SHILLONG (PTI): Air Marshal Raghunath Nambiar on Monday took over as the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Air Command (EAC), Indian Air Force, Defence sources said.

Before taking over as the AOC-in-C of the EAC in Shillong, he served as the Deputy Chief of Air Staff.

An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Nambiar was commissioned in the IAF as a Fighter Pilot in 1981.

Besides being an experimental test pilot, the new EAC chief has flown 42 types of aircraft as Pilot in Command.

Nambiar has the distinction of having the highest number of flying hours on Mirage 2000 aircraft with over 2,300 flying hours to his credit and an overall 5,100 hours of flying experience.

He is also a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and was the Project Test Pilot for the Light Combat Aircraft, 'Tejas'.

He had served as a Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO) at the IAF's Eastern Air Command in the past.