861st fly-in: Tripoli, Libya (HLLT/HLLM) - start of the 2nd African Tour!

[Kumiankka]

link to fly-in index thread

Quote

Next Sunday, July 11th let's get ready to kick off another special event, a new tour of Africa over 14 years after our previous such tour. The plan is similar to the tour of Europe we did a few years back, each week will have one main destination and an optional refueling stop, and the following week's refueling stop will be announced in advance so you get a little more versatility in planning your trip. The tour will last 9 weeks, which certainly won't allow us to visit every country in Africa but should give us enough time to visit different kinds of destinations in many different regions of the continent. And a bit of additional info to help with the route planning: the average length of a single leg on the tour is approximately 700 nm, for a total 1400 nm distance covered each week. The longest single leg will be almost twice that, at 1350 nautical miles. And the shortest runway on the tour is as long as 6500 feet, so if you plan to fly the same aircraft for the whole tour, you'll be able to take a jet and cover the distance a little bit faster.

Now, on to this week's destination: Tripoli, Libya is served by two different airports that you'll be able to take your pick from. Tripoli International Airport (HLLT) features two runways and some impressive terminal buildings as seen in this week's custom scenery package. However, in the real world Tripoli Int'l has been closed for some time due to the Libyan Civil Wars, and Mitiga International Airport (HLLM) has more recently been used for all commercial flights. Both airports are included in the custom scenery linked below - make sure you have all the required libraries installed, even with them I get some strange warnings about missing objects in one of the libraries but at least the scenery loads all right.

And if you're looking for a nearby place to start your first flight from, here are a few suggestions:
- HECA Cairo, Egypt: unfortunately didn't make the cut for the tour, only because we visited it as recently as 2020
- GMTT Tangier, Morocco: Tangier is sometimes known as the "gateway to Africa" due to its location on the Strait of Gibraltar
- LMML Malta: Although Malta is generally considered a European country rather than an African one, I'm betting @ghun1 may want to start from his home airport there

Finally, the following week's refueling stop will be at Aguenar – Hadj Bey Akhamok Airport, Tamanrasset, Algeria (DAAT), in the middle of the Sahara!

Happy journey -  رحلة سعيدة

 

 

 

New pilots are always welcome, read the guide below by @bootsie to get started:
How to connect to X-Flightserver

Or to connect using the new Swift client, see this tutorial by @ostkamp:
Swift client quick reference guide (pdf)

Be considerate towards your fellow pilots, and above all, have fun!

 

[ghun1]

yay! and there I was all concerned about long flights 🙄

Malta is indeed in Europe 100%, but we often look to weather reports from nearby Libya on TV weather maps to see what to expect (we extrapolate between there (or Tunis) and Rome most of the time, though the local Airport has a really good weather station itself). Kind of odd as Tripoli is no longer seen as a weather station on skyvector.  Many websites ignore our existence and it is irksome to scroll through a dropdown list of countries only to find we are not there! Or very rarely listed as African country. As English is one of our first languages (and Maltese, the other, is spoken by so few around the world - though you may be surprised how many there are) it is very annoying to be redirected to Italy, Germany or the UK.

 Yup, I will be flying in from my home, LMML, just a short hop for this first leg of what looks like an exciting adventure ahead. Used to be quite a busy route, but alas, no more. Such is human failings.

see you there....

Gary

 

[surfintucson]

Oh my, I may have to adjust some recent lifestyle choices in order to join this nine-week tour every Sunday morning.

African airports are becoming better represented in X-Plane but still could use more attention. Those fond of ortho4XP might want to fire that up for our routing.

@Kumiankka: is the route set? I don't need to know what it is, just wondering if suggested places might still be considered or if the full 9 weeks are locked in.

And starting from LMML sounds excellent.

[Kumiankka]

There is indeed a preliminary plan for the route @surfintucson, but it's not completely set in stone. Feel free to send in any suggestions that you might have, I might end up swapping a few of the originally planned stops for those. Especially if it's a place we haven't visited before, and/or someplace with interesting scenery, preferably with custom scenery available too.

Oh, and a hint regarding next week's destination: since Tamanrasset is going to be our refueling stop, the main destination will have be to be in that direction from Tripoli or it wouldn't serve much purpose for refueling!

[surfintucson]

I'm on my way! Bringing the classic Air Afrique 777 from KTUS Tucson. Hopefully I flight-planned/timed the arrival to meet you there. About to turn things over to the (not super-reliable) relief crew and get some sleep; leaving continental North America. Hope to see/hear/fly with you soon.

 

[Vega66]

Greetings everybody,

 

Considering my available options, my choice for this adventure fell for the Portuguese Air Force Falcon F50. The specs are suited for the challenge and it will provide me a chance to learn a little about this aircraft, since it is all new to me. There was one stationed at LPFR - Faro, so started from there for a first leg heading towards LMML, and then to our first destiny.

.

Most of the times the departure from Faro is from RWY28 due to prevailing winds, but today the clearance was for the other end, RWY10, wich shortened the distance in about 30 miles.

Crisp and clear skies at the south of Portugal, wonderful day for flying.

Arrived at Malta Intl about 3 hours after departure from Faro..

There joined @gordoxproenca for the flight to Libya's HLLM - Mitiga.

 

Arriving at Tripoli, with nice details from a very interesting scenery

Touched down and parked on the military side of the airport

Then a change to the D288, for a round trip to Tripoli Intl. Here watching @CHASMAN2014 vacating the runway at Mitiga.

 

Some views of Tripoli

And parking at Tripoli Intl for a lunch brake

This was a very busy destiny. In the next one you can see @ostkamp, @Big-IN, @ManofMac, Chas, @rajo and @chaser bringing lots of life to the apron.

And more joining, as I was taxiing to return to Mitiga. Here Merlin landing on RWY09.

And a final shot form the city, before regrouping with Gordo to prepare one last flight towards the first refueling stop.

Back to the Falcon, still time to watch @surfintucson arrive from his epic flight from Tucson with his triple 7

 

Rajo was also preping for the same leg, so lined up with him and Gordo for a joint flight.

Sadly, Gordo had a very serious engine failure, he didn't made it to Tamanrasset, fortunately he managed to reach for HLTD, although I believe his Falcon was doomed.

As for me, managed to land at Tamanrasset, despite a forceful change to visual at last minute due to a non working localizer, and a less than orthodox hard landing after catching strong turbulence on short final. @Kumiankka and Surf also arrived shortly after and parked for a final group snapshot, before call it a day.

Great start for a very promising adventure. Hope to see you soon, have a wonderful week.

 

Edited July 11, 2021 by Vega66

[ostkamp]

Hello,

here are some impressions of todays flight.

I started in Palermo, Sicilia (LICJ) with X-Crafts Embraer 145 XR model. The livery does not really fit here, but I had nothing better available for the area.

A total of the airport. I departed runway 07 via LICJ N0450F300 TRP6A TRP M727 SENTI KOLEX UM727 EDELI ABRA1A HLLT.

The flight went along the West coast of the island, also passing airport Trapani Birgi from where Dino5 took off later, when I remember correctly.

Lampedusa ahead here.

I was amining at Tripolis runway 09 because of wind conditions even if on that side there was no ILS support.

I was lucky and had an acceptable landing there.

Nice modeled terminal building and also local flag in front of the trees.

A marshaller supported me getting parked correctly on the apron.

While having cake break I watched others landing. Here we see @Vega66

followed by Chas

@ManofMac aka Mr. Mac with a Kodiak

@rajo coming in from Morroco with TimeWarp, I suppose, because the trip was really long

@Big-IN aka Dino5 (really flying a B2 or so, but told me to toggle to B747 since there was no CSL for it

and Merlin for whom no ICAO was received at Swift client, thus he shows up with embraer CSL

Finally I changed aircraft to Piper Arrow III and had a sightseeing flight to Mitiga (HLLM).

This bird is rather slow, so usuable only for short flights but otherwise nicely modeled even with wooden console.

After takeoff I turned North until reaching the Medditeranean sea

Nice city with small boats and harbor.

Flying along the coastline to the East I spotted the airport nearby where @Vega66 , @rajo and  @gordoxproenca had already landed.

Got parked alongside some trucks, while @Vega66 and @rajo were taxiing.

Called it a day there.

I have also filed an additional suggestion to @Kumiankka for the Africa tour via private message within the last days just in case.

See you next week!

 

Edited July 11, 2021 by ostkamp

[surfintucson]

Greetings, Pilots! The Africa Tour begins! Inauspiciously for me; let's hope things get better. Real time and weather throughout.
I had intended to fly from my homebase, KTUS Tucson to our first destination, and then home again at the conclusion of the tour. Things started out okay... I flightplanned to arrive at about the time of the fly-in. Tanked up the 777 with fuel and supplies and took off around sunset local time. I just managed to escape a severe monsoon storm that was rolling in. (IRL it really was severe--downed trees all over today):

After a few hours I handed the flight deck over to the relief crew and hit the bunk for some sleep. Alas, when I returned to the cockpit this morning to resume piloting for the fly-in, X-Plane had crashed. Relief crew not so good; hard to find good help these days. So I went back to Plan A: start at LMML Malta. A quite nice airport scenery; I particularly appreciate the roadway tunnels--I think that's a bit challenging to do in X-Plane:

Short flight across the sea to Libya. In that short flight, however, I had a missing water tile and a scenery load error for Tripoli City (forgot to add the special ortho). And, as I approached the coast I began having issues with the fly-in server and everyone disappeared. Tried disconnecting and re-connecting but could not reconnect. A rough start to the tour. Attempting to troubleshoot the connections and begin an approach was getting taxing, so I took manual control and flew down to the city to line up for a touch-and-go at HLLM Tripoli International. After, I continued on to HLLM Mitiga. Landed, parked up, and decided to try to sort things out. Restarted X-Plane and reconnected. Most of the rest of the day went much smoother.

I didn't really do my homework for this area and last time I checked both airports had been shelled closed and this was still a war zone. I was glad we didn't see any of these guys around the airport perimeters:

Nevertheless, I didn't fancy lingering with a big 777 as a target. Others were already en route to DAAT so I started up the plane and taxied out for takeoff. Here's KUMI taking off in a 727 beyond me as I taxi:

In fact, I matched KUMI's course, speed, and altitude and flew most of the leg with just a bit of horizontal separation:

He was flying Aeroflot so I figured I'd stay in his radar shadow and hopefully no one would notice.

Some stunning Sahara desert scenery. Pity a lot of the area is in conflict as it would be cool to visit. Second shot here surprised me with a canyon. Turns out it's Tassili N'Ajjer National Park--a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Somewhere around here GORDO put out a mayday call when he lost two engines. He announced he could not restart and was heading towards HLTD Ghadames. This is an inhospitable place to go down and temps were around 45C/110F. After I hadn't heard from him in a while I figured the worst and inquired over the radio. Ah, two engines out--in a 3-engine aircraft. Heard something about no gear due to hydraulic failure but he made it down okay. Hopefully he can get a new plane by next week's legs.

As we approached DAAT - Tamanrassat, Algeria, I slowed to provide separation from KUMI to set up for landing. Overflew the airfield and then a right downwind for runway 08. Turbulence on final had been reported by earlier arriving pilots. Indeed, even in the big 777 things were shaking around a bit with a gusting crosswind.

Taxied in and parked between KUMI and VEGA for a group photo:

Took a little walk around the airport to check things out. Looks like a local delivery service with a suspicious logo:

At the far end of the field I came across some serious hardware. Seems DAAT is primarily used by the Algerian Air Force.

A bit later GHUN came in, also in a 727 like some others today.

End of a long and gremlin-ridden first day of the Africa tour I headed into town to see if I could score some Medjool dates and maybe a dish of couscous. Until the next leg of the tour,
Surf, out.

---

 

Edited July 11, 2021 by surfintucson

[Kumiankka]

Dug out of the old .org workhorse 727-200 for the tour, and got started from Cairo International.

 

Departure from runway 23C provided a nice view of the Pyramids.

 

Part of the fun of flying these older planes is all the limitations of the older technology. No GPS meant I had to follow the airways using radio navigation, while working the throttles due to the lack of autothrottle. And I had to be extra careful on takeoff due to the lack of FADEC, exceeding the max EPR is a quick way to light all three engines on fire!

 

Still, the cruise to Tripoli was long and uneventful enough for a coffee break before starting the approach. At HLLT, the ILS was working well enough to guide me to runway 27.

 

I was clearly out of practice with the 727 and floated far down the runway before touching down. Still, the long runway at Tripoli Int'l was forgiving enough of little mistakes like this.

 

I taxiied over to the impressive-looking main terminal to shut down for a moment and double-check my scenery installation for Tamanrasset before continuing there.

 

In the meantime, Chas departed runway 09 in his 737.

 

A little while later, I took off from HLLT just ahead of @surfintucson and his 777.

 

I decided to swing by the city center for a quick circuit before heading on south.

 

Completing the circuit was a touch and go at Mitiga.

 

Surf flew a close formation as we headed south across the Sahara and towards Tamanrasset. At one point I noticed my airspeed had fallen very low (to 160 knots) due to an uncommanded spoiler deployment. But fiddling with the lever a bit I was able to retract the spoilers and speed back up to continue on course.

 

The ILS wasn't working at Tamanrasset for any of us, not that the autopilot could've kept up with the heavy turbulence anyway. Surprisingly my landing here was better than at Tripoli, although you certainly couldn't call it a comfortable one!

 

Parked next to @Vega66's Falcon 50 (rendered here as an MD-11 based on the "same number of engines" system) and shutting down, with @surfintucson just arriving

[ghun1]

Nice start to the African continents fly-in by starting off from home, Luqa (aviation phonetic Luka), Malta (LMML) in an A319 sporting an older Air Malta livery I made myself a few years back. The XPFR scenery is still the best available for Malta and together with the orthophotos, I can navigate by road and even see my house 😄. Real temperatures were accurately relayed using ASXP and I took off in 32°C with blue skies. Not so sure how accurate the low sparse cloud cover was though its pretty humid here. Less than one hour away and I arrived. I was surprised to see to do this in the real world today would take me 7 hours minimum (as its via Istanbul) 🤪

flight in clear skies over the med may be boring but I'll take 177 fps any time 😆

I switched planes to an SR22 only to realise I had not loaded some of the Tripoli city scenery, so logged off, re-installed, and set off again to see the sights. Some local business men were getting ready to fly in style as I taxied out to runway 36. Lots of interesting Soviet-supplied aircraft sitting around dormant these days, and very well represented by the scenery author.

Excited to see the football stadium but then realised it was not Wembley  - that was saved for later today 😭

Another plane change saw me in a 727-200 like Kumi. Take off is always amazing (even at risk of blowing up the engines 😉 ) and then off to the refueling stop, I was left behind as a computer glitch caused me to restart etc etc but left me without sound which is a fact I ignored. I like the CIVA INS but have mostly forgotten how to use it, though the CIVA helper plugin (a python script) helps. In the end I did the same as Kumi and navigated using VORs. The runway at DAAT seems a bit narrow but got it down OK and parked up next to Surf. His 777 did not look quite right, but too bad either (I see his CSLs turned our 727s into Tu-154s 😄

The 727 is also fast. Here in the cruise at Mach 0.87 !

see you next time

Gary

 

 

 

 

[rajo]

No FSEconomy this time, no profitable flights seen. So I started with the JRollon CRJ2, a plane I had bought a few years ago, but never got it in the air, was apparently still too difficult for me at the time.

started up at GMTT Tangier, with a livery of Air Mali, and connected to swift as Sahara Air SHD, Mali was not in swift and SHD couldn't find for CRJ2.

GMTT Tangier has a soocer stadium

Yes, @ostkamp, I cheated (warped), because otherwise there would be no one left when I landed

HLLT approach, mainly manual, I'm obviously not really familiar with this aircraft yet

taxiing, you see 3 other pilots in the background 

then the short hop to HLLM, here short before turning around 180 degrees

after turning final

taxi to 09, preparing last flight to fueling stop

was not so easy, Flightplan must entered in the onboard FMS, can not be loaded, no 3rd party app understand this XML format. The stored FP is so complicated that there is no chance of creating it with on-board means. So I leaved the taxiway for final preparing the last flight. @Gordoand @Vega66waited for me until I was done

 

up up and away

the approach. I took rwy 02, I saw there is ILS support, vega66 took rwy 08, shorter and better for wind (07), but not any support

but it didn't help, I had to land manually after all

 

it was almost too late for a dinner date, so i disconnected immediately

[azrsim]

Amazing to see people fly to my HLLT that I made, I hope you liked it and wait for the FS2020 payware HLLT/HLLM with a remodelled terminal!