THIRUVANANTHAPURAM (PTI): Air Marshal Manavendra Singh has taken charge as Air Officer Commanding-in-chief of the Southern Air Command.

An impressive guard of honour was presented to the Air Marshal on taking over the Command here, a Defence press release said.

Singh, who was commissioned in the flying branch of the Indian Air Force on Dec 29, 1982 as a helicopter pilot, has flown a wide variety of copters and trainer aircraft and has over 6600 hours of flying in various challenging sectors, including in Siachen, the North East andUttarakhand, the release said.

The former AOC-in-Command, Air Marshal Amit Tiwari took over the charge of AOC-in-C at Central Air Command, Allahabad on Monday.