THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Air Marshal J Chalapati has taken over as the Senior Air Staff Officer at the Southern Air Command (SAC) Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday. Alumnus of the National Defence Academy, he was commissioned into the IAF in December 1983.He is a qualified flying instructor and an experimental test pilot, who has flown about 3300 hrs of operational and test flying on various types of fighters.
He has held various command and staff appointments including command of an operational Squadron, Chief Operations Officer, Command of Air Force Test Pilots School, Principal Director Air Staff Requirement. Prior to assuming the present appointment, he was the Commandant of Air Force Academy. Chalapati has completed his National Defence Course from Bangladesh and Masters Degree in Military Studies from Kings College London. Chalapati is the recipient of Vishist Seva Medal.