AVIATION JOURNEY
My interest in flight grew through building model aircraft, assembling first-person-view (FPV) systems, and testing wings in a wind tunnel. Later experiences in a cockpit and an aircraft factory gave those earlier lessons a different context.
01 / Origins
Early model aircraft connected flying with making, adjusting, and trying again.
2014 — Primary School
At a flying club in Yuen Long, Hong Kong, I was introduced to fixed-wing model aircraft. Bringing home my first small aircraft gave me something I could fly, examine, and keep learning from.
Flying gave me a reason to pay attention to how an aircraft responds to each control input.
Primary School — Grade 5
With guidance from university students and experienced hobbyists, I built aircraft from KT-board foam. Cutting airframes, installing servos, and adjusting linkages made the relationship between construction and flight much easier to understand.
Building brought center of gravity, wing alignment, and control movement into the same practical task.
Before test flying, I checked balance, control direction, the airframe structure, and repair quality.
Grades 6–7
I later flew a wider range of models, including gliders, electric ducted-fan jets, and water-based aircraft. Their different handling characteristics made me pay closer attention to speed, wind, and the conditions of each flight.
Each aircraft gave me a different combination of handling, performance, and operating conditions to consider.
With gliders, I paid attention to lift, sink, altitude, and landing options. Water-based flying added surface conditions and launch and recovery choices.
02 / FPV & Systems
FPV building, setup, assessment, and competition expanded what I needed to understand before and during flight.
Middle School
I began assembling FPV aircraft from individual components and configuring them for flight. The work connected electronics and software setup with the aircraft's behavior in the air.
Reliable flight depended on how the components worked together, as well as how I controlled the aircraft.
Frames, motors, flight controllers, and the video system.
Firmware setup and flight-controller tuning in Betaflight.
Motor direction, battery condition, and failsafe behavior.
2020–2021
A multirotor UAV assessment and FPV racing competitions introduced formal standards and performance under pressure. Preparation, rule awareness, and consistent flying became part of how I approached each event.
Assessment and competition gave me a clearer measure of consistency beyond my own practice.
03 / Aerodynamic Research
Building a wind tunnel gave me a way to investigate questions that had started with model aircraft.
High School — Grades 10–11
I built a small wind tunnel to investigate wing performance using lift measurements, tufts to visualize airflow, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The platform later supported a study of how wing aspect ratio affects the lift-curve slope at small angles of attack.
I had to understand how the measuring system affected the result before interpreting what the wing was doing.
Airflow around the support structure affected the measurements.
I added a shielding disk around the mounting area.
The change addressed a source of interference; experimental uncertainty still remained.
04 / Cockpit & Industry
A supervised cockpit experience and an aircraft manufacturing internship connected earlier interests with real aircraft operations and production.
High School — Grade 11
I joined a CTLS fisheries patrol flight as a passenger-observer and briefly handled the controls during cruise under the pilot's supervision. The cockpit gave me first-hand exposure to how aircraft control, instrument monitoring, route awareness, and communication fit together during a flight.
Handling the controls was one part of a larger task: keeping track of the aircraft and its surroundings.
High School — Year 3
During an internship at Diamond Aircraft, I gained first-hand exposure to aircraft production, avionics installation, and quality checks. Seeing these processes together helped me connect the aircraft I knew from flying and research with the work required to build and inspect one.
Manufacturing made the connection between a technical detail and the aircraft's dependable operation more tangible.