Spying counts, english patients, lost writers, little princes:
here a great PLN was submitted about the western Sahara, highly recommended: Discover The Land of Fire | The Sahara » Microsoft Flight Simulator
I will put up a series of flights in its eastern part.
In memory of desert aviation pioneers as Count Almasy and Antoine St. Exupery:
I suggest to fly it 1930-style with pen&paper nav (these guys did it sometimes even at night, gazing at the constellations, well done Asobo…) and the freeware WACO as a makeshift biplane avatar.
At the time, todays airports were just french colonial outposts in a remote oasis, with barely a dirt road to land and some fuel drums over which you had to haggle with the Capitaine…
after takeoff, make a 180 and explore the big lakes of close-by and legendary Oasis Siwa.
Continue to Sitra Lake (WP1) and straight to the famous White Desert (WP2 - the DEM is not able to fully show the beauty of its rock formations).
Pass Farafra Oasis and make a quick run into the “Great Sand Sea” (WP3) to see the huge dunes where whole antique armies vanished.
After Oasis Dakla and Charga go south to Toshka Lake and then west to the last outpost in the “British Western Desert”. Tomorrow will be another day.
Day 2: Secrets of Djebel Uweinat
start early in the morning, with the sun in your back and little turbulence.: sah2_uweinat.PLN (2.2 KB)
West is the mythical Gilf Kebir massif: land on the circular salt pan (WP1, pic) where an expedition with Citroen Kegresse half-tracks has left some fuel barrels.
Explore the region, find the “Caves of swimmers” (and see how Azure misinterprets boulders as houses…).
If you missed the gas drums, there is fuel on HL56 Matan-Sarra, from there its a long leg over red sand to FTAA Am-Djarass. Bienvenue en France, they even have red wine here.
Day 3 Ennedi to Tibesti massif sah3_ennedi.PLN (4.1 KB)
from tonites airstrip its a short hop to the Aloba Arch (WP1) and the Guelta d’Archei (WP2): a gorge with clear water - home of the last handful of sahara crocodiles.
Passing strip FTTF Fada we are off to the next 2 WPs: Lakes Yao and Ouninanga, blue jewels in the yellow dunes.
Get fuel at old Fort Lamy (now Faya-Largeau FTFL), then halfway to the next strip: circle the huge Emo Koussi crater before reaching FTTR Zouar. Right after, land at the hard white surface in the crater Trou du Natron (pic) and enjoy the show. Restart, fly over near volcano Taso Tousside (pic background), pass emergency strip FTTZ Zougra and end the day at Z19X Aouzou.
Day 4 Into Libya, an italian colony sah4_tibesti.PLN (2.1 KB)
WP1 is the mysterious black volcano Waw-an-Namus with its three lakes in the caldera (pic).
A kick in the teeth: after landing at italian HL79 you are turned down by Mussolinis officers, claiming wrong documents. They force you back into french Niger (after a refill).
Alas, a change in plans and welcome to remote outpost Z23L.
sah5_air.PLN (2.4 KB)
first you fly over the Djado plateau, famous for its abandoned forts and sand-overblown ancient towns.
In Dikou DRZD fuel up and check the engine: the Tenere desert is up front, you don’t wonna go down there, a sure death sentence, even the Tuareg avoid it if possible.
See the dark Aiir massif with its craters and canyons from miles away and you breathe a sigh of relief when landing @ DRZI Iferouane (well, messed up airstrip DEM).
Day 6 Hoggar mountains sah6_assekrem.PLN (2.6 KB)
Its a long flight NW towards Tamanrasset, one of the bigger settlements in the central sahara. Next WP is the Assekrem plateau (unfortunately the current mesh is far too wide for its outlandish cinder cones…). Can you find the hermitage of Abbe Foucould?:
Turn west, over Tahat, the highest mountain of Algeria and land on the dirt strip DATR where you meet le Méhariste Camel Patrol.
Nice and instructive topic! I’m a fan of St Exupéry, I highly recommended the reading of “Vol de nuit” (“Night Flight”)
In 2007 I was about to fly from LFOZ to Toulouse/Casablanca via Rabat/Casablanca with a TB10, following the same path as “La Postale” did back in the days but unfortunately I had to cancel such a trip, it’s in my plans for the future, I’m such a fan of St Ex and Mermoz! It’s great to have the panorama in MFS2020, I just wait to have an update about aerodynamics/physics, real live weather/realisitc features such as updraft/dowdraft, convective winds etc, in order to avoid CB/TS and dangerous severe weather conditions that are not implemented in MFS2020 yet, so that I will wait to make that trip in a realistic way as much as MFS2020 could provide in a future. ASAP hopefully!
The live weather conditions were the corner stone to make such flights back in the days (still currently of course but how risky it was before!)
Day 7 Tassili n’Ajjer
its time to visit the Tassili, home of the most important prehistoric cave art in the world. sah7_tassili.PLN (2.3 KB)
Zip low thru the canyons @ WP1 and use the rock maze @ WP2-3 as an aerobatic playground.
Come to rest at Oasis Djanet, tomorrow it will be old Musso again.
Day 8 Hidden gems
@ DAAJ Tiska it takes until noon to get all the missing French stamps. The Italians check it @ DAAJ Ghat and ask you to file a flight plan @ HLAB Ambari: sah8_fessan.PLN (2.7 KB)
From there run a little north of the indicated route (along the piste and escarpment).
@ the next WP starts (and continues to the following WP and even after the subsequent left NW-turn) a string of small wonders of the Sahara:
The Ubari lakes - little blue-green specks in an endless orange expanse. Go low & explore, see pic! Its how kids would draw an oasis.
The last overnighter in the million star hotel is @ the HLID dirt strip.
Take up extra fuel - in front is the Grand Erg Occidental, the proverbial Sahara, yellow dunes from horizon to horizon.
Cross treacherous salt lake Chott el Djerid to end the trip at sunset @ DTKS Kasserine. Olive trees, cold beers, warm shower. Tomorrow it will be France proper via la Corse…
Congratulations, you have made history.
thx Eagle, looks like the book unfortunately is not translated into English or German.
I had no idea that he was an aviator and adventurer too, knew his name only from the movies Belle de Jour & Passerby (oh les deux actrices…) .
Definitively miss the Sahara, off-limits all over these days - guess I won’t be able to return IRL in my lifetime, seulement la recherche du temps perdu reste …
Sahara North-South:
with 240 airframes the Libyan Airforce was the biggest operator of the Marchetti SF-260. “Colonel” Gaddafi was using it 1978 - 88 intensively during his incursions into neighboring Chad and Sudan:
Here we do a condensation of that decades ops with a lot of the airfields involved:
a ferry flight with the payware SF-260 from the Med via Lake Chad to Dafur, looking at some of the natural wonders of this part of the Sahara. Its also a good NAV-exercise as there was no GPS in them little “Warriors”.
