--- gilbert menezes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi, > Anyone who equates advanced training on high > performance fighter > aircraft like the Seaharrier or MIG29K ,to an > activity of a *flying > club* needs to have his head examined.
Dabolim was conceived as and built for civilian use. Dabolim was apparently handed over to the Indian Navy post Dec-1961 as 'caretakers' by the then Candeth Govt. Now the Navy effectively 'own' it to the detriment of civilian flights. Sure the naval pilots need training. Initial training on trainer aircraft can be carried out on land-based trainer aircraft, but aren't Sea Harrier and MiG29 aircraft carrier-based? Aren't naval pilots supposed to learn to tackle take-offs and landings from the moving and rolling platforms of aircraft carriers with their associated catapults and arrestors rather than from fixed-point steady land-based air-strips where such additional equipement is not necessary? Why land-based 'stations'? And how many pilots are they eternally training for the few aircraft carriers that India possesses? Do they really require most of every daylight hours for their training? Do they practice night-time flying? In my point of view, as I am sure it from Philip's as well, this 'extravagance' of using advanced aircraft on land-based stations does seem rather like an elite 'flying club'. It serves no purpose other than practicing formation-flying (if at all) and dive-bombing, which could have been carried out at sea as well. Practice at sea would additionally train the pilots in the fine art of locating and landing on a moving platform, thus using aircraft for the purpose they were designed to. > Friends,> this is not an extra > curricular fun passtime. It is designed to meet the > threats of the > future so that in time of need, we have highly > proficient pilots to > carry out the multi role tasks of establishing air > superiority, land > and sea strike, and any other tasks required for the > defence of this > nation. Precisely. In times of need, the naval pilots would fly straight from an aircraft carrier (not from a land-based station such as Goa) to their intended target. It is the *Air Force* that normally takes off from land-based aircraft, and then again, they are of different design and meant for purposes probably different from the Navy's. > Who are the vested interests, you mention? Over to you, Philip. Cheers, Gabriel de Figueiredo. Melbourne - Australia. Find local movie times and trailers on Yahoo! Movies. http://au.movies.yahoo.com
