An Italian Touch to My Aero Intro!

My first formal introduction to Aeronautics came with a workshop that was conducted at the end of my 2nd semester at ASE. I’ve been hearing about a person, Prabodh Sangiorgio a.k.a. Marko Sangiorgio from Italy who has been working in an airline company and visits our ashram (M.A.Math) every year, when he conducts workshops related to Aircraft maintenance as seva at ASE. (A privilege that we Amritapuri students get, great people coming to visit AMMA, if we are aware, can create huge opportunities for us). Usually these workshops are advertised only in the main noticeboard using a small poster and maybe in the Mechanical class rooms. I, being an ECE student and maybe my ignorance might have some part to do with it, missed out a workshop conducted in the 1st semester and came to know about it only when I attended the most recent one.

A lesson learned and a lesson for you all- Be aware of everything that goes on in your campus! Opportunity lurks around each and every corner.

Sadly, our exams coincided with the first of the two courses that he offered. So out of ‘Jet Engines‘ and ‘Aircraft Control systems and aeronavigation’ , I was able to attend only the latter.

You cant help losing out on certain stuff. Make do with whatever you can and make the most of it.

So along with four other friends I registered for it. Our course would start the very next day after our exams ended.

Getting up at 7 for the workshop scheduled to begin at 9, both the Athuls (friends) and I took some time to get ready and came to a stage where we thought we would miss the deadline. (Prabodh sir is serious about being punctual and we didn’t want to ruin our first impression). The wrinkles on our forehead faded when we saw him having his breakfast at the Western Cafe in the ashram. The girls(two others who were there with us for the workshop) joined us as we reached college. It took us some time to find out where he was going to take the sessions so we ended up getting into the class a little while later than we had expected. He welcomed us. Later on we found out that the other members of the class(3rd year students from Ettimadai Campus) were already at ease with everything as they had attended the previous course. We were the only first years and I can’t explain how we felt- anxious if we’ll understand the course or not, excited about being in the same class with 3rd years. It was great!

It was a totally new experience being taught by an Italian (being taught by an American for our Humanities was also cool), having only been taught by local teachers till my 12th. Not that I don’t value them, I have come across many great, helpful and friendly teachers whom I respect and love.

Love your teachers no matter what you think of them. They have better experience than us. Learn every single thing that you can from them be it academic or not. Talk to them about anything that you want. They can guide you better than your “friends”.

But this one was different. His accent which we didn’t find any difficulty in understanding, the gestures he made while teaching and the way he handled us throughout the workshop was simply amazing. Rather than trying to finish everything quickly, he would give us time to chat and would let us see some interesting videos that he had. He didn’t hesitate to share with us the funny mistakes that he had made during his career till now. They were funny but at the same time taught us that such things can happen and that we should be alert all the time while working.

The course took us through most of the important control systems aboard an A320. Starting from the different displays(EFIS and ECAM display systems) in the cockpit we slowly made our way through all the different computers that controlled what is being displayed in these displays and computed the data for these displays. We got introduced to terms like inboard(On, toward, or near the center of an aircraft) and outboard(On, toward, or near the outside of an aircraft). Then we went through different parts of an aircraft that made it possible for the aircraft to bank, rise, slow down, etc… The ailerons, flaps, rudder, elevators – He described about all these and gave us a pretty good idea about how an aircraft flies. Then in the navigation session, he also introduced us with the different navigation systems.

Our Class! Prabodh Sir in the center.

After the workshop was over, we decided to go as a class for AMMA‘s darshan. But unfortunately we Amritapuri students couldn’t get in because that day darshan was only for Non-Amritians. Ettimadai students, being visitors, got in. We had a nice informal dinner party with Sir at the Western Cafe, and he bought us drinks. We had fun chatting with him about Italy! To know of their lifestyle, food, culture, language. We got each others’ contact details and promised to keep in touch. Until another workshop maybe in the next semester!