Wing Commander Palamaneri Kalayanasundaram Krishnan (6820) Aeronautical Engineering (Mechanical) has been the Chief Engineering Officer of Elementary Flying School since Dec 79. From the day of his appointment the officer has applied himself with commendable degree of self confidence and enthusiasm to the task of improving the serviceability of HT-2 aircraft. By virtue of his intelligent planning, in depth analysis of snags and effective personal supervision, he brought about improvements in the maintenance and technical practices. Statistical data indicates that the aircraft maintenance has been of very high order. He has maintained aircraft serviceability above 80% and improved availability of aircraft has enabled this Flying Training Establishment to complete the flying training weeks ahead of schedule in the last four courses. By resorting to preventive maintenance and introduction of timely remedial measures, he improved not only the availability but also reliability of aircraft as is shown in the snag rate. Before his taking over on an average, one snag occurred every 5-6 hours of flying. At present the snag rate is one in 14-15 hours of flying. This has directly improved Flight Safety and his contribution to this Station winning the Command Flight Safety Trophy in 1980-81 and zero accident rate in the current year is significant.

He vastly improved the condition of the Mechanical Transport and today without exception all vehicles are operating at or above target Kilometer per litre. He has shown 23% saving in fuel and won the Command Mechanical Transport Trophy in the year of its inception. This officer, besides the onerous duties of Chief Engineering Officer has been singularly responsible for the design and fabrication of large number of training aids from Category 'E' components at a negligible cost. Under his guidance, an aircraft scale model, an engine functioning model, an assimilator tester and many other aids have been locally fabricated.

All these achievements are a result of Wing Commander Krishnan's meticulous planning, high degree of improvisation and sheer hard work. His performance as an efficient engineer and resourceful organizer in overcoming seemingly insurmountable problems connected with the serviceability has been of very high order.

For brilliant performance in keeping with the highest traditions of the Indian Air Force, the Rashtrapati is pleased to award Vishisht Seva Medal to Wing Commander Palamaneri Kalayanasundaram Krishnan.