General Instructions For AFCAT

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General Instructions For AFA

1. Candidates will be asked to report for training on a specific date and time, which will be specified in the Joining Instructions. Reporting late without proper authority is not permissible. In case you report early, arrangements for stay will have to be done personally until you report to the reception centre as per laid down instructions.
2. A Reception Centre will be established at Secunderabad Railway Station Exit Gate from 0900 hrs on the day of arrival. Your move from railway station to Air Force Academy will be arranged by the reception centre. The Movement Control Officer (MCO) at the railway station can be contacted for guidance.
3. During the period of the training, all cadets will be provided with suitable accommodation.
4. Also, free messing will be arranged in the Flight Cadets Mess for the training period.
5. Free medical services will be also provided during the training period. Please note that you will not be entitled to claim any compensation for any injury sustained while under training. If you have any injury or have fallen sick after your Air Force Medical Examination, you are required to intimate AFA on arrival.
6. You would have to submit a medical certificate completed by you and a medical practitioner and furnish the same on arrival at AFA. The performa will be sent with your Joining Instructions.
7. During training no leave will be granted except on medical and compassionate grounds.
8. To equip you with correct kitting requirements during training, as also your service career post commissioning, certain items (including uniform) will be issued to you on arrival at AFA.
9. Candidates need to be in possession of certain items like towels, slippers, mosquito net, white handkerchiefs, dressing gown, hangers, electric iron etc, on arrival at AFA.
10. Candidates must carry at least Rs 10,000/- as pocket allowance to meet initial kitting requirements
11. Incase a candidate wishes to withdraw from training for any reason whatsoever or refuse to accept commission, if offered, he/she will be required to pay the entire cost of training to the Government . An undertaking to this effect will have to be given/signed for the same.
12. An indifferent attitude towards training might amount to deliberate failure and termination of training and you may be required to pay the cost of training. U/T Flying officers/Flight cadets considered indisciplined and suspended on these grounds.

General Instructions for AFSB

Reporting

The Call Letter along with your Admit Card would be the authority for you to report to the nominated Air Force Selection Board (AFSB) for Testing. The same is to be handed over to the Board on arrival. You must report for the interview on the date and time as specified in the Call Letter. Late comers, on any account (inclusive of late running of trains) will not be admitted for tests. A representative in Air Force uniform will meet you at the reporting point as specified in the call letter.
For AFCAT entry, IAF shall prepare a list of candidates who obtain the minimum qualifying marks in the Online AFCAT as fixed by the IAF in their discretion. Candidates who are declared successful in the Online AFCAT will be called at one of the Air Force Selection Boards. Candidates who have applied for NCC Special Entry will be directly called for AFSB testing at one of the AFSB centres. The AFSB centres are at Dehradun (1 AFSB), Mysuru (2 AFSB), Gandhinagar (3 AFSB), Varanasi (4 AFSB) and Guwahati (5 AFSB).
Candidates who have qualified in the written exam are required to choose AFSB date and venue by themselves on the website https://afcat.edcil.co.in in order to generate call- up letter for AFSB interview.
Based on organizational requirements, IAF may impose a second cut-off for particular branch and call additional eligible candidates for SSB testing. These candidates will be shortlisted purely based on order of merit for the particular branch. That particular branch should be one of the choices submitted by the candidate at the time of registration. The candidature of candidates thus shortlisted, will be valid for that particular branch only and not for any other branch. In the overall Order of Merit, they will be placed below the last candidate qualifying the First AFCAT cut off marks {Para 9(a) above}. If successful in the selection process, these candidates will be inducted into that particular branch only, subject to vacancies and order of merit. These candidates would be required to submit an undertaking to this effect.

Boarding and Lodging

Free boarding and lodging will be provided during your stay at the Board during the period of testing. Those candidates who arrive before the date and time indicated in the Call Letter will have to make their own arrangements. Parents/guardians accompanying the candidates will have to make their own arrangements.

Physical Fitness

Candidates are advised to be physically fit when you report for SSB in order to be able to undergo various tests at AFSB. You should aim to achieve an ability to run 01 mile (1.6 kms) in 10 minutes, 10 push-ups and 3 chin ups.

Tattoos

The policy on permanent tattoos is as follows:-
1. Permanent body tattoos are not permitted on any other body part either visible or non-visible part, except on the Inner face of forearms i.e. from inside of the elbow to the wrist of both the hands and Reverse side of the palm / back (dorsal) side of both hands for which a candidate will be required to sign a Self-declaration Certificate. Small innocuous tattoos that are not prejudicial to good order and military discipline, are permitted e.g. religious symbols or names of near and dear ones.

2. Candidates from Tribal Communities

   Tribes with tattoo marks on the face or body as per their existing customs and traditions will be permitted on a case to case basis. List of Scheduled tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within tribes and tribal communities are specified in a Notification Orders issued by the President under Article 342 of the Constitution of India in relation to particular state/ Union Territory and are amended from time to time. Candidates belonging to such Scheduled tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within tribes and tribal communities notified under Article 342, who by way of existing customs and traditions of his/ her Scheduled tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within tribes and tribal communities, already have permanent tattoos on any part of their body, will be permitted to continue to participate in the selection process at SSB only on the condition of submission of the following certificates by the such candidate, prior to commencement of Stage-I of the selection process:-
   1. Self-Certification Certificate as per Appendix ‘E’ to be signed by the candidate.
   2. Certificate bearing official seal stamp from any one of the following authorities duly certifying existence of customs and traditions of engraving of permanent tattoos on the body in Scheduled tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within tribes and tribal communities to which the candidate belongs of belonging to a tribal community as per format at Appendix ‘F’:-
      1. DC/DM or SDM of the District/ Tehsil in whose jurisdiction such Scheduled tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within tribes and tribal communities resides. (Name and designation of the concerned official must be clearly mentioned).
      2. Chairman/ Secretary or any other senior member of such Scheduled tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within tribes and tribal communities (Name, designation (if any) and address of the concerned member will be clearly mentioned).

3. Non-permissible Tattoos

   Regardless of location of a tattoo on the body permitted/ not permitted), the following will fall under the category of ‘non-permissible tattoos’: -
   1. Tattoos on any other part of the body either visible or non-visible except as permissible vide preceding paragraph.
   2. A tattoo with lewd or offensive content or indecent figures.
   3. Tattoos that are indecent, sexist, extremist or racist are explained as follows: -
      1. Indecent tattoos are those that are grossly offensive to modesty, decency or propriety.
      2. Sexist tattoos are those that advocate a philosophy that demeans a person based on gender.
      3. Extremist tattoos are those that are indicative of involvement in or affiliation with extremist organisations.
      4. Racist tattoos advocate a philosophy that degrades or demeans a person based on race, ethnicity or region and religion.

Narcotics

Use/possession of narcotics is banned. Candidate may be tested for presence of drugs in the body during Medicals and subsequently during training/ service career as an officer. If candidate is found to be using/ in possession of narcotics during any time of training/service career, candidate would be debarred from joining the Indian Air Force or be removed from service if already joined.

Candidates with Alcohol Dependence Syndrome (ADS).

Candidates with Alcohol Dependence Syndrome (ADS) are liable to be terminated/invalidated from service.

AFSB Testing.

The testing at AFSB would consist of three stages as given below:-
1. Stage-I. Officer Intelligence Rating Test along with Picture Perception and discussion test will be conducted on the first day. Stage-I test is a screening test and only those who qualify would undergo subsequent testing. All Stage-I qualified candidates would be subjected to document check to ascertain their eligibility for the branches applied for. Candidates who either do not qualify in Stage-I or do not meet the required eligibility criteria would be sent back on the first day itself.
2. Stage-II. Psychological test will be conducted on Day 1(Evening) and the Group Tests and Interview would commence after document check for the next five days.
3. For Flying Branch. Computerised Pilot Selection System (CPSS) would be administered to recommended candidates only. This is once in a lifetime test. Candidates who have failed the CPSS/ PABT in an earlier attempt or a Flight Cadet suspended from flying training at Air Force Academy will not be eligible.

Selection Procedure

The testing schedule is in two phases and normally for a period of six days depending upon contingencies and will be as follows:-


Schedule	Activity
Day 1	Officer Intelligence Rating (OIR) test, Picture Perception & Discussion Test, document check of Ph-I passed candidates, PIQ filling and Psychological Test after adequate rest of 2-3 hrs for the candidates.
Day 2,3,4	Interview and Group Test (GT)
Day 5	Interview, GT, Board conference and document filling of REC candidates (non-flying)
Day 6	CPSS (Computerised Pilot Selection System), document filling of REC candidates (flying) and submission of reports on all RECOMMENDED Candidates by Assessors

Documents

You are required to bring the following relevant documents, which will be checked and returned after verification:-
1. AFCAT Admit Card.
2. Original Matriculation/Secondary School Certificate and Mark sheets issued by CBSE/ICSE/State Board. No other certificate will be accepted for verification of Date of Birth.
3. Original Marks Sheet & Certificate of 10+2 (issued by the relevant Board).
4. Original/Provisional Graduation Degree/Post Graduation Degree Certificates and Mark Sheet of each year/semester issued by University - only for verification of educational qualifications which make you eligible for the course. Provisional Certificate issued by college Principal is not acceptable. However, Provisional Degree Certificate issued by the University is acceptable.
5. In case of final year/semester students, a Certificate from the College Principal, clearly mentioning the following aspects annotated with proper stamp and seal of the Institution is required:-
1. Name of the College.
2. Name of the University.
3. Discipline in which Graduation/ Post Graduation obtained.
4. Aggregate Percentage.
5. Likely Date of Declaration of Final Result (in DD/MM/YYYY Format).
6. Two attested photocopies of each of the above mentioned certificates.
7. Original NCC Certificate (if applicable).
8. NOC from employers for candidates working in Central/State Governments or Public Sector Undertakings.
9. Original valid Commercial Pilots’ License, issued by DGCA, if applicable.
10. Inbound Railway Ticket/Bus Tickets. (For refund of Travelling Allowances)
11. Candidates are also advised to bring twenty copies of recent passport size colour photographs taken in light coloured clothes against white background for documentation.

Note:

1. Candidates not in possession of the above documents or those who do not meet the eligibility conditions, should not report to the AFSB, as they will not be accepted for the tests and will be routed back without travelling allowances.
2. Candidates are also advised to bring twenty copies of recent passport size colour photographs (with negative) taken in light colored clothes against white background for documentation (if Recommended).
Candidates recommended by the IAF for interview by the Air Force Selection Board (AFSB) who have changed their addresses subsequent to the submission of their application for the examination should immediately after announcement of the result of the written part of the examination notify the changed address, along with an unstamped self-addressed envelope, also to Wg Cdr PO-3 (A/B) Air HQs. 'A' Block, 8th Floor, Room No. 838, Defence Office Complex, Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi-110 001. Failure to comply with this instruction will deprive the candidate of any claim to consideration in the event of his/her not receiving the letter for interview by the AFSB.
In case a candidate is routed back after the psychology test is over, due to injury/ medical unfitness/ not meeting the eligibility criteria/ any indiscipline / personal reasons or any unforeseen reason, the attempt would be counted as complete for the cycle and fresh dates for the AFSB testing would not be given to complete the testing. The candidate would have to apply afresh for the next cycle of AFCAT/ NCC Special entry for the AFSB.

Requisites

You are advised to bring the following items:
1. One pair of White Shirt/ T-Shirt, Shorts/ Trouser/ Track Suit/ Salwar kameez, Socks and a pair of white sports shoes.
2. Adequate writing material (Pens and lead pencils).
3. Clothing, according to season.
4. Medium size locks to safeguard your personal luggage.

Change of Interview Dates

Request for change of AFSB interview date should be avoided. Requests for postponing interview may be considered under genuine circumstances and that too if it is administratively convenient for which Air Headquarters will be the sole deciding authority. Such requests should be sent to AFSB Centre from where the call for AFSB interview has been received through e-mail only.
Candidates will appear before the AFSB and undergo the test at their own risk and will not be entitled to claim any compensation or other relief from Government in the event of any injury which they may sustain in the course of or as a result of any of the tests given to them at the Selection Board whether due to the negligence of any person or otherwise. Candidates will be required to sign an indemnity bond to this effect on the form appended to the application.

Traveling Allowance(TA)

To and fro travelling fare by the shortest route of AC-III Tier/AC Chair Car or actual normal bus fare to the candidates appearing in AFSB for the first time will be reimbursed. Change of address, if any, must be intimated to the Board well before your arrival. You shall furnish the railway ticket/bus ticket (hard copy) to the Board, failing which no TA will be paid. For all other modes of travel, TA will be admissible as per the government authorized rules. Candidates are to furnish the correct and active Saving Bank Account which needs to be in their name and no other name or Bank Accounts like Sukanya Samridhi etc will be acceptable for transfer of the claim. In case of any delay in furnishing admissible tickets/bank account etc, a maximum period of one month from the date of commencement of SSB will be considered after which no TA claim will be paid and the amount will be returned to the Government. No further queries/claims will be accepted in this regard. No TA is admissible, if you have already appeared for the same type of entry at any of the Selection Boards. Candidates are to carry cancelled Cheque for Online Payment.

Medical Examination

Recommended candidates will be required to proceed to Air Force Central Medical Establishment, New Delhi or Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Bengaluru for medical examination for a duration of four to seven days. It may be noted that the Air Force Medical Board/Services Medical Board is the final authority while deciding the medical fitness for joining the Indian Air Force. You are advised to see the details about Medical Standards on our website, www.careerairforce.gov.in.

Discipline

Your conduct and behaviour during your stay at the Board is expected to be disciplined and orderly. Any act of indiscipline or misconduct will lead to cancellation of your candidature. In all matters pertaining to indiscipline and/ or misconduct, the decision of the President of the Board shall be final and no appeal against his decision will be entertained. Should you try and influence any member of the Board directly or indirectly, your candidature will be cancelled.

General

No facility exists at AFSBs for safe custody of cash and valuables. Therefore, do not bring any valuables or excess money. Candidates are not permitted to carry their mobile phones, laptops or cameras inside the Selection Board premises.

Warning

You should withhold your move, in case you have a relative, who is a member of the Board. Inform us the particulars of the person concerned immediately and await further instructions.

correspondence

All correspondence with regard to this Call Letter should be addressed to the President of the Board giving full details, including Course/ Batch No/ Code no etc.

Forms(Download)

1. Bonafide certificate for graduate candidates
2. Bonafide certificate for NDA candidates
3. Character certificate
4. Indemnity bond
5. Percentage conversion certificate

Note:

These instructions are general in nature. The instructions contained in the Advertisement for your course and Call Letter will be binding in determining your candidature for test and interview. In all matters, the decision of Air Force authority shall be final.