Hyderabad, October 20, 2026: Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh completed his final flying sortie in an Indian Air Force aircraft on Tuesday, taking the HJT-16 Kiran Mk-1 trainer into the skies at the Air Force Academy, Dundigal, near Hyderabad, alongside the instructor who taught him to fly more than 42 years earlier.
The 55-minute sortie, flown in an aircraft bearing tail number U 707, reunited the Air Chief with Wing Commander V.S. Kochar (Retd), his first flying instructor. Air Chief Marshal Singh undertook his maiden flying sortie on January 28, 1984, at the same academy in a Kiran aircraft with the same instructor. More than four decades later, the flight brought his career in IAF aircraft full circle. The aircraft received a traditional water cannon salute upon landing.
Speaking to reporters after the sortie, Air Chief Marshal Singh described the occasion as a “dream come true.” He said: “I started my journey with the same aircraft. I think I must be the only Chief who is retiring while the basic aircraft he flew is still serving. I am very grateful to my instructor, Wing Commander Kochar, who taught me flying in the beginning at this very place. I just wanted the circle to be complete.” He added that he flew his first sortie on January 28, 1984, at the same location with the same instructor, and that Tuesday’s flight was his last sortie in uniform.
Wing Commander Kochar (Retd), aged 73, also reflected on the moment. He described Air Chief Marshal Singh as “the brightest pupil ever” and said it was a dream come true for him as well to undertake “one more trip.” “I am 73 now, so getting another trip with him is special. He is the best person ever in this world,” he stated.
The Indian Air Force described the sortie as a poignant reunion between instructor and student that symbolised the enduring bond between a pilot, his instructor, and the skies that shape a professional life. It paid tribute to the tradition of flying training in the IAF and the lasting role of instructors in mentoring generations of air warriors.
Air Chief Marshal Singh, a Qualified Flying Instructor and Experimental Test Pilot with more than 5,000 flying hours on fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, was commissioned into the fighter stream on December 21, 1984. He graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1984 with the Sword of Honour. His career included command of a MiG-27 squadron, leadership of the MiG-29 Upgrade Project Management Team in Moscow, and service as Project Director (Flight Test) at the National Flight Test Centre, where he was involved in the flight testing of the indigenous Tejas. He assumed charge as the 28th Chief of the Air Staff on September 30, 2024, and is scheduled to superannuate on October 31, 2026. He will be succeeded by Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit, currently the Vice Chief of the Air Staff, who will take over as the 29th Chief of the Air Staff from the afternoon of October 31.
Eight days earlier, on October 12, Air Chief Marshal Singh had flown his final fighter sortie in the indigenous Tejas light combat aircraft during the multinational Exercise Tarang Shakti at Jodhpur Air Force Station. The Kiran flight on Tuesday marked the culmination of his flying career in IAF aircraft.
The HJT-16 Kiran Mk-1, an indigenous intermediate jet trainer designed and produced by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, has trained generations of IAF pilots since the late 1960s and early 1970s. Its selection for the final sortie underscored both personal and institutional continuity in the force’s flying training tradition.
The event highlighted the continuity of mentorship within the Indian Air Force, where the relationship between instructor and student can span decades and culminate in the highest levels of service leadership.
