The usual scenes of parents and family members cheering, warm hugs and photo sessions will be missing at the passing out of Flight Cadets of various branches of Indian Air Force upon completion of their pre-commissioning training at Air Force Academy, Dundigal on Hyderabad outskirts on Friday (June 20). Family members will have to be content with watch the colourful event on Doordarshan and social media handles of the IAF.
Covid-19 pandemic has forced the authorities to make the Combined Graduation Parade (CGP) simple this year. There are 19 women among the 123 graduating trainees in the present batch. Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria will be the Reviewing Officer of the Passing Out Parade. He will confer the ‘President’s Commission’ to the graduating trainees.
The ceremony will include presentation of ‘Wings’ and ‘Brevets’ to the Flight Cadets who successfully completed Flying and Navigation training respectively. Officers of Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard who underwent flying training at Air Force Academy will also be presented ‘Wings’ by the Reviewing Officer. The award of ‘Wings’ or ‘Brevets’ represents a significant milestone in every Military Aviator’s career and is the culmination of a demanding and rewarding period of training.
The parade will be followed by fly past by formations of Pilatus, Kiran Hawk, Chetak helicopters and an aerobatic display by Surya Kiran Aerobatic Team (SKAT). In view of the covid-19, all necessary safety precautions to be followed are in place for the event.
“Parents and relatives of the passing out cadets will not be able to attend the ceremony. However, the parade will be broadcast live on Doordarshan and the social media handles of the Indian Air Force. After commissioning, the cadets will be directly moving to their respective units”, an IAF release said.
