Born on Air Force Day, Wing Commander PB Shetty joined the Indian Air Force (IAF) in February 1983 and served for over 20 years.

During his tenure in the IAF, he was involved in the Kargil mission for nearly four months. He was part of numerous projects related to aircraft structures, aero engines, and remotely piloted vehicles.

Years later after his retirement, Wing Commander (Wg Cdr) Shetty is now pursuing his passion for teaching, inspiring thousands of students as a professor.

He served as a maintenance engineer for fighter aircraft such as the Hunter, Mig-21, Mig-23, and Mig-27, and contributed significantly to the Remotely Piloted Vehicle Lakshya.

Sharing his experience with the IAF, Wg Cdr Shetty told The New Indian Express that while on a vacation with his family in Bengaluru in 1999, he received a call from his Commanding Officer to rush to the Air Force Station at Kalaikunda in West Bengal within 12 hours.

His noteworthy contributions

From Kalaikunda, he and his team members were swiftly moved to the Air Force Station at Ambala in Haryana near the western border. Operating from Ambala Air Base, he was actively involved in the Kargil mission. His tasks included deploying 30mm ADEN guns, launching 68mm rocket projectiles, and releasing 1,000-pound bombs using the Hunter aircraft for reconnaissance and target identification.

The deployment of Mirage fighter jets with laser bombs eventually phased out the use of Hunter aircraft in the Kargil operation. The memories of the Kargil conflict, the sacrifices made, and the relentless pursuit of victory still remain deeply etched in his mind.

He did BE (Mechanical Engineering) at the National Institute of Engineering, Mysuru. Master of Engineering (ME) in Osmania University, Hyderabad, and a second ME in the Defence Institute of Advanced Studies, Pune. He earned his PhD from Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) in 2008.

Teaching duties

A Fellow of the Institution of Engineers and a lifetime member of the Indian Society of Technical Education, Wg Cdr Shetty joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology (NMIT) as a professor in 2003.

He played a pivotal role in installing the HPT-32 fighter aircraft and Mig-21 R-11 jet engine at NMIT, making it the only college in Karnataka to receive such equipment from the IAF.

He holds BTech classes at the Air Force Technical College. As the head of the Mechanical Engineering Department for 12 years, Wg Cdr Shetty introduced MTech programmes in Thermal and Design.

Under his leadership, the department received recognition as a research centre for MSc (Research) and PhD programmes.

He completed numerous projects funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the IEDC of the Union Government. He has authored four books on aeronautical engineering and guided five PhD scholars.