Montijo military airfield
| Base Aérea de Montijo | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Characteristics | |
| ICAO code | LPMT |
| Coordinates | |
| Height above MSL | 14 m (46 ft ) |
| Transport links | |
| Distance from the city center | 2 km west of Montijo |
| Street | 3 km to the 
|
| Basic data | |
| opening | March 3, 1953 |
| operator | FAP |
| Runways | |
| 01/19 | 2147 m × 45 m asphalt |
| 08/26 | 2440 m × 45 m concrete |
The Montijo Air Base ( port. : Base Aérea de Montijo ) is a military airport of the Portuguese Air Force Força Aérea Portuguesa (FAP) , which officially it as Base Aérea Nº6 referred (BA6). It is located to the west of Montijo on the southern bank of the Tagus opposite Lisbon and is the main base for the FAP transport aircraft.
history
The site of today's base was built first as Centro de Aviação Naval Sacadura Cabral of naval aviation , which was previously in the "Bom Sucesso" -Port Lisbon.
The base Aero-Naval do Montijo was transferred to the newly established Air Force from the beginning of 1952 and received its current name on March 3, 1953. Incidentally, the naval aviation continued to exist within the FAP until 1958 as a sub-grouping Forças Aeronavais . The aircraft types that were taken over included Grumman G-21 and G-44 flying boats and Helldiver - dive bombers . In the 1950s, the FAP then procured other naval aircraft such as the Harpoon and the Neptune . The latter were replaced in 1988 by the Orion , which was the last FAP naval aircraft to be stationed in Montijo and was based on the banks of the Tejo until 2008.
In addition to the naval warfare types, transport aircraft such as the DC-6 and the C-212 and helicopters such as the Alouette III and Puma were later stationed in Montijo. Even Fiat G.91 fighter-bombers were here for a while.
After the Portuguese Navy had not operated its own aircraft for decades, it was assigned Sea Lynx helicopters with the commissioning of the frigates of the Vasco-da-Gama class , which have their land base in Montijo.
Since the Lisbon civil airport Humberto Delgado had reached its capacity limit, the Portuguese Minister of Infrastructure Pedro Marques announced in February 2017 that Montijo should be converted for commercial flight operations from 2019. As the city's second international airport, it should primarily be available for medium-haul and cheap flights .
Military use
The base is currently (2013) used as follows:
- Esquadra 501 Bisontes (bison) equipped with C-130H / H-30 Hercules , since 1977
- Esquadra 502 Elefantes, equipped with C-295M / MPA , since 2007
- Esquadra 504 Linces (lynxes) equipped with a Falcon 20 since January 1985
- Esquadra 751 Pumas, equipped with SAR helicopters AW101 Merlin , since 2005
- Esquadrilha de Helicópteros , equipped with Lynx Mk.95 on-board helicopters, the helicopter squadron of the Portuguese Navy , since September 1993
There are also some non-flying units.
Incidents
- On July 11, 2016, a Lockheed C-130H Hercules of the Portuguese Air Forces (16804) came off the runway to the left and then to the right during take-off acceleration at the Montijo military airfield, caught fire and fell almost 1,500 meters behind the runway. Three of seven crew members died and four others were injured.
Web links
- Homepage of the base on the Força Aérea Portuguesa website (in Portuguese)
- Naval Helicopter Squadron homepage (in Portuguese)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lisbon is planning a second international airport. Spiegel Online, February 16, 2017, accessed February 18, 2017
- ↑ Accident report C-130H PAF 16804 , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 17, 2020.
- ↑ Porque terá este C-130 saído da pista à descolagem? . expresso.sapo.pt. Retrieved July 18, 2016 (Portuguese).
- ↑ Lockheed C-130 Hercules plane crashes at Portugal military base killing three , Mirror, July 11, 2016