December 2008 - Lebanon

Those who have been around this club any significant period of time and those who know me, know that I have a certain affinity for things Mediterranean. This is, after all, why Peter based LGFC in the Greek Isles! Well, we’ve had feature flights based from LGFC, flights into Samos Island and Malta and this month we’ll be exploring another part of the Mediterranean Sea. Our host nation this month offers scenic vistas (pict1) (pict2), big bright cities (pict3), and a wealth of history and culture (pict4). So, wherever you are coming from, get yourself to our VA hub in Beirut, Lebanon (pict5) (pict6) and get ready to explore this land of beauty and diversity (pict7). Oh, and one more thing, it is December so you may be able to get in some snow skiing as well! (pict8) Yep, “Ski Lebanon”, not something I imagined hearing but it’s true!

In college I had the privilege of knowing several Lebanese students; Nadji was my roommate for one quarter after my former roommate got married. Ever since knowing these friends I've been intrigued by this land, its beauty (pict9) and its food – I’ve wanted to visit but have had to be satisfied instead with simming. Nadji used to call Beirut "The Rio of the Mediterranean" and this month we’ll cover this eastern Mediterranean nation pretty thoroughly.

Let me confess that I’ve been working up this feature for over a year so I have plenty of photos and videos I could be sharing. First off, a rundown of some of my arrivals into Beirut: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imJyEf7Phgw (pict10) )

Unfortunately FS has only given us four airports in the whole of Lebanon (and at least half of those appear to be military bases). The first thing I did was to take a fast and "stealthy" repaint of a BizJet to all of the airports (just under 150 miles). (pict11) Really though, you can’t see much at 395 knots, so I returned to Beirut and loaded up a Turbo Beaver commemorating the Beirut hub of our Virtual Airline, Flight Club International Airways. I then flew "low and slow" along those beautiful Lebanon beaches up to Wujah Al Hajar. (pict12) At that point I changed over into Piper Comanche (pict13) and headed back south, along the hills and then dove down over Beirut (pict14) before continuing south to the border. (pict15) I then turned east and dipped over into the Baka’a Valley (pict16) and headed back north toward Rayak AB. (pict17) At this point I took an old A-7 Corsair II from Rayak AB up to the far north end eventually landing at Rene Mouawad AB. (pict18) (pict19) (pict20) From here I took a Saab 340 back down the coast to Beirut. (pict21) (pict22) (pict23) All this mountain hopping got me to thinking about summer-time firefighting, so I loaded up some fire bombing aircraft and again took to the skies: (pict24) (See the video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMFAh9T5MzE )

I had another thought ... if you fly south along the Baka'a Valley, that eventually leads into the Jordan River Valley, the Sea of Galilee (you may have heard of that place before) and eventually the Dead Sea. This is your chance to fly at -1,200 feet and still be in the air! To that end, I made some round trips in various “regional” aircraft into Syria, Southern Turkey, Israel, Egypt and Cyprus. Basically, over the past year if I’ve needed to fly somewhere I took a short round trip out of Beirut. (pict25) (pict26) So, all this flying is great, but what of the details of your FOTM? This will be a rather simple undertaking ... all I ask is that you simply make SEVERAL flights in, through and around Lebanon. Choose something scenic and/or fun and enjoy your flights over this beautiful and historic country. I know this can be a crazy and hectic time of the year so please do what you can.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!