BY VIGNESH SUBRAMANIAM

JUNE 19 was an unforgettable day. It was the day my team, made up of NUS engineering students, won second place in a global aviation competition in Paris.

The inaugural competition titled Airbus Fly Your Ideas (FYI) Challenge 2008-2009 organised by aircraft manufacturer Airbus, challenged university students worldwide to come up with innovative and eco-efficient ideas to shape the future of aviation and further reduce the industry's negative impact on the environment.

The NUS team, Solaire Voyager, was made up of team leader Louis Lee Wee Boon, a first-year master's student in materials science and engineering, Muhammad Adil and myself. Adil and I are second-year mechanical engineering students. Of the 225 teams from 82 countries, we were the only Asian team to make it to the finals. As the first runner-up in the competition, we received 15,000 euros in prize money.

The final round of the competition was held in Paris, as part of the prestigious Paris Le Bourget Air Show. During our preparations for the competition, we received advice and support from professor Joachim Luther and professor Armin Aberle from the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore, as well as from assistant professor Palani Balaya from the NUS Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Our team's proposal was to implement solar panels on commercial jetliners which would subsidise the energy demands from engines, thereby reducing overall fuel consumption. Pitted against students from Stanford University, Valencia Polytechnic, Brno University and the University of Queensland, we focused on our strength in practical application.

The jury said we had skilfully presented a challenging idea of generating auxiliary electric power for aircraft from solar energy, with appropriate cost analysis and assessment of benefits to the environment.

After the competition, we visited places of interest in Paris such as the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and Louvre Museum, while interacting with Parisians who were friendly and helpful.