No & low land impact proposals for an airstrip in Gozo
- First phase of Mgarr to Victoria road nears completion
- Lack of Airfield services exposure – Readers Letter
- Seaplane due to go into service next month
- Good luck to Sylvia at Mgarr Tourist Services – Readers Letter
- New marshalling area at Mgarr ferry terminal
- BirdLife reveals active trapping sites on Ta Cenc plateau
- More illegal immigrants land in Gozo
- Changing trends in the composition of land-filled waste
- Gozo-Malta Seaplane Service – Alternattiva Demokratika
- Harbour Air recruits new pilot to cope with demand
- New Gozo harbour terminal inaugurated by Prime Minister
- AD highlights sorry state of gateway to Gozo
- Air Malta starts operating to new airport terminals in Schengen
- Asphalting of Ramla Road in Gozo begins
- Who exactly needs an airstrip in Gozo? – Readers Letter
Readers Letter – The aerial artists impression above shows an airstrip option for Mgarr Harbour with no impact on land. Also providing the possibility of extending into a deep water port that can berth the largest cruiseliner, creating far much more berthing for yachts and connecting the existing new sea terminal to the new break water which would very easily provide a 1000 x 15m airstrip and a small parking ramp below Fort Chambray next to sea terminal ferries. This would connect and centralise all the facilities and would give passenger’s a much more varied choice of commuting. The construction of this Mgarr harbour break water/airstrip could reclaim land on the shoreline using the millions of tons of construction rocks we dump at Maghtab and quarries. Only recently we have seen the dumping of the stone waste from the Smartcity site out at sea with barges, a real waste when land area is so limited!
Another possible construction method for such a project at Mgarr Harbour would be a concrete floating break water/airstrip, however this can be very costly as it has to be manufactured!
Regarding the Ta’ Lambert Area, basically this long disused heliport area, just now recently being used by a 4-seater Robinson 44 type Helicopter on an on demand basis only, other then the scheduled flights from Grand Harbour to Mgarr Marina with a 9-place single Otter seaplane, again flights are cancelled if it doesn’t justify the seats sold or the sea state is too rough for water landings, such as when winds blow from the south westerly or north east in that area.
Recently at Ta’Lambert some roads have been added with some tarmac in relation to dump trucks accessing the WasteServ Tal-Kus bring-in site next to the cattle farm, along the southern Xewkija side and heliport, leading towards the new sewage treatment plant, an almost straight 800m dirt road exists that could be used as an airstrip just by widening to 15 metres, relocating the electricity poles under ground and removing any road obstacles. This could then connected it to the heliport ramp by a narrow taxiway of around 6m wide, as illustrated in the aerial artists impression above. The airstrip can double as an access road and airstrip crossing by placing controlled traffic lights / barriers accordingly, this is a minimal impact solution on the surrounding arable land use.
Captain Victor G. Mercieca
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Heliport runway as it is can be used as a new tourist attraction for microlight clubs already well established in Malta, and a variety of airsports including international schools making their base in malta for teaching paragliding, paramotoring, etc. similar to what exists in Spain and other Mediterranean countries. We have very good weather all year round which compliments to this. Extending a bit the runway would enhance more uses. It is a pity that in Gozo we do not have these facilities, and airsports adverts would help increase the popularity of Gozo as a tourist destination, like it was in the case of diving which in my opinion was a success.
Simon…I’m going to play Devil’s Advocate here and argue that if there are exisiting gliding and paramotoring clubs on Malta, then why, just a couple of miles away, here on Gozo, is there a need for further such facilities? Or is it just a case that Gozo wants a slice of Malta’s cake, economically speaking. If that is the case, why not go all the way and have a mass building project to metamorphosise Gozo into a hybrid monster somewhere between Bankok and Benidorm. The money will flow like never before and many millionaires will be created. We will need a massive airport and thousands of newly created hotels and resorts.
In many ways it will be a time of boom.
But with every boom there is a burst……The death of Gozo..
Phil you are right in everything you say. The only people interested in an airstrip of any description on Gozo are the flying fanatics who just want another rock to land on and the business people who will be able to afford to use it.
Captain Victor G. Mercieca seems to have taken over the reins from Roy Perry in an all out bid to totally destroy Gozo as a tourist attraction.
Mr.Tyrrell your comments are neither NICE nor CLEAN or within the TOPIC as requested by the online editor & are clearly aimed to discredit the interests of these islands bid to improve any kind of transportation infrastructure for the common good!
I agree with you Captain.V.Mercieca, there seems to be some individuals in Gozo who think they know it all and want to run the island to their advantage. Well out of order.
Capt Mercieca…We all agree that improved transport links are vital.
The exisiting transport services on Gozo are road transport, Ferry Transport, Helicopter transport and Aeroplane transport (via the sea plane)
Let’s all get together to improve these services by all means BUT the argument that this island, just 8 miles x 4 miles in size, ADDITIONALLY NEEDS an airstrip, is a very weak, minority based, elitist one.
To Donava Lewis..Would you prefer it if, like the Nazis, we were not allowed to offer comment or opinion?
Good Maltese & Gozitan blood has been spilled in many wars in order to protect and enshrine our freedom of speech.
I take it you don’t like this freedom?
I agree mostly with Phil and Tyrell concerning this issue, what i do not believe to hear is that a maltese person thinks he is in a better position to decide and evaluate gozo’s resources than a gozitan himself or to put gozitan suggestionto no consideration. Why is there the sterotype that every gozitan person is either uneducated or full of themselves, or exactly like the comment by Donava Lewis. Sorry to say but in other larger countries such as USA or Canada people would take you to court on discrimination based on race. This is 21st century people!!
Concerning the airstrip, it will be reasonable to say that gozo’s mayor income is from foriegn tourism and even maltese people pockets. Why do they come here? Is because of the peace, serentiy and quietness the island offers. Something Malta had twenty years ago until it became overpopulated and fully developed. Unlike gozo this has not yet have neccessarily happened. If we start or continue to develop gozo for example by this airstrip tourists will decide to go to the bahamas or other quiet place rather in gozo. And YES this proposed airtrip will cause noise pollution and pollution itself, that will reduce the attraction.
To conclude there is a million ways to improve gozo’s economy this is not one of them…..thats my opinion.
Hotels ,Marinas ,Apartments ,air strips,destroying beaches ,raping nature ,i was only wondering if there are any plans at mepa for a couple of those tall High Rises for Gozo ?How much more can Gozo take ? You’ll soon realize that poor Gozo was destroyed only for the greed of the few .Good luck for your kids who will be living on Gozo 10,15 years from now .To conclude there is a million ways to improve Gozo and Gozo’s economy and this like many other things is not one of them………..well put by VERY YOUNG GOZITAN and very good comments by MR.Tyrrell
I fully agree with Very Young Gozitan And James A. Tyrrell.
What we have to keep in mind is that Gozo has it`s character and an airport will certainly be a MINUS.
@Captain Victor G. Mercieca. Sorry for the delay but AOL decided to put one of their servers out of action again so I’m only just back online.
In what way exactly are my comments neither nice nor clean? Was I in some way rude in what I said? I don’t think so. You also say that my comments were not within the topic as requested by the online editor. What topic would that be Captain Mercieca? Perhaps you could enlighten us all. The way I see it you wrote a letter in support of an airstrip and I left a comment rubbishing the idea. Totally within the topic as I see it!
The only people who seem hell bent on discrediting the interests of the island of Gozo are people like you sir. We all agree that the present transport infrastructure could and indeed should be improved for the good of all concerned but that should not include the further destruction of the islands diminishing resources in order to appease the small minority of people who want somewhere to land their toys.
May I give you Gozonews followers and flying fanatics an idea of where a suitable airstrip should be in Gozo.
GELMUS HEIGHTS is an ideal place to land/takeoff an aircraft. Its natural formation (aircraft carrier resemblance) of the little flat top hill would make an ideal location. Beside that just imagine the spectacular view one gets while on the aircraft of the city of Victoria and its surroundings.
It is a safe place for landing and takeoff and beside this it doesn’t disturb residents and it doesn’t ruin any agriculture land neither and mostly let us GHAJNSLEMIZ live in peace and harmony.
By the way, I always was for an airstrip at Mgarr Harbour and I might say I was very impressed with the artistic impression of the strip as seen from above, especially when it could be extended to berth cruiseliners.
At Mgarr there are all the necessities that one might need such as terminal and transport. In my opinion there is no need of an airstrip in Gozo