MiG-29K’s fuel tank ‘detaches’, Dabolim airport shut for three hours

PANAJI: The lone runway at the Dabolim airport was shut for nearly three hours on Saturday after the drop tank of a MiG-29K aircraft detached during take-off and exploded, sources said. The runway, which suffered minor damages, was quickly repaired and reopened for commercial traffic at 3.45pm, the Indian Navy said.
Due to the closure, 12 commercial flights were diverted, while several other arrivals and departures were delayed.
An official of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said the naval fighter jet “jettisoned” its fuel drop tank while taking off from the runway that is also used by the naval airbase at INS Hansa. However, the Navy, through its official spokesperson, claimed that the incident occurred after the external fuel tank “detached” itself from the aircraft.
“Around 1pm, a MiG-29K aircraft jettisoned its fuel tank. We can’t find out how it caught fire because usually, when an aircraft jettisons its fuel tank, it does not catch fire. We asked the Navy and it said the fuel tank fell off, but we don’t know under what circumstances it happened,” an AAI source said.
The incident resulted in a minor fire and plumes of black smoke along the runway, threatening safe flight operations.
“We had to divert 12 flights and there were obviously some delays,” Goa airport director Gagan Malik, said. The flights were diverted to the Mumbai and Mangaluru airports.
The naval spokesperson said flight operations resumed at 3.45pm and added that the MiG-29K fighter aircraft was safe.
AAI officials said arrivals and departures at Goa’s lone airport peak during the afternoons. The airport operates from a civilian enclave within the naval air base at INS Hansa, where a squadron of MiG-29K air defence fighters is stationed.
Detachable fuel tanks are attached to fighter aircraft to increase their operational range. According to some accounts, the drop tank was jettisoned on the runway, spilling fuel and causing minor damage to the landing and take-off strip.
An airport official said Navy personnel cleared the runway of the fuel and undertook minor repairs along the stretch where the tank had fallen.
“It was a routine sortie,” a naval officer said.