Pathway: Nicolas Burrows By Taryn Pemberton Young, motivated, and inspiring are a few words that describe 18 year old, Nicolas Burrows. Born into an aviation-minded family, Nicolas spent much of his upbringing watching his father, Matt Burrows, both fly and work as an aircraft mechanic holding an Inspection Authorization. Nicolas was inspired at a very young age by watching shows such as “How It’s Made” and “Mythbusters”, which he believes was a beginning element toward engineering and building. Nicolas spent a great amount of time at the hangar, under the mentorship and tutelage of his father, learning the ins and outs of mechanics. Matt designed and built a biplane, dubbed Climax, during Nicolas’ formative years. This is part of what sparked his interest in building remote control (RC) airplanes beginning in elementary school. Nicolas was fortunate to be able to take a woodworking class as well as a robotics class in elementary school, which proved useful during his RC building days. He began with models made from foam, then began more difficult models that relied on his ability to make aerodynamically accurate airfoils out of wood following plans. The last RC plane that he built was a 1/3 scale L-4 that was equipped with STOL (Short Take-off and Landing) modifications. He was two months
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