Education and Career Forum

I am a BA Political Science student. Can I become a Pilot in Indian Air Force? Am I eligible to apply for the post? If yes, then which all entrance exam do I need to write for that?

To be eligible to apply for Indian Air Force, you should have passed Degree from a Government recognised university with Physics and Mathematics at 12th standard level or Degree in Engineering from a Government recognised university. So, being a B.A Political Science student, if you studied Physics and Mathematics subjects at 12th standard level, you are eligible to apply for Indian Air Force.

According to my knowledge candidates having Science streams are only eligible to apply for Indian Air Force.
Any of the candidates having other than Science stream are not eligible to apply for any of the posts.

Indian Air Force conducts Air Force Common Admission Test for different branches:

1. Flying branch.

2. Technical branch.

3. Ground Duty branch.

Bachelor of Arts in Political science candidates are not eligible for Flying branch of Air Force. B.Sc or B.Tech stream is required to apply for this branch. You can apply for Ground duty branch.

Being a student of BA in Political Science i.e; arts stream student, you are not eligible to join Indian Air force as a Pilot as to join the Flying branch of Indian Air force, you are required to have B.E./B.Tech degree course or a degree course with Mathematics and Physics as main subjects from a recognized university.

For more details regarding the career options available for you in Indian Air force as per your qualifications, you can refer to the link www.careerairforce.nic.in.

The minimum academic qualification required to apply for Indian Air Force for post of Pilot:

Academic qualification: Bachelor of Science with Physics and Mathematics or Bachelor of Technology.

Entrance exams conducted are AFCAT, CDS etc.

BA Political science candidates are not eligible for Pilot in Indian Air Force.

# Please note that being graduate, you can appear in AFCAT (Air Force Common Aptitude Test).

# AFCAT (Air Force Common Aptitude Test) is primarily meant for recruitment in following branches of Indian Air Force:

* Flying Branch
* Technical Branch
* Ground Duty Branch

# As you have mentioned in the query that you are arts graduate, so you are only eligible for 'Ground Duty Branch' of Indian Air Force. You cannot apply for 'Flying Branch' as well as 'Technical Branch'.

# Only engineering graduate OR B.Sc. in Physics & Mathematics are eligible for 'Flying Branch' and 'Technical Branch'.

Indian Air Force conducts Air Force Common Admission Test for selection of candidates into different branches like Flying branch, Technical branch and Ground Duty branch. The minimum academic qualification required to apply for Flying branch is that candidates must have passed Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Technology.

Bachelor of Arts in Political Science candidate can not apply for Indian Air Force Flying branch. You can apply for Ground Duty branch of AFCAT exam. In CDS, you can apply for Officer Training Academy.

Bachelor of arts in Political Science candidate can not join Flying branch of Indian Air Force. To join Indian Air Force as pilot, you must pursue bachelor's degree in science or engineering from a recognized university.

Candidates who have done B.Sc or B.Tech needs to apply for Air Force Common Admission Test exam.

Since you don't have a technical degree, you wont be eligible for the technical branches of the IAF, but all other posts are open for you.

The exam you need to fight is AFCAT.

AFCAT stands for the Air Force Common Admission Test.

It is the test conducted by the India Air Force twice the year for the recruitment of graduates as the officers in the IAF.

According to the notification released by the IAF, the eligibility criteria is as follows :

* The candidate should be a citizen of India.

* The candidate should be mentally and physically fit.

* The candidate should have done the graduation from any stream.

* The minimum age for appearing is 21 years at least.

You can appear in the examination right from the final year of your degree.