The beginning of exploration in to the IAF

The first week was over and within no time the second week started with a new warrant officer accompanying us. He was a totally different person as compared to the previous officer and was very strict in regard to rules and discipline.

The week started with a presentation by wing Cdr (retd.) DP Sabharwal, who is currently a member of aeronautical society of aircraft. The presentation was on the topic of Maintenance. He told us about the types of maintenance, their importance & its role in the Indian Air Force. And it was boring and I could not find anything relevant in that presentation.

This week was mainly associated with the study of Airframe and the engine & its components. Some important components of the airframe are Blades & their honeycomb structure, Stabilizer, Tail skid, Main & Tail rotor, Night vision, Missile sight etc. The other part was the engine which itself is a vast topic. I learned about the working of the engine and also gained a lot of knowledge about its components such as fuel system, APU (auxiliary power unit), fuel injectors & igniters, FDS (flexible driving shaft) etc.
I also visited the machine shop, welding & abradable coating bay which were good but I was already familiar with the machines and processes used here. Heavy duty lathe, Vertical machining centre, Jig boring machine, centreless grinding machine and few other machines were there in the machine shop whereas TIG welding, Vacuum TIG welding, plasma spraying, 20Bar & KNA coating etc were there in the welding shop.

Then I went to TETTRA (Technical Type Training school), where everybody from technicians to engineers to pilots and the senior most officers are trained in fighter aircrafts including Mig-27 & 29. I was told about the redundancy, aviation & maintenance aspects of aviation. I attended a presentation on Mig29 which told me about the features, engine, geometry and other parameters of the aircraft I also had privilege to see the model of Mig29 and also various missiles. The construction details of the ejection seat were also told to me.

Now second week of our training is also over and there is still a lot more to learn.