If you're searching for "DGCA Technical General previous year papers," you've probably run into the same wall as everyone else: generic syllabus blog posts, sign-in-gated mock test sites, and Scribd PDFs of unknown vintage. None of them start from what DGCA actually publishes. This guide does — it's built from the official CAR syllabus document, not secondhand guesswork.
DGCA Technical General Exam: The Official Pattern
Technical General is one of the theory papers required for a Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) in India, conducted by DGCA's Central Examination Organisation (CEO) through the Pariksha portal. Based on current DGCA Pariksha guidance reported by training institutes and the portal itself:
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Format | Computer-based MCQs, 4 options, single correct answer |
| Approx. questions | ~100 |
| Duration | ~3 hours (some institute sources report 2.5 hours — confirm your session's exact timing on your admit card) |
| Passing mark | 70% (per subject, no aggregate/merit list) |
| Negative marking | None — attempt every question |
| Validity of a pass | 5 years |
| Exam fee | ₹2,500 per paper (as of mid-2026) |
Like the other CPL theory papers, this is a mastery threshold, not a competitive exam — every candidate who clears 70% passes, regardless of how others score.
The Official Syllabus (Straight From DGCA)
Most "previous year paper" articles skip this, but it's the actual legal basis for what can be asked. The Technical General syllabus is published as Appendix 'D' of Civil Aviation Requirement Section 7, Series 'B', Part IV ("Syllabus for Examination for Issue of Commercial Pilot's Licence and Instrument Rating – Aeroplanes"), issued by DGCA, under the heading "Aircraft & Engine – Technical General." You can read the full CAR document here (hosted copy of the DGCA-issued CAR; the same CAR series is listed on dgca.gov.in under Civil Aviation Requirements → Section 7).
The syllabus is organised into these examinable sections:
- Airframe and Systems — fuselage and wing construction/stress, stabilizing surfaces and flutter, landing gear (locking, braking, anti-skid), primary and secondary flight controls, hydraulics, pneumatics, air-conditioning, anti-ice/de-ice systems, pressurization, and fuel systems
- Electrics — DC and AC fundamentals, batteries, generators and alternators, distribution systems, transformers, and basic logic circuits
- Power Plant — Piston Engines — 4-stroke principle, lubrication, cooling, ignition, carburetion and fuel injection, mixture control, propellers (fixed-pitch and constant-speed), and engine handling
- Power Plant — Turbine Engines — turboprop/turbojet/turbofan principles, compressor/combustion chamber/turbine construction, reverse thrust, bleed air, APU, and engine systems (ignition, starting, fuel, lubrication)
- Emergency Equipment — doors and evacuation slides, smoke/fire detection and fighting, oxygen equipment, and portable emergency gear
- Principles of Flight — Subsonic Aerodynamics — basic laws (Bernoulli, continuity), lift/drag coefficients, the stall, CLmax augmentation devices (flaps, slats, spoilers), and the boundary layer
- Principles of Flight — Transonic Aerodynamics — Mach number, shockwaves, Mach buffet, and means to avoid exceeding Mcrit
- Stability — longitudinal, directional, and lateral static/dynamic stability, and the factors affecting each
- Control — pitch, yaw, and roll control, means to reduce control forces, mass balance, and trimming
- Limitations — operating limitations, manoeuvring and gust envelopes, and load factor
- Propellers and Flight Mechanics — propeller efficiency, engine failure effects (windmilling, feathering), forces in steady flight, asymmetric thrust, and emergency descent
This is the complete, DGCA-defined scope — anything outside these eleven areas is not fair game for this paper.
Which Topics Actually Show Up Most in Previous Papers
DGCA doesn't publish an official weightage breakdown per topic — any article claiming exact percentages is estimating, and you should treat those numbers as directional, not gospel. That said, across topics candidates and flying-school instructors consistently report as heavily and repeatedly tested in recent sessions:
- Piston and turbine engine principles — the 4-stroke cycle, carburetor icing, turbine engine construction and compressor stall/surge — a consistently large chunk of the paper
- Aircraft systems — hydraulics, pneumatics, and fuel system schematics and monitoring, asked as scenario/fault-diagnosis style questions
- Stall aerodynamics — the CL-α relationship, stall speed factors, and CLmax augmentation devices (flaps, slats)
- Stability and control — especially longitudinal static stability and centre-of-gravity effects
- Load factor and the manoeuvring envelope — VA, VC, VD and how mass/altitude/Mach affect them
Newer sessions (2024 onward) have leaned more heavily on system-failure scenario questions (e.g., "hydraulic system failure — which controls are affected?") rather than pure definition recall — consistent with the pattern shift covered in our previous year question pattern analysis.
Formulas and Concepts You Need Cold
Technical General leans on a handful of recurring relationships rather than heavy numericals:
Lift: L = ½ × ρ × V² × S × CL
Stall speed under load: Vs(loaded) = Vs × √n
Induced drag: CDi = CL² / (π × AR × e)
At 60° angle of bank, load factor = 2G and stall speed increases by roughly 41% — a figure that shows up repeatedly across sessions.
Where to Actually Find Previous Year Papers
Be careful here — most "DGCA Technical General previous year question paper" PDFs circulating on Telegram, Scribd, and random blogs are unverified, sometimes outdated (pre-2023), and occasionally contain wrong answers. Before trusting one:
- Check the session date is recent (2024 or later) — DGCA's pattern shifted meaningfully after 2023
- Cross-check any system-diagram or numerical answer yourself rather than memorizing it blind
- Prefer papers sourced from your flying training organisation's ground school, which typically maintains verified session-wise banks
- Use DGCA's own syllabus (linked above) to sanity-check whether a "leaked" question is even in scope — Technical Specific-only content (a particular aircraft type's systems) sometimes gets mixed into circulated Technical General banks by mistake
Common Mistakes in Technical General Papers
- Confusing Technical General with Technical Specific — Technical General covers principles applicable across aircraft types; anything specific to your training aircraft's exact POH numbers belongs to the separate Technical Specific paper
- Piston vs. turbine mix-ups — carburetor icing and magneto checks are piston-engine concepts; compressor stall and EGT monitoring are turbine-engine concepts — don't cross-apply them
- Unit and limitation confusion — VMO/MMO, VNE, and VA are frequently tested but frequently mixed up in meaning
- Treating stability and control as the same topic — stability (does the aircraft return to equilibrium on its own) and control (can the pilot change the flight condition) are tested as distinct concepts
- Skipping the "why" behind system diagrams — recent sessions ask which indicator or warning fires under a given failure, not just what the system does normally
Preparation Plan
- Work through the official syllabus section by section (list above) rather than jumping straight into a question bank
- Draw system diagrams from memory (hydraulics, fuel, electrical) — Technical General rewards visual recall more than most DGCA papers
- Build a one-page V-speed and limitation reference sheet early, and keep adding to it
- Since there's no negative marking, do a first pass answering only what you're certain of, then return to the rest
