Here we go again with an itemisation of some more confusing points in a HERALD April 13 front page story titled "Goa poised to be naval hub: V Adm". In fact the following items probably constitute the crux of the whole issue of civil flight restrictions at Dabolim airport.
1) "He regretted that the usage of the Goa air base was less than 10% by civil aircraft which could operate round-the-clock". So presumably this measure is under 10% of " available runway hours" which should amount to an aggregate of 168 hours per week. Under 10% means less than 17 hours per week. This is definitely an understated figure for reasons which are not clear. Perhaps 30% is closer to the actual experience. Compared to this, Delhi's is 50% (as only one of two runways is reportedly available for civil aircraft). Whatever the Dabolim figure, its obverse represents the restrictive effect of the Navy whether by design or by default or both. In other words, 90% (as per the Navy) "disuse" is because THE NAVY HAS BEEN REMISS in not actively promoting use by civilian flights instead of adopting a bureaucratic "take it or leave it" policy. Does the Navy actively review its civil flight restrictions periodically to minimise them as much as possible without degrading its military mission (if any). 2) "As many as 6361 flights operated during the day and 165 during the night last year". If this is correlated with utilisation perecentages given above we can derive "flights per hour" and for 10% if my calculation is right this works out to 7 flights PER HOUR which may be far too high for passenger safety to a layman like me. At 30% the figure may be more reasonable. Besides, it seems meaningless to give flight operation figures for just one year without a comparison with the previous year and rates of growth over say fve years. 3) "Karwar naval base with a runway of 6000 feet as against 11000 feet in Goa is aimed at blah blah blah" It is highly misleading to compare Seabird's runway length with Dabolim's. The "question" for us in Goa is: Is the Seabird runway in existence or not and, if not, then when is it due to be commissioned and, last but not least, what percentage of the Navy's Dabolim needs can be effectively met by it in what period of time. It is preposterous to suggest that an esssentially civilian facility should be replicated at Seabird before the Navy can budge from Dabolim! Given the foregoing questions, the least the Navy should do is issue a clarification soon by way of a suitable letter to the Editor of HERALD. In the meantime "Balle! Balle!" (or whatever).:)
