The video shows an insect flying around a plant at my home. In the beginning you can see the hovering of insect at a point in space. Later, the insect shows mid-air maneuvers to reach the place of its interest. The understanding and designing of these motions (hovering and maneuvering) is critical for a helicopter. Still helicopters do not give the exact representation of insect motion. The wings of insects not just flap but make an '8-motion' which allows them to make lifting and propulsion simultaneously. This is the hot topic on which researchers are working.

Lightening strike recorded at normal frame rate. I recorded this extreme phenomenon while I was mid-air on a Indigo flight from Bangalore to Amritsar on Friday the 13th, 2020.

Being an eye-witness to this natural occurrence, I realized the importance of the requirement of 'lightening-proof' design of aircraft structures. This becomes even more critical with the increased usage of polymer composite materials in aircraft structures, as these composites are highly insulating. Researchers are finding ways to make the composites conducting and provide a conducting path to the electric charge because any instance of lightening strike holds the potential to degrade or completely destroy the composite parts.