World Tour Leg 13 - Monastir to Bani Walid (second try)

Second try. The weather was improving and the Baron looked fixed. i just waited for a heavy traffic to depart before me and rolled along runway 07 to take off. Again, the salty water around the airport made me enjoy the right traffic pattern.

I quickly headed south, towards Sfax. As in the previous flight, once I left behind some scattered clouds I rose to FL135, checking carefully all engine indicators. It looked like the oil pressure was a bit higher than normal for the first minutes, but once I was leveled at 13500 ft. it stabilized on normal values.

I carefully reduced to 23000 RPM and leant the mixture, to save as much fuel as possible. I closed the cowl flaps for aerodynamics and focused on the navigation. I had a strong crosswind that took me constantly off the radial, so I set the autopilot on NAV. The flight was VFR and the conditions were good enough to know at any moment my position.

Soon I was over Sfax, an important Turkish city, founded in AD 849, focused on fishing and phosphate industries. Actually, the view of its salty ponds from the air is really amazing, together with the Taparura project, a future residential and commercial area surrounding a round park.

From that point, I decided to take a shortcut over the Gulf of Gabès. By cutting through the water I could save time and fuel. And the long curved beach was not far from me, so in the event of an emergency I would have time to reach it from that altitude. Gabès, the 6th city in population of Tunisia, is, together with Sfax, an important port focused on fishing.

And I started to feel the real desert. Southwest of Gabès one can find Dghoumes and Jebil National Parks, the last one being part of the Sahara and the largest of Tunisia. 150,000 hectares of sand dunes and dangerous animals.

At the southeast end of the gulf I arrived to the island of Djerba, the largest of North Africa, connected to the main land by a road bridge. Carthage and Rome built here several forts and ports, starting a long and instersting history that even includes a pirate base for Barbarossa. A second small gulf is formed between this island and the main land, called Boughrara.

From there, I flew along the coast, heading about 110º and increasing the speed a bit. I had been quite conservative. I usually have a cruise speed next to 190 kt but, flying so high and trying to save fuel, I was barely reaching 150 kt. Now the tailwind had increased a bit. I flew over El Bibane lake, a natural reserve for fishes and birds, till reaching Ras Ejder, border town in Libya. So I crossed the border and entered on a new country.

I flew over Abu Kammash and Zuwarah. This last city played an important role during the Libyan Civil War in 2011, being the first city celebrating democratic elections after the fall of Gaddafi (whose main stronghold was in Bani Walid, my destination). Currently, the country is suffering a second civil war, derived of the aftermath of the first war, with the militia taking over and two governments forming. I hope to be able to fly along it without issues.

From here I flew towards Abu Argub VOR, leaving Tripoli, the capital of Lybia, on my left side. My fuel was close to hit the reserve, but since I jjust had to descend and land, I decided to reduce the throttle, point the nose down and start a long descent of about 60 nm towards Bani Walid, increasing the speed to about 180 KIAS.

It is really difficult to recognize the features of the ground in a landscape like this, but I could spot several low sand hills that, after checking my map, were before my destination. I reached about 3000 ft. while I saw the runway. Luckily made of asphalt.

But I was too fast due to the wind, that became a strong crosswind on final. There was not METAR information, so I had to trust the windsock. After aborting a first landing on runway 18 I took advantage of the left traffic pattern to slow down and test the wind. This was not optimal, since I was really close to hit the fuel reserve, but at least I could land safely after dealing with the wind.

In summary, I have spent 60 gallons, while I was expecting 50. And no, there is no refueling option on this FBO. Therefore, after loading my next cargo, I'll proceed with the second short leg, to refuel near the coast. Welcome to Libya.

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Technical details:

DTMB - HLWD

BE SFAX-THYNA DJERBA ZAWIA ABU-ARGUB

Distance: 330 nm

Average GS: 150 kt

Average alt.: 13500 ft.

METAR:

DTMB 202200Z 17004KT 8000 FEW026 19/18 Q1003 NOSIG
N/A