Mr. Amer Ahmad

Tell us about yourself in general (outside of the hobby e.g. family, childhood, education, profession etc.)

Amer A.: I was born in Bahawalpur in 1959 where my father was Executive Engineer. I am the middle sibling to my elder sister and younger Brother. I have studied at La Salle High School, Multan, Convent Sargodha and St. Anthony’s High School at Lahore before going to Cadet College Hasanabdal (1971-76) and then did my Civil Engineering from Ohio State University, Columbus Ohio, USA in 1981. While in America I got a Private Pilot Certificate ( License) flying Cessna 152 and Cherokee 140’s. I  also have a few hours in Slingsby gliders, MFI 17 Mushak and a Bell Jetranger helicopter. 

I was Engineer with Nespak till 1985. After the untimely death of my father in 1984 while he was Chief Engineer of the Punjab Highways, I took the Civil Services Exam and joined Pakistan Customs. I have served as Assistant Collector/Deputy Collector/Additional Collector at the Karachi Port, Air port, Custom Houses at Karachi and Lahore as well as CBR in Islamabad. I am on the verge of promotion as Collector if all goes to plan, InshaAllah.
I got married in 1986. My wife is an Msc in Nutrition. We have three children. The elder Boy and Girl are twins and are twenty now. The younger girl is twelve. My son was headboy at Aitchison College and is studying Economics and Maths at Yale University.    

What made you come into this hobby and when did you start?

Amer A.: My parents were the youngest of their siblings and consequently my cousins (Salahuddin Sikander, M Z Babur, Abid Aziz, Khalid Aziz and others) were 15 to 20 years older to me. Quite a few of them were in the Air force or PIA as engineers or had taken flying lessons at Lahore flying Austers and Tiger Moths. My father encouraged them to take me along on their aero modeling/ flying hobbies. When I was four years old I was given an assembled free flight model by Keil Kraft with a Mills 0.75 engine in it. Next year I got a Kiel Kraft invader and after making rubber powered models like Pixie, Snipe etc, I made these kits. My best Free flight was a 52” Veron Deacon powered by a DC Spitfire 1 cc, given to me by my father when I was in class five, (bought for a princely sum of Rs.70 and Rs.110 respectively.)I used to fly models in the area presently occupied by New Garden Town Lahore. (I recently got three more RC airplanes from my cousin Abid Aziz as late as last year. It’s good to have a family like that). I tried my hand at control line as well as Jetex powered gliders but hated it.

 Surprisingly I did not join the aeromodelling club at Hasanabdal but took membership to the projects club which was building a hovercraft using a BSA M20 motorcycle engine under tutelage of two British teachers.

My come back to Aeromodelling was when Mr. Nadir Kamal Usman sold me an MRC proportional radio control and I bought a Cherokee 0.20 size kit. This was the year of the Lord 1977.

What do you enjoy the most in this hobby? Is it designing, building flying?

Amer A.:  All three. I like to design and build my own models and fly regularly at the MAAL field at Lahore. When in Karachi I used to fly al Old Malir aerodrome with my friend Mr. Azeem Malik. I like Balsa construction though now I design mostly for a combo balsa fuse and foam wings.