from ENR Model Aircrafts at the Tata Institute, Bangalore and in a few months time I became pretty good at flying these machines.
Slowly I was noticed and invited to perform at a couple of air shows. Initially, I flew for free but later started charging a small fee (anywhere Rs 10,000 and Rs 60,000 for a two-hour show) just to recover the money I had invested. It also tops the salary I draw as a brand manager for Deccan Herald. Most of this money goes into buying new models (I have a collection of 23 scale models today). And a small part adds to my personal savings. Sometimes the models crash which leads to expensive repairs. Over the years I have been sharpening my skills and took up helicopter flying— a more difficult task compared to flying fixed winged planes.
Today, I am one of the handful people in India who can fly RC helicopters. I have now started making my own models and want to open a small school for people willing to take up aero modelling. I also see a big opportunity in aerial photography, especially for films, and have already started working towards developing models suitable to support heavy cameras.
Even today, I try and improve with every show that I do, whether it is creating a war-like environment with smoke bombs or dropping flowers and sweets on Children’s Day.
The moment I return home from office I get involved in my “aviation business” and I keep aside Sundays just for my passion for flying.
Though my wife and parents sometimes complain about the amount of time I give to these “models”, they have been very supportive all along. And that is how this hobby of flying RC machines which has now turned into an obsession goes on.
