Flying Europe to Lybia / Tunisia / Algeria

[LH2]

Hi there, wondering if anyone has any experience of flying a light aircraft from Europe to those countries.

Apparently, all that is required (for Algeria at least) is filing in a flight plan 24hr in advance, and if it is not rejected, you're good to go (I did try, for the sake of it, and it was not rejected). I should imagine tourist visas are necessary (except for Tunisia) same like everyone else unless you intend to stay airside and not travel further inland. And what about fuel availability and costs, landing fees, and VFR flying in general?

FYI, we would probably be making the jump from either Majorca-Algiers, Sardegna or Sicily to Tunis, or Malta-Tripoli.

Thanks in advance.

[LH2]

Oh, come on!! Someone must have been there. :confused:

[Golf Alpha Whisky]

I fly regularly to Tunisia / Libya on business ..... don't think I'd recommend any of your chosen destinations in a light aircraft if that helps!!

[LH2]

GAW, thanks for your input. It has made some related threads appear at the bottom, all basically confirming that there is not a lot of info about these countries to be found in Pprune. I wonder where the guys who fly there hang out on?

Other than that, could you be a little bit more specific with your advice? What is it exactly that you recommend against about flying in those countries? When you say you fly there btw, I take it you mean as flight crew on a commercial capacity?

Please note, btw, that I was a resident in Libya for two years and further to that I spent about half my life outside Europe, so I'm not likely to be easily fazed by any perceived cultural or behavioural oddities, if that's all you mean. Put it this way, I've been leaving footprints on the toilet seat for a long time now.

/lh2

[AfricanEagle]

LH2,

sorry, no first hand info. I haven't managed to fly to these countries ... yet.

Tunis: based on my own pre-planning and on comments from others, quite straight forward with no particular issues. Avgas is not always available at other airports, except at the capital.

Lybia: tried organizing a 5 ship flight last year. Abandoned the attempt due to not obtaining the authorizations and no confirmation of fuel availability at all airports. I don't know if they require a local pilot on board if you intend heading inland.

Algeria: never received an answer to queries sent to the authorities.

Let us know how it goes.

[IO540]

I am looking at visiting Libya this year. HLLB and HLLT is indicated as having Customs and avgas in Jeppesen airport directory, but I am faxing them anyway. Any feedback would be much appreciated.

[falconfreak]

LH2 Contact Tunisavia in Tunis. Mr. Ayari Mabrouk, very friendly and helpful person with years of experience in the countries you are interested in. I am sure he will help you.

[tangovictor]

there's a great book out, 2 English guy's flew a robinson r44 to Australia I think / im sure they went via Tunis, landed at a military airport, if memory serves me, I brought the book, I'll dig it out and let you know its title etc

[IO540]

I am trying to send a fax to a few airports in Libya but none of the numbers from Jepp work. The code for Libya is 00218 and the airport numbers are all 5 or 6 digits; is there something missing?

Benghazi HLLB 97147, 95893
Sebha HLLS 20261, 22572
Tripoli Int HLLT 605034, 34070

None work.

Only HLLS lists avgas.

No fax numbers listed in Jeppview either.

[Wrong Stuff]

Yes, you're missing the area code between the country code and the number.

Benghazi - 61
Sebha - 71
Tripoli - 21

[IO540]

Still, none of them work:

Benghazi HLLB
00218 61 97147,
00218 61 95893

Sebha HLLS
00218 71 20261,
00218 71 22572

Tripoli Int HLLT
00218 21 605034,
00218 21 34070

[LH2]

io540

after the weekend I should be able to dig out some more information on the Libyan aspect of things.

[IO540]

I have some working Tripoli numbers now, which are of the form

00218 912 XXXXXX

In general, once one can get hold of one major-airport number (with an English speaking person on it) from/near a given country, one can phone them, get the fax number, and then get other needed numbers that way. That's how I got numbers for Tirana ATC - from Corfu ATC. All the published numbers for that were duff too.

I wonder how Jepp manage to publish stuff which must be years out of date. Not a single number on the whole page is right. This is out of Jeppview which is a 4-digit price.

[dv8]

A few contact details

Most of these links should have an english speaker to help you with your enquiry
http://www.libyaonline.com/index.php
http://www.faa.gov/ats/aat/ifim/ifimlyai.htm
http://www.lavex2006.com/contactus.html
http://www.buraqair.com/contactus.htm
http://www.afriqiyah.aero/infocontacthq.asp
http://www.aaco.org/airlines_libyan.asp

Malta based company but the have ops in Libya
http://www.medavia.com/contactus.html

[IO540]

Thank you - I have faxed a few numbers but no reply as yet.

[BRL]

Have you tried calling the AIS to use their foreign AIP library?

[IO540]

I am sure Jepp get all their data straight out of the national AIP, but I will call NATS on Monday just in case.

[betterfromabove]

Think you'll find the most important information for flying into these countries won't be on any charts... !!

Worked in Algeria as a geologist for several years until last Summer & flew with our company's air taxis from time to time.

What I can tell you:
- There's no 100LL unless you ship it in yourself.
- There's no private GA anywhere. No clubs nothing. There's plenty of GA about, but it's all air taxis servicing the oil industry.
- You'll need permission to enter their airspace & that will need serious connections... & it may be rescinded at any time.
- ....if you have the permission, don't expect it to mean anything when you arrive.
- Weather service is very unreliable (even the air taxis fly VFR) & usually is overly-pessimistic.
- If going down into the desert, especially near the oil fields will require a Desert Pass for when you arrive, plus the tourist visa of course.
- People HAVE done it though... Air Solidarite in France come through each Autumn with several A/C & all the right permissions etc, although that's a charity. Also read an article of an old "pied noir" from near Bordeaux who arranged the fuel & the papers & flew back to his old stomping grounds in a PA28.
- Shame because it's VFR & truly spectacular flying 300 days/year & the you'll find friendly people everywhere you go. It's just that everything is a lot more complicated....

If you're still interested in making the trip, let me know... would love to make the trip myself. Am based in Nice.

BFA

[betterfromabove]

PS> You would also need to think about security for the plane while on the ground, unless you were at one of the major airports.

[LH2]

IO:

For permits etc. in Libya, Medavia should be able to help. Try [email protected] or +356 224 90000 -- Someone else who might be able to lend a hand is Mohammed Salah from AG Aviation in Suq Al-Khamis (near Tripoli). [email protected] or +218 91 374 5574. He runs a mainly spraying operation and I spoke to him in person about hiring one of his aircraft for touring. He had a nice looking C-206 and ISTR a pressurised Skymaster will also be available after April or so (if you're MEP rated)

Betterfrom:

I've done my time in Libya (amongst other places) myself and I'm all too familiar with what you say (good point about the Desert Pass, btw, forgot about that). However I'm more of an optimist and we're planning for making the trip in April--at least Tunisia seems to be accessible enough.

In principle we're three pilots already, but nothing would stop us from taking two aeroplanes between four/five/six people. Let me know if interested and I'll keep you in the loop.

I'm passing through Tripoli again in about a week, btw. If I'm extremely lucky (in a way) I might get a couple days in town. Anyone let me know if you want me to try phoning anyone/looking up anything at the airport--no guarantees I'll have time to do any of it, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

[IO540]

LH2 - thank you. I have sent you a PM.

I have faxed every number I found for airports in Libya so far, with no replies. I wonder how corporate jets etc manage. I suppose, if going IFR, you just file the flight plan and if it's accepted then you GO.

Presumably a flight plan to such a destination would not be accepted the way they are in Europe.

[betterfromabove]

LH2: Keep me posted... might be able to generate some interest here locally, although timing a bit tight.

My comments were very much focused on Algeria, which is a special case among the three countries you were mentioning in almost every (!!) way. From what I hear Tunisia is a breeze & Lybia do-able from a flying point of view.

To give you some idea of the conditions in Algeria, the bush pilots who flew with us often drew their own airfield diagrams on the back of their plogs & then got our cartography dept to draw them up!!

Realist though I am, I still dream of crossing Algeria too... one day!! Preperation...Preperation....Preperation.

BFA

[LH2]

What I've heard from my local airport's operations staff is that to go to Algeria all you need to do is file a flight plan 24 hours in advance and, if it does not get rejected, you're good to go (of course what happens there when you arrive is an entirely different matter). I'll try to dig a bit further and see if I can get hold of anyone who has actually been there on a GA flight.
FromAbove: would you happen to have an e-mail address for the company who used to fly you about or, better yet, for the pilots themselves? They might come in handy to sort out permissions etc., might even be able to process desert passes.
Let me know if you get someone interested and/or can arrange for another plane (remember it will likely need additional insurance coverage, etc.) Timing is a bit tight for us also, but late April is what we're aiming for.

Forgot to add, we did file a flight plan a few days ago, VFR from Palma to Algiers, C172, and it did not get bounced back. I got wrong the airport identifier for Algiers and the bloke from Palma called the airport where I did the flight plan telling us he had corrected that and it had been accepted. The next day they advised us our flight plan had expired (since we obviously did not depart), but it had remained in the system until then with no objection from either the Europeans or the Algerians.

That's why I said the problem does not seem to be getting there, but what happens next.

[VP8]

We fly through Libya regularly with the Antonovs, our agent (Gulf Pearl) is excellent in Tripoli with offices around most airports if needed Captain Khaliffa can be contacted on T +218 22 634 491 F + 218 22 634 493 or their website www.gulfpearl.net

Good luck:ok:

VEEPOS

[OVC002]

All three countries post their AIP's online. Although you might struggle with Libya if you don't read Arabic.

http://www.sia.aviation-civile.gouv.fr/asp/ais.asp?idl=uk

Is a good resource for seeking out this stuff.

[jmdurieux]

Good morning
Do you have recent news about flying in Lybia(with light aircrafts) : authorizations , availaibilty of avgas100ll, rates or fees asked ,usefull contacts (e-mails
telephones fax..)
Thank you for your cooperation.
Best Regards.
Jean Michel Durieux
president of the flying club of lyon (LFLY)
[email protected]
tel: +33614913251

[172driver]

FWIW, I once (couple of years back) looked into flying to Algiers from Spain (plan was to do a western Med circle, Morocco, Algeria, then Balearics).

Changed my plans once informed that handling fee would be EUR 1000.- (no, this is not a typo - one thousand Euros) :eek:

As said above, this info is a couple of years old, so check - but do check !!

[tdbristol]

Hi,

A friend of mine regularly flies a Maule in N. Africa (Libya, Tunisia etc.) and organises trips there on a professional basis, for aviation and car rallies (and filming), although currently I know he is in southern Africa.

PM me if you would like an introduction to the chap who runs it - a really good guy.

[LH2]

Salut J-M,

Do you have recent news about flying in Lybia

je vous ai envoyé un message privé.

172,

Changed my plans once informed that handling fee would be EUR 1000.-

Ouch! :eek: How about Tunisia? Any experience there at all?

[omaaa]

Hi, Did any of you guys make it to Libya, I noticed one of you wanted to fly to HLLB??

Omar

[tdbristol]

A friend of mine, Sam Rutherford flies there regularly (and Tunisia and others). He actually runs a company that organises flying trips there and logistics support to car rallies/film companies that are filming there as well, so he knows the areas really well.

As he organises the trips professionally, he may want a payment for some of his time, but even if so, I would say it would be well worthwhile..

[jxc]

How much for a space cessna 172

[IanSeager]

Got back from Tunisia a couple of weeks ago - flew to Tunis, Tozeur, Djerba and Monastir but it was as part of an organised event. There was no problem with the flying, but I believe that Avgas is not normally available.

Ian

[Sam Rutherford]

Hi All,

Tunisia is not a problem - as already mentioned just check in advance that they have avgas if that's your poison.

Libya is more complicated (!), but completely doable with the right preparations. PM me is perhaps best.

Safe flights, Sam.

[omaaa]

Hi this sounds amazing, would love to join you guys! i looked at the plan it does not go via benghazi (my home town!) on the east of libya but equally as stunning, would love to join

[leahceri]

I lived in tunisia during 2003/04 and managed to obtain a tunisian ppl on production of my uk ppl and logbook. I think it cost me a fiver for a brown cardboard licence. I only managed to find 2 privatly owned aircraft, one was an arrow based at Tunis and the other was a piper 140 based about 50 miles west of Tunis which was being used for crop spraying. I managed to borrow the latter. All the flying was done early morning due to the intence heat and turbulance. Most of Tunisian airspace is controlled by the millitary and the language on the radio was either french or arabic. I always flew with a tunisian pilot in the right hand seat. You should be ok going into Tunis though where english is spoken, the shortest sea crossing is from Malta.

Good Luck