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| Air Marshal Fali H Major to be new IAF Chief | | |
NEW DELHI, JAN 30
Air Marshal Fali H Major, Air Officer-Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Air Command, today became the first helicopter pilot to be named as the Chief of Indian Air Force.
Major, the seniormost Air Marshal in the IAF, will succeed Air Chief Marshal S P Tyagi when he retires on March 31, according to an official announcement here.
With his appointment, the Government has chosen to uphold the principle of seniority and waived the tradition of only making fighter pilots the head of the world's fourth largest air force.
Major was the chopper pilot, who in October 14, 1992, carried out a dare devil rescue of eleven tourists stranded in a broken down cable car in Timber Trial resort near Parwanoo in Himachal Pradesh.
Flying almost at tree top level, Major hovered his helicopter precariously close to the trapped cable car and winched up the 11 tourists. He was awarded Shaurya Chakra for this feat.
Major has also had a rare distinction of commanding a helicopter unit at the Siachen glacier, the world's highest battlefield as also a helicopter fleet during the IPKF operations in Sri Lanka for which he again was decorated with Vayu Sena Medal for gallantry.
A fellow of the National Defence College and the Army War College, Mhow, Air Marshal Major is also a recipient of the Param Vishist Seva Medal and Ati Vishist Seva medal.
Born on May 29, 1947, Major was commissioned into the IAF on September 31, 1967 as a helicopter pilot and has held various command staff and instructional appointments in his career spanning 39 years.
As a pilot, the new Air Chief has the distinction of having logged 7765 flying hours. Major has also attended specialised courses in Jungle and survival course, higher command course.
He had the distinction of overseeing tri-service operation including the Tsunami operation during his tenure as Deputy Chief of integerated defence staff (operations).
Major was promoted as Air Officer in Chief Eastern Air Command headquartered in Shillong on September 2005. It was under his command that Indo-US joint fighter exercises were held at Kalaikunda air base in West Bengal.
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