Read on Twitter
1. Since I can't travel in real life, I've continued my virtual journey in Microsoft Flight Simulator, making my way in a Cessna 172 around the Mediterranean. This weekend I've been flying west across Libya - an itinerary that would be impractical right now in real life.
2. The airports in Libya are pretty sketchy, in ways that are and aren't modeled by the simulation. For instance, I took a pass on trying to land at Kamluk, over the border from Egypt, when I saw the condition it's in on Google Earth. Yes, the runway is cracked and falling apart.
3. On the other hand, MSFS has a bit of a bug in it right now where non-towered airports don't have any runway lights at night (in real life, you can usually get them turned on automatically via radio). So I've had to fly all my legs in daylight.
4. My first stop was Tobruk, which I learned has a museum devoted to Rommel. Once upon a time, the airport there had three runways, but only one appears to be In any condition to land on.
5. When I was approaching it, MSFS gave me the option of all three runways (six in both directions) and I chose the one heading into the wind from the west. But as I came in on final approach, I realized it was now - as in real life - just a taxiway, and had to change plans.
6. The next stop was Al Abraq airport, which is right next to the Ancient Greek and Roman ruins of Cyrene. The site isn't modeled but you can see where it is, perched on a dramatic bluff overlooking the coastal plain.
7. This northeastern part of Libya, a highland plateau (at about 2,000 feet elevation) called the Jebel Akhdar, is unusual in that it actually gets rainfall. The rest of the country is mostly just flat empty desert.
8. I proceeded west to Benghazi, which most Americans will know from the assault and murder of the US ambassador there in 2012. But Benghazi, and in particular its airport, has far deeper, forgotten links to US history.
9. During World War II, Benghazi's Benina International Airport was called Soluch Airfield, and it was a major base for US bombers hitting targets in Italy and southeastern Europe. The famous B-24 raids on the Ploesti oil refineries in Romania were launched from Soluch.
10. In 1943, the B-24 bomber "Lady Be Good" disappeared on a mission from Soluch to Italy. For years, it was assumed lost over the Mediterranean. You can read the story here. In 1958, oil workers found it in the middle of the Libyan Desert. https://unwritten-record.blogs.archives.gov/2017/06/16/lost-and-found-the-story-of-lady-be-good-and-her-crew/
11. The crew got lost and overshot Soluch - at night, you can't tell the empty desert from the sea. They bailed out and walked 80 miles in the desert before they died. Their bodies were eventually found and sent home.
12. I first heard this story visiting the US military cemetery in Carthage, Tunisia. https://twitter.com/prchovanec/status/954274519153283073?s=20
13. From Benghazi, I've continued by hops around the Gulf of Sidra. The small airports at Zuwetina, Marsa Brega, and Ras Lanuf mainly serve remote oil and gas ports and the people who work there.
14. Gives you an idea what they look like on the ground, in real life:
15. Tonight I reached Sirte, which is the city where Muammar Gaddafi was famously captured and killed. It's mainly a big airbase, but is also used for the occasional commercial flight.
16. So could you do this trip in real life? Well, theoretically some airports have opened and there are some domestic flights. But no. Besides the dire condition of the airfields, Libya is still divided between two main warring factions.
17. Sirte's airport, for instance, was captured by ISIS in 2015, and they held it for about a year before it was captured back. Now it's on the front line between the two factions. I'll be "crossing" that line flying west on my next leg, toward the capital, Tripoli.
18. But the virtual journey has given me a reason to go back and reread "The Burning Shores" by Frederic Wehrey, about Libya's breakdown into civil war following the Arab Spring in 2011. https://www.amazon.com/Burning-Shores-Inside-Battle-Libya/dp/0374278245/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=the+burning+shore&qid=1603075047&sr=8-2
19. On side note: as I've been flying over Libya in MSFS, using real-time weather, I've had overcast clouds, high winds, and flashes of lightning - though not much actual rain. So I looked it up and, guess what, they've been having thunderclouds over the weekend.
