SWABI  - The two-day National Design, Build and Fly (DBFC) competition at Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology was a source of inspiration and encouragement for the young engineers and the officials of Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) Kamra graced the concluding day to encourage the youngsters.
The competition was sponsored by STEM Careers Programme, a joint venture of Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIEAS). The DBFC was organized by the faculty of Mechanical Engineering and American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), GIK Institute.
This year as many as 17 best teams from 13 different universities across Pakistan participated in the competition. Air Commodore Syed Nudrat Kazmi (SI), DMD JF-17, was the chief guest in the prize awarding ceremony.  The officials of PAC Kamra and Air Force judged the designing, building and flying capabilities of the contesting teams. They applauded the potential of the different teams and said that the motivation, interest and innovation demonstrated by the young engineers was remarkable.
Speaking on the occasion, the PAC officials said that keeping in mind the enthusiasm and participation of the engineers it could be easily declared that there was no dearth of talent in Pakistan and if the capabilities of the youngsters are really exploited then the day is not far when we will have indigenous capabilities to design and develop aircrafts.
Nudrat Kazmi said that DBFC has made it clear that our youth have extraordinary capabilities and if guidelines are provided to them they could easily work even with limited resources.
The competition, he said, has increased awareness, promoted creativity, practical implementation of designs, improved presentation skill and demonstrating their ability to design, build and fly.
The work of the participants was really encouraging and appreciable and what really encouraged him was the professionalism in all phases of the competition, he said. Prof. Dr Fazal Ahmad Khalid, Pro-Rector (Academic), stressed for activity-based learning.   He said that knowledge and application of the skills are vital benchmarks of modern education. 
He appreciated the role of Higher Education Commission to encourage the talent and boost higher education in the country. Coordinator and Organizer of the DBFC competition on behalf of STEM Careers Programme, Dean Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Dr Muhammad Abid said that this is one of the best technical activities in the country for the engineering students to complete their dreams when their designed and built RC Planes really fly.
Furthermore this activity has now been fruitful during just 7 years to the extent that now first time Pakistani team from GIKI is also participating in the international DBFC in USA.
In the engine power category the first prize of Rs 45000 was won by Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad, and the second prize of Rs 35000 was won by UET Taxila, Chakwal Campus, and the third prize of Rs 30,000 went to the UET Lahore Kala Shah Kaku Campus.
The consolation prize of Rs 10,000 was won each by UET Peshawar, NED Karachi, UET Taxila and The University of Lahore. In the electric power category, consolation prizes were won by GIK Institute, HITECH University Taxila, NED Karachi, and CAE Risalpur.