He was the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C), Training Command, and assumed office on 14 October 2019 succeeding Air Marshal Surendra Kumar Ghotia.

[4] Butola graduated from National Defence Academy Khadakwasla in May 1981.

[5][6] Butola was commissioned as a helicopter pilot in the Indian Air Force in June 1982.

He was a qualified flight instructor and had a flying experience of over 6700 hours on 21 different types of aircraft.

[2][6][1] He has commanded a helicopter unit in Jammu and Kashmir, and had also been senior flying instructor and advisor to Namibian Defence Force.