DGCA Air Regulation Previous Year Papers (2026)

If you're prepping for the DGCA Air Regulation paper — one of the six theory subjects for a Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) in India — you've probably already found a dozen PDFs of "previous year questions" floating around Scribd and Telegram groups. Most of them are useful for practice. Almost none of them tell you what's actually in the syllabus, according to DGCA itself, or where the exam-pattern numbers you're reading actually come from.

This guide starts from the primary source — DGCA's own Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) — and works outward from there.

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What "Air Regulation" actually covers, per DGCA

Air Regulation is one of five ground subjects prescribed under CAR Section 7, Series 'B', Part IV — "Syllabus for Examination for Issue of Commercial Pilot's Licence and Instrument Rating – Aeroplanes." The CAR lists five syllabus appendices:

• Appendix A — Air Navigation
• Appendix B — Aviation Meteorology
• Appendix C — Air Regulation
• Appendix D — Aircraft & Engines (Technical General)

Per the official CAR PDF, Appendix C breaks Air Regulation into three broad sections.

1. Air Regulation proper

This is the bulk of the paper:

• The Convention of Chicago: sovereignty, rights of flight over territory, documents to be carried, ICAO standards and recommended practices
• The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) — objectives, composition, its role in annexes/standards/procedures
• Other international agreements: the International Air Transport Agreement (the "five freedoms"), the Tokyo/Hague/Montreal Conventions, DGCA India's own organisational structure under the Aircraft Act 1934 and Aircraft Rules 1937, the Warsaw Convention
• PIC authority and liability for damage/injury caused by aircraft operations
• Annex-by-annex applicability: Annex 8 (Airworthiness), Annex 7 (Nationality & Registration Marks), Annex 1 (Personnel Licensing), Annex 2 (Rules of the Air), Annex 11 + Doc 4444 (Air Traffic Services), Annex 15 (Aeronautical Information Service), Annex 14 (Aerodromes), Annex 9 (Facilitation), Annex 12 (Search and Rescue), Annex 17 (Security), Annex 13 (Accident Investigation)
• ICAO Doc 8168 Vol 1 (PANS-OPS): departure procedures, approach procedures, holding procedures, altimeter-setting procedures, SSR transponder operating procedures
• National law: specific sections of the Indian Aircraft Act 1934, Aircraft Rules 1937 (a long list of specific rule numbers), Aircraft Rules 1920, 1954 (Public Health Rules), and 2003 (Carriage of Dangerous Goods)

2. Human Performance & Limitations

Folded into the same Air Regulation paper under this CAR:

• Basic aviation physiology (hypoxia, decompression, spatial disorientation)
• Basic aviation psychology (decision-making, cockpit management, communication, personality/hazardous attitudes)
• Stress, fatigue, circadian rhythm, and fatigue management

3. Operational Procedures

• ICAO Annex 6 and CAR-OPS requirements (crew, documentation, AOC issue and validity)
• All-weather ops, low-visibility operations, instrument and safety equipment requirements
• Special procedures and hazards: de-icing, bird strike, decompression, windshear, wake turbulence, dangerous goods, contaminated runways
• VFR and IFR radiotelephony communications, distress/urgency procedures, Morse code

Worth knowing: the ATPL-level version of this same CAR (Series 'B', Part VI) covers identical Air Regulation content — it's just numbered as Appendix 'D' instead of 'C' there, because the ATPL syllabus document adds Radio Aids & Instruments as its own Appendix C. If you're cross-checking a PDF titled "Appendix D — Air Regulation," you're looking at the ATPL version, not the CPL one — the content itself is the same.

Exam pattern

Figures below are the exam-pattern numbers most consistently reported by ground schools and DGCA-exam guides. DGCA's Pariksha portal itself is login-gated, so we can't link you to a live official page for these numbers — treat the pass mark, validity, and fee as solid, and the question count/duration as commonly-reported rather than portal-verified.

If your admit card shows different numbers for your session, go with your admit card — DGCA's exam format has changed more than once in recent years, and your admit card is the only source that's actually specific to your sitting.

Commonly tested topics — candidate-reported, not official DGCA data

Disclaimer: DGCA does not publish a weightage breakdown for any subject. The list below reflects patterns that repeat across previous year papers and that ground-school instructors report anecdotally — it is not an official DGCA topic-weightage document, and treating it as one would be a mistake.

Based on the previous year papers we and other prep resources have reviewed, questions cluster more often around:

• Rules of the Air (Annex 2) — cruising levels, right-of-way, VFR/IFR minima
• Air Traffic Services separation standards and clearances
• Aircraft documents required to be carried
• Annex 14 aerodrome visual aids (markings, lights, signs)
• Specific Aircraft Rules 1937 rule numbers (the CAR itself lists dozens of specific rule numbers as examinable — this is unusually specific compared to the other ground subjects)
• Search and rescue phases (INCERFA/ALERFA/DETRESFA) and signals
• Human Performance basics — hypoxia symptoms, fatigue, decision-making models

This is not a substitute for working through the full Appendix C list above — it's a "if you're short on time" pattern, not a shortcut around the syllabus.

How to actually use previous year papers

1. Map every question back to a syllabus section first. A question bank without the syllabus context just teaches you to recognise repeated questions, not the underlying regulation — and DGCA does rotate question pools.
2. Cross-check rule numbers, don't memorise them blind. The Aircraft Rules 1937 references in this syllabus are numerous; know what each rule you're tested on actually says, not just its number.
3. Treat Human Performance and Operational Procedures as real scoring opportunities, not filler — they're folded into the same paper and are usually less calculation-heavy than the core regulation section.
4. Time yourself against the commonly-reported 90-minute/100-question pattern above, but confirm your actual paper length against your admit card before exam day.

For the companion subject in the same format, see our DGCA Navigation previous year papers guide and the DGCA Previous Year Question Analysis 2026 for cross-subject patterns.