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Bosco D'Mello's wide ranging posting on the subject of Dabolim Airport is to be commended. I agree with him completely. Churchill's letter just does not have the right stuff. And why, indeed, is there still no avenue for a routine round table discussion of the multifarious issues involved in the running of the Airport? Is the sole driver for the Dabolim issue the lobbying of the South Goa hoteliers who are worried about the rise of the planned Mopa airport in the north? Why is the Chief Minister silent on the Dabolim Airport issue and not proactively dealing with the Ministry of Defence, Indian Navy, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Tourism Ministry etc? Instead he seems pre-occupied with merrily ripping up pavements for IFFI! In an earlier posting I had laid the blame for the relative ignorance about Dabolim airport matters at the doors of the media. I have since come across some newspaper clippings which shed some light on the subject. Rear Admiral Shekhar Sinha is reportedly the Flag Officer Commanding and he took over sometime in mid-2004. The official name of Dabolim airport (sometimes strangely called Goa Airport!) is Naval Air Station Dabolim. The timings from 0830-1300 hours from Mondays through Thursdays have been reserved for military flight training. The Navy has based six types of aircraft at Dabolim. The runway needs of each of these has not been specified. But a runway comparable to Dabolim (currently reported to be 3.5 km in length) has been ruled out at Seabird by the Rear Admiral due to topological factors. We still need to know the maximum length of the runway the Navy aircraft need for flight training purposes and whether this at least will be available at Seabird. Perhaps the need differs between fighter aircraft (at the short end) and transport aircraft (at the other end?) For Goa's sake, let's hope interest in Dabolim airport is sustained.
