SELECTION & TRAINING IAF FIGHTER PILOTS : MVI REVIEW & DEBATE

Date: 19 Aug 2026

TRIGGER FOR REVIEW -- By Col PK 'Royal' Mehrishi

1. Not many people are aware of what it takes to become a fighter pilot in the Indian Air Force

(IAF ).

2. The selection itself is unique , deliberate and process oriented, for obvious reasons : a Rafale Jet costs between Rs 1600 - 2850 Crores ( depending on the armament it carries )

3. A candidate after the UPSC Exam ( NDA written) has to go through the Pilot Aptitude Battery Test ( *PABT* ) now replaced by the *CPSS* (Computerised Pilot Selection System) to screen a potential fighter pilot for his basic aptitude for flying ( eyes, hands , leg and mind co- ordination) on advanced simulators which record each error and award points automatically for correctness.

4. Out of hundreds only 50-60 are recommended by the AFSB ( Air Force Selection Board ) to take this test. A candidate can take this test only once in his lifetime ( there is no second chance ) - either you clear it or you don't.

5. Still harder is the medical testing at the AFCME ( Air Force Central Medical Establishment ) which has a special wing for aviation medicine.

6. Out of these 50-60 ( 6-8 lac candidates appear for the NDA written : about 6000 plus appear for the SSB based on the written exam ) only 20-25 make it through the intense selection process.

7. We all know how precious this asset is . From the day they are selected to join the NDA as a Cadet the same yardstick of authorised training may apply but it's the *unauthorised training* that takes a toll of potential master greens, test pilots or would be future cosmonauts.

8. NDA : Drill , PT, Equestrian, Swimming, Games, Sports, Boxing & Training Camps also the intense academic rigour, develop inter- service camaraderie & rare leadership qualities.

9. What is creating a problem on the ground is so called unauthorised training being conducted in the squadrons by under qualified peers / seniors under the guise of toughening up & winning inter squadron competitions.

10. Unless this issue is handled holistically NDA will continue to have multiple Commandants ( 1+19) : number of squadrons now are 19. With each having its own so called traditions of *breaking- in ( aka horses), unauthorised training & punishments .

11. A deeper study will reveal, how some budding, rare talent, selected specially for the Air Force have faced injuries, sometimes grievous , been medically boarded out and their future blooming careers nipped in the bud.

12. Further ,a Fighter Pilot relies on eyesight, tactile sensation ( hands & legs feel ), muscle memory , quick calculation in the mind for split second decisions while flying at 2-3 Mach ( speed of sound ) i.e. 1400 - 2100 Kms / hour.

13. To compound the problem there are 150-200 switches / controls in modern aircrafts that need monitoring / manning.

14. The G force while maneuvering at high speeds can be up to 8-9 G (force of gravity ).

All of the above constraints ( 12-14) require the best of the best trained personnel who give it their all to bring success & glory to the Nation in Combat.

This rare pool of manpower talent of figher pilots is a natonal asset that must be adequately protected , looked after & nurtured right from Day one ......

There is an imperative need to immediately review and reform the faults in our selection & training process as enough consequent damage has been caused to the airforce and the nation with the loss of several budding pIlots even before take off !

NOTE:

Col PK Royal Mehrishi, ex NDA , had cleared his PABT in No.1 AFSB ( Dehradun, in October -1977)

TRIGGER FOR DEBATE :

The airforce fighter pilot is the nation's rarest talent that must be selected and trained in the most advanced scientific manner to enable him to effectively meet the challenges confronting him when flying the most costly machines in the world .

Food for Thought - When the flying machine is so costly should the man/ pilot manning this machine not be safely ,sensibly and securely trained ?

In view of above let's Debate whether the selected fighter pilots of IAF should continue to be trained as before or there should be a review and reform of his Selection and Training systems especially for NDA cadets as suggested by Col PK Royal Mehrishi.

Although the debate is basically hovering over fighter pilots it encapsulates all branches of flying in the airforce including all types of transport planes and helicopters. A note below from Air Mshl Nana Menon brings forth an additional dimension to this debate which must also be borne in mind.

ADDITIONAL TRIGGER :

1. Impact of Netflix serial ' Safed Sagar ' in India and positive effect on aspiring youth to join the IAF as fighter pilots and its link with Hollywood movie - Top Gun ,1986 & part 2 ,2022 starring Tom Cruise as Maverick..

This is what one movie can do in the USA. The same could apply to India in some measure !

2. Op- Safed Sagar will definitely arouse interest in the IAF . We need to come out with more data & human interest stories so that we have the cream joining our services....

Col Vinay B Dalvi,

Editor, MVI

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RESPONSES FROM AIR WARRIORS:

AIR MSHL NANA MENON :

-Those flying transport aircraft and helicopters have to be equally alert and physically fit.

- I have flown in both types and witnessed exceptional flying skills under very difficult situations.

- Our largest force today is of Su-30s. They have a second cockpit with Weapon Systems Operator. The WSO takes quite a bit of load off the pilot in combat conditions.

- Pilots of all three streams require similar fitness levels.

AIR VICE MSHL ARJUN SUBRAMANIAM :

1. Aspects of human psychology haven't even been touched.

2. A Fighter Pilot always has better cognition, acuity of vision, real time feedback & processing of a multitude of information like Weather conditions, ATC , RT Conversation, Instruments , Kinesthetic & Spatial Intelligence ....etc. There is too much happening all at the same time. This aspect is taken care of by training.

3. Any past trauma or sub- consciously repressed negative aspect can resurface under trying conditions / stress. There is a requirement for a FP to relax & focus on the task at hand ...

4. It takes thousands of hours of flying to turn SOP's into a reflex. A FP has to be in the moment till he is airborne with no distractions .

GP CAPT JOHNSON CHACKO, FORMER BN CDR NDA, SR FLG INSTR AFA

The vacancies for Air Force cdts in NDA was 55 in 1970. I happened to be one among the 55 in the 44th course. NDA is the primary source for pilots in the IAF. They are entrusted with flying expensive aircraft. Fighter flying is demanding, both mentally and physically. One loses about 1 - 1.5 Kgs of weight in a demanding sortie. To do combat under high G forces, one needs to be physically fit so that he can tolerate more G forces than the enemy. Mentally he needs to be fit to take life and death decisions within a fraction of a second. A wrong decision to eject and the nation loses a lot of money, though that is not a major concern to a pilot.

The selection process included the once in a lifetime test called PABT now CPSS. It is a test to assess psychomotor skills of an individual. We perceive the environment through our senses. That perception needs to be analysed and converted to motor reactions through our hands and feet, in a predetermined time frame. A person who does extremely well in a computer game of motor racing will have good psychomotor skills provided all limbs are used for it. It should activate all senses. In the air hearing a thud will generate investigative reactions - what happened? A burning smell could be an incipient fire in the cockpit which needs to trigger immediate reactions. If one feels that the control stick is unusually hard, reactions emanate. If a warning light comes ON actions need to be taken. Psychomotor skill is a skill that one has or does not have. That is why it is a once in a lifetime test. Even though we get through that test, Flt Cdts get suspended during flying training for lack of it. A realistic test on the ground will save the Government a lot of money as basic flying training used to cost Rs 1L per hour in 2003. The suspension rate will throw light on the PABT/CPSS test efficacy. We were 55 when we joined AFA as Flt Cdts, 29 got commissioned as pilots and the intake was only for fighters. That is a wastage of about 53%.

The medical exams are also exacting. This was done at IAF CME and at I AM (Institute of Aerospace Medicine) before joining NDA. MH Khadakvasla can contribute in maintaining continuity before (s)he goes to AFA. Before flying MiG 21s, a high performance medical test was carried out. I had cleared the medical for astronauts.

Unauthorised training is a big hazard. I had put an end to it in my Bn when I was the Bn Cdr at NDA. Cdts of other Bns used to call No. 3 Bn as "Mohabatien" Bn. The biggest barrier to stop unauthorised mentorship by senior cadets is inclusion of routine training activities as competitions for the banner. If the seniors are not allowed to train the juniors in PT how will the Sqn fare in the PT championship? Similarly for academics where wrong answers invite physical punishments. Mohabatien Bn also had a Champion Sqn in my tenure. Physical and medical fitness are very important for a fighter pilot.

Prevention would be a better approach than mollycoddling the Cdts just because they are AF Cdts.

In my personal opinion an AF Cdt in NDA needs to do only 4 terms in NDA. We never participated in Camp Torna as cdts. One of us rose to be the Air Chief. 6 terms is an overkill for AF cdts.

The aircraft have a lot of dials, levers, switches etc. A pilot is taught what each one of them does. how all of them are integrated into a system and how all systems are integrated for flying and using the aircraft as a weapon. One of the tests that I did as an instructor was to ask a pupil "Why do you have to put ON this switch before you move that lever?" The answers to such questions give a clue as to whether he has understood the system and how to use it. Pilots are trained professionally and sensibly for the tasks that he needs to do. There can be no "pull' or influence applied to make a preferred one a pilot.

It has been rightly pointed out that "The airforce fighter pilot is the nation's rarest asset that must be selected and trained in the most advanced scientific manner to enable him to effectively meet the challenges confronting him when flying the most costly machines in the world." When one does target system analysis, it comes out very clearly that if enemy fighter pilots are neutralised, there will be no offensive air activity in that sector, freeing our Army from the threat of air attack. When suggested in a combined session in the DSSC, the question was "Why should the Army use SF to do an Air Force task?" We have come a long way to Theater Commands.

In any military training, wastage is a part and if it is a part of official training it is the best. We need to eliminate the conditions for unofficial training or physical punishments totally before banning them. Serious official punishments for indulging in these is a solution and needs to be implemented ruthlessly. I used to dish out 14 days restrictions to cdts who were caught conducting unofficial punishments, on the spot, which was my maximum power. It used to give the cdts 70 negative points, 200 being the limit for automatic relegation in any term! The only person who had issues with that was the Principal who complained that I was too strict. The Dy Comdt advised him to concentrate on academic training. There is no case for mollycoddling the AF cdts. They need to undergo the same physical fitness as required to pass the 4th term tests as they will know what to do to keep themselves physically fit for combat.

MVI INVITES OBJECTIVE RESPONSES TO THIS DEBATE ESPECIALLY FROM AIR WARRIORS WHOM IT PRIMARILY CONCERNS

SPECIAL APPEAL:

I earneslty request the following senior Air force air warriors to kindly send their responses as they are well aware of the Victory India Campaign and Mission Victory India and dealt with the issues raised during their tenure at key high level appointments at Air HQs & NDA :Their responses will collectively help in putting the issues raised in this debate in correct perspective and enable present air force hierarchy deal with these issues befittingly.

1. ACM NAK Browne- who released vol 1 Victory India Campaign at Air HQ in Oct 2012 at behest of Air Mshl TS Randhawa, ex Comdt NDA.

2. Air Mshl KS Gill- Comdt NDA who made revolutionary changes in NDA during 2013-14 and well aware of vol 1 &2 of Victory India Campaign.

3. Air Vice Mshl Mike Fernandes, ex ACS Training ,Air HQ who is aware of vol 1 & 2 of Victory India Campaign.

4. ACM Bhaduria ,ex Comdt NDA whom I personally briefed at NDA in presence of then Dy Comdt ,Maj Gen Ashok Ambre

5. ACM Arup Raha - who was at the helm during time of RM Manohar Parrikar and responded to approach paper on the Victory India Campaign.

6. Air Mshl Bhushan Gokhale EX VCAS ,who released vol 3 of Victory India Campaign in Mar 2016 .

7. Air Mshl Prince Raj Kumar, ex Dy Comdt NDA & Comdt NDC ,who is well aware of the issues being debated above.

Personal Appeal :

Sir, your learned responses concerning the issues raised above will add much authenticity and relevance to this debate.

Col Vinay B Dalvi, Pune

- Editor, MVI