At least 7,000 youth from 12 districts of Jharkhand gathered at the Prabhat Tara Ground in Dhurwa locality here on Tuesday to appear for selection in the Indian Air Force. However, only around 1200 of them managed to clear the fitness test, officials from the Indian Air Force said.

These 1200 aspirants will undergo the written test and Air Force adaptability test on Wednesday. The final selection results will be announced on February 8 after aspirants from all 24 districts of Jharkhand give a shot at making it to the Indian Air Force.

In a bid to clear the physical test, the aspirants had to run 1.6 Kilometers in 6.30 minutes, do at least 10 sit-ups in one minute, followed by 10 pushups in one minute and 20 squats in one minute.

The ones who passed this test were sent for verification of documents.

To be eligible for appearing in the selection procedure, a candidate has to pass class 12 from an institution in Jharkhand, or be a domicile, and score at least 50% marks in English and in class 12 board examination.

The candidates have to be born between January 19, 1999 and January 1, 2003, and be at least 165 centimeters tall, which is around 5’4’’.

“The ones who qualify here will go for the medical test in Gorakhpur to be held in July. The Final call letter will be sent to the qualifiers in the month of October,” Wing Commander, Ravi Ahlawat, the in-charge of the selection procedure in Jharkhand said.

Warrant Officer Raghuvir Singh, one of the Air Force officials involved in conducting the selection procedure, said that fluency in English language was given special importance during the selection as it is the only medium of communication used across the globe to understand the nitty-gritty of aircrafts.

“The aspirants who clear the selection tests, will undergo training for a year and then join as Aircraftman,” he said.

Six months of the test will be dedicated to general training about aircrafts. During the second half of the training, the candidates will be imparted special lessons depending on their area of specialization. During the training, the candidates will be given a stipend of Rs 14,000 per month and their monthly salary after commencing services will be close to Rs.40,000, said Singh.

On Tuesday candidates from Deoghar, Bokaro, Latehar, Simdega, Palamu, Hazaribagh, Lohardaga, Chatra, Dumka, Giridih, Saraikela and Ramgarh appeared for the selection.

The written examinations, to be held for the candidates who cleared the physical tests and document verification on Tuesday, will include two papers of 50 marks each. One of the papers will be basic English and the other will be on reasoning and general awareness. The aspirants will get 45 minutes to answer each of the papers.

The ones who pass the written tests will appear for the Group Adaptability Test, which is the final parameter for selection. The candidates will be divided in groups of 15 members and will be given topics to discuss on, said Warrant Officer Raghuvir Singh.