I am extremely sad to learn that Dr. S. Srinathkumar, Sr. Scientist, & Head, flight mechanics and control division, CSIR-NAL, Bangalore is no more.
I have lot of good memories associated with him due to our interactions for more than two decades, he as my guide and mentor; I learnt lot of things of technical management and how to use accurate scientific methods, from him for the analyses of difficult aerospace data.
He was an extraordinarily high calibre scientist and engineer and a very humble human being, with no show-off of any kind, a plain truth man. He was always too modest in accepting accolades for his own work and achievements, he would say ‘I didn’t do anything, you people did’.
I doubt there was anybody matching his level of acumen, zeal, enthusiasm, analytical skills, and practical approach to tackle any control problem that he took.
He was one of the founding fathers and a very strong pillar of the flight mechanics and control activities in NAL.
He believed in the principle of ‘agree to disagree’ that led to lots of technical discussions that were free, frank and healthy and he and his team solved very difficult problems of control and associated technologies. He put his ‘soul’ and entire personality into the control law-analysis, design and synthesis-for the Indian LCA-Tejas, without which the aircraft could not have flown; an extreme example of his passion, patience, energy for lots of discussions, and motivating stimuli to all the team members who worked with him; and all that was profoundly backed by his tremendous theoretical knowledge and lot of practical insight into the technicalities of the problem at hand. He also gave us freedom to do what we wanted to do.
The scientists and engineers guided by him (and Dr. S. Balakrishna, USA) take up any challenging work in the area of flight mechanics and control, and I would ascertain that they can do and are doing the world class level of work; a direct outcome of the vision that these two scientists had nurtured and nourished for several decades; wow what kind of geniuses were they; and all the engineers and the scientists of our country, whether they got any chance to work with them or not, should feel proud of these two great people, who made history and created many legends in the arena of aerospace engineering and science: instrument control, computerized control of non-destructive testing facility, pressure regulating valve for wind-tunnel, motion/fix based flight research simulators, dynamic wind tunnel, and the latest LCA control law.
Anything I write about Dr. S. Srinathkumar would not match and would be pale to his multifaceted activities, technical engagements, and technological pursuits. With all that he was indeed a perfect example of ‘simple living and high thinking’, and yet he was always technically buzzing like a bee!, and that sweet, encouraging, and confidence-inducing sound we will always miss.
An era has come to an end. May his soul rest in peace.
*****
