National Institute of Technology-Jamshedpur had come for a competition.
By Sreekanth A. Nair
In a fine gesture, a Pakistani national helped a group of Indian students who were in trouble at Dallas international airport, reported The Hindustan Times.
The incident happened on March 16 when a team of aero-designers from the National Institute of Technology-Jamshedpur (NIT-J) was returning after participating in a competition in Texas.
The airport authorities asked the students to pay $260 as the size of a model aircraft that they carried was above the prescribed limits. But they were short of money.
This was when Amaad, a businessman from Karachi, who was also waiting in the queue, came forward to help them. He paid the money for the students and helped them board the flight.
“Nobody had stopped or fined us when we took the same box to Texas. We had just $70 at our disposal. We tried asking the officials to let us check in because we were students, but our efforts went in vain. It was then that Amaad came forward and paid the fine for us, allowing us to return to India,” team captain Aditya Barnwal told Hindustan Times.
“When we asked for Amaad’s account details, so we could refund the money after returning home, he said there was no need for that,” he added.
The group named ‘Phoenix’ got an eleventh place in the competition organized by the Society of Automotive Engineers Aero Design, Fort Worth, Texas, between March 11 and 13. A total of 75 teams participated in the event.
“Our model aircraft was rated as the best for most stable flight and payload capacity. The piece has a wingspan of 96 inches and a payload capacity that’s 2.5 times more than its own weight of 10 pounds. It has a maximum payload capacity of 24 lbs (around 10 kg),” Raja Varshney and Raj Kothari told Hindustan Times.