Rear Admiral Philipose G. Pynumootil, native of Thiruvalla in central Kerala, has taken over as the Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Air) on promotion on Tuesday.
An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, he was commissioned into the Navy in 1986. The ACNS (Air) is responsible for all staff functions of the naval air arm.
The Rear Admiral is from a service background. His father was a fighter pilot who retired as an Air Marshal in 1987. His elder brother was a naval aviator who died in an Islander aircraft crash, while in Kochi in 1985.
A rotary wing pilot qualified on Sea King and Chetak helicopters, Rear Admiral Pynumootil has served as flight commander of destroyer INS Delhi, senior pilot of the Marine Commando Flight and the naval air squadron INAS 330 — Anti-Submarine warfare (ASW) Sea King Squadron — both based in Mumbai.
