AFPA

Please check the FAQ section at the bottom for answers to your questions

Wg. Cdr. Rajagopal (Retd.)

GTO ASSESSMENT TRAINIER

I served in the Indian Air Force for 25 years as an in-flight navigator and a group testing officer. As a flight navigator in an AN 32 aircraft, he specialised in parachuting and supply drop operations in our border areas.

As a flight navigator, he has carried out countless drop sorties in both our eastern borders, like Arunachal Pradesh, as well as our northern borders, like Sia-chin and Aksai-chin. After his flying tenure, he served as a group testing officer at AFSB Dehradun and as a senior GTO at AFSB Mysore.

During his tenure at the selection boards, he not only assessed around 2,000 candidates but also trained other officers to become effective GTOs. He was once posted at Air Force Headquarters to manage the complete officer selection system.

The officer selection process includes everything from the issue of an advertisement to administering written tests as well as monitoring your SSB interviews.

His role continues after SSB interviews by way of monitoring medical examinations, preparing the merit list, and finally issuing joining letters to successful candidates. In fact, there are many officers currently in service who have received joining letters signed by me.

During his tenure at Air Headquarters, he was instrumental in the creation of the Air Force Common Admission Test, or AFCAT. This was part of a huge streamlining process for induction into the Air Force.

After the commencement of AFCAT, he was also involved in setting up an online portal for AFCAT. The portal was designed to serve the complete application process for AFCAT.

After his retirement, he has served as Chief Ground Instructor in two flying schools. One of them is Orient Flights in Mysore, and the other is Aviacons in Hyderabad.

To date, he continues to teach ground subjects for pilots online for their airline transport pilot’s licence. By the way, he is also a Feeling Minds and Thomas International Certified Career Counsellor. He takes immense pleasure in guiding boys and girls like you to the right career based on their personality profiles.