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This is the only leg that doesn't overfly sea, though lake Victoria that will be crossed in the first part of the flight looks like. This lake, with a surface equal to more than twice the size of Belgium, lies on three different countries (Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya) and it's also were the river Nile was supposed to originate from.
The destination in southern Libya is probably unknown to all readers, me included before I had planned it. I needed one more African destination neighbouring or located in the Sahara desert before going back to Brussels. I first thought of Niamey in Niger, then choose Ghat, because this was a stopover in the Dakar rally this year (precisely, the Ghadames-Ghat stage took place on January 8) . I'm not really a fan of those who try to drive racing cars faster than planes, but this is a way of ending and linking this virtual tour with a real life event. First of all I had to check wether Ghat airport could accomodate the 767 and this is well the case, we have a comfortable 11,811 feet (3543m) long concrete runway (this is longer than runway 07R/25L at EBBR !) and NDB equipment.
Flight plan
DEP: HTKJ Kilimanjaro Intl 09
ARR: HLGT Ghat 35
ALTN1: DAAJ Tiska ALTN2:DAAP Takhamalt
CRUISE ALT: FL340 CRUISE SPD: 460kts TAS M0.8
ROUTE: HTKJ IMLAK NESAL NN BUN ENDOX AMPER ETSAM
BURAT DIR DJA TWARG GHT HLGT
DISTANCE: 2420nm (4477km - 2650 miles)
FLIGHT TIME: 5:25 HRS
Jeppesen enroute charts used
A(HI) 5,6 (2001) Africa, A(HI) 2 (1996) Africa
We left at 12:30 and took off from runway 09 to be handed by Nairobi center in the first hour of the flight. As we were climbing out of Kilimanjaro we could discover its typical conic shape, remembering this is a volcano.
 Passing INLAK - lion's kingdom below |
 Approaching Victoria Lake The small airfield below is Musoma |
 Descent - passing Djanet in Algeria |
 We're in Libya now |
Being used to land airliners on airfields equipped with VOR and ILS, it can be quite disconcerting to land with only NDB facilities. This is mainly a visual procedure then, with no distance information about how far is the runway treshold. With the sun shining in these regions almost 365 days a year, the approach, even if being less precise than with a localizer, is something like a formality.
Runway 35 approach is parallel to a river (no this is not a mirage), water being abundant in Ghat, an oasis city dating back to the 12th century.
 Approach - everything looks normal to the passengers, but the airport wasn't in sight from the flight deck yet |
 Okay, we did it...there seems to be a runway down there |
Ghat airport is bigger than Kilimanjaro, there are even enough taxiways to avoid backtracking the runway. I guess this airport has a military origin and must also be used for domestic passenger and freight flights. There are no scheduled or charter operations between western Europe and Ghat (but with Kilimanjaro well), and this is probably a good thing since the arrival of tourism in such remote and well preserved cities would be the beginning of their end. We shut down the engines at 16:10 local in front of the small terminal, outside temperature was 23°C but was to drop considerably after sunset.
That's it. Here comes the last leg, being also the shortest with less than a 4 hours long flight.
This last hop was planned for January, 11 but both screen and hardware problems delayed the departure and the plane had to remain in Ghat until they could be solved. That seems to be the only mischance of the all trip. On January 15 we could at least board the aircraft again and leave the Libyan desert - unfortunately, the weather at Brussels was not as good as January 11 when we would have enjoyed clear skies (but freezing cold).
Flight plan
DEP: HLGT Ghat 17
ARR: EBBR Brussels - National 25L
ALTN1: EBLG Liege ALTN2: EBOS Ostend
CRUISE ALT: FL340 CRUISE SPD: 460kts TAS M0.8
ROUTE: HLGT TARAT NAGAH RIMEL AMIRA CSO KAMER
BALEN COUTO SOFFY MTG TEPNA VILAR PAS
EPL DIK LNO (LNO 1A) FLO IBL EBBR
DISTANCE: 1634 nm (3023 km - 1890 miles)
FLIGHT TIME: 3:45 HRS
Jeppesen enroute charts used
A(HI) 2 (1996) Africa, E(HI) 9,10 Europe
We'll first head to Constantine in northern Algeria, then cross the Mediterranean and reach Europe at Marseilles, followed by Grenoble, Geneva, Epinal, Metz, Nancy then Luxembourg and Liege, expecting a runway 25L approach at destination. The weather will allow us to see the ground until Switzerland, the sky is then expected to become mostly cloudy.
We left at dawn (6:25 local - this was also Belgian time) so that the destination would be reached during day time. We followed a private Beech King Air bound for Djerba that was as early riser as us.
Some further beautiful nature sceneries were enjoyed from 34,000' in this last leg, with the Alps ending the cruise screenshots as the sky went overcast then along with the rest of northern Europe.
 Sandhills and shadows... |
 Farewell Africa |
 Marseille |
 The Camargue region in southern France |
 French Alps... |
 Passing Grenoble - one remaining flying hour to Brussels |
The METAR weather information for Brussels showed:
EBBR 151000Z 22015KT 8000 BKN029 05/01 Q1025 NOSIG
which decodes as
Brussels-National observation made on the 15th of the month at 10:00 UTC; Wind direction 220°, 15 knots; Visibility 8km; Sky conditions broken clouds, cloud base 2900 feet; Temperature 5°C, dew point 1°C; Altimeter setting QNH = 1025 mb; No significant change
This is not very nice, but it could really have been worse.
We started descent a little while before Luxembourg, to be followed by the standard approach for runway 25L (via FLO), something I must have simulated one hundred of times.
Once Diekirch (DIK) VOR north of Luxembourg is passed, we head towards Olno (LNO) VOR located south-east of Liege, then towards Flora (FLO) VOR, a waypoint which until recently was known as a simple fix (FLORA), descending to 6000 feet or otherwise instructed by ATC. Then we proceed on the 310° radial descending to 3000' until reading 8.1 nm at the DME from FLO, then turn heading 282° for a smooth localizer interception (runway axis being 252°). With the official AIS-BRUSSELS approach chart and the combined help of OB NDB, BUB VOR right on the runway axis and IBL ILS, it is almost impossible to miss that approach in good weather and traffic conditions unless you do it on purpose.
> Ladies and gentlemen this is the captain speaking... we are just above Liege now and will reach Brussels terminal within twenty minutes, local temperature is five degrees with a little wind. In the name of Horizon Dreams and along with this aircraft crew I wish to thank you for your kind cooperation during this three weeks journey, we apologize for the delay encountered in the last stopover... No severe turbulence is expected here so should the landing be far less thrilling than in Jakarta - sorry for those who liked it !... Anyway keep your seatbelt fastened until we reach the gate and follow the last instructions of our cabin crew. Thanks for your attention and bye bye from the flight deck.
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 Localiser interception |
 We're on final forthe last time |
Welcome home
We reached pier B and shut down the faithful engines at 11:30 local, I didn't realise this adventure was really over.
In this journey we have travelled 26,838 nautical miles (49650 km or 31,030 miles) and counted 63 flying hours staggered over 25 days.
Man has not waited until the plane came through to start travelling, speed and distance being not the only parameters of a journey but I guess that if this one had actually taken place, it should have brought good memories to the passengers. Personally, I've found the approaches at Lhasa, Sydney, the Pacific and Kilimanjaro stopovers among the best moments. I've one little regret: we have not visited the Caribbean neither South America. The latter is the part of the world were I fly the less often. I'm then already thinking about another trip of that kind that could focus more on that continent, and visit other famous places that were 'forgotten' in this one. I hope then this is not my first and last virtual world tour. If there is a second one, it could take place a few months from now (or later if I choose to wait for the next coming version of FS) and the type of aircraft that would be used is still unknown. It could be a smaller, even very smaller type. Anyway, after such a flight, the only thing I'm thinking about in flightsimming is to do it again.
The software used for this trip report is detailed below. Documents were Jeppesen aeronautical charts (detailed above), some SID/STAR, approach plates and airport diagrams, technical data of the 767-400, FS2002 scenery add-ons, FS2002 database ; world atlas, popular scientific books, travel magazines, time zones and a good French-English dictionary!
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002 Professional Edition FR
FS2002 utilities
FSUIPC 2.91 by Pete Dowson (FSUIPC.ZIP)
Navigation Data 1.3 flight planner by Tony D'Ambrosio (ND2K_13.ZIP)
ND2FS NavData to FS2002 flight plan converter by Ernie Alston
Traffic Tools V1.2 by Lee Swordy (TTOOLS12.ZIP)
AFCAD V1.2.2 by Lee Swordy (AFCAD122.ZIP)
FS2002 aircraft
Horizon Dreams Airlines VA Boeing 767-400ER , designed by Camil Valiquette, repainted by me (HZD764.ZIP)
FS2002 aircraft used for AI traffic other than default
SN Brussels Airlines Avro RJ85 by Marco Gabbanini, original model by Mike Stone
SN Brussels Airlines Airbus A330-300 by Project Opensky
Virgin Express Boeing 737-400 (textures for default 737) by Ross Killin
FS2002 panel
Top Avionics Boeing 777 panel replacement by Chit Lau (TA777MD.ZIP)
FS2002 replacement textures
Real Cumulus Clouds by FSW Group, Chris Willis, Oren Cohen, Jure Dolanec, Akio
Tsukuma (RCMLUSP1.ZIP)
FS2002 replacement generic night textures including night roads V1.0 by FSW Group, Chris Willis (FSGNIGHT.ZIP,
FSGNIGHF.ZIP)
FS2002 replacement runways/aircraft lights V1.0 by FSW Group, Chris Willis (LIGHTS.ZIP)
FS2002 replacement sun V1.0 by FSW Group, Chris Willis (SUN2K2.ZIP)
FS2002 freeware scenery add-ons
Honolulu international airport by Bill Melichar (HONO2F.ZIP)
Honololu Intl static aircraft by Bill Melichar (HONOSTAT.ZIP)
Tahiti international airport and sea plane base by Bill Melichar (TAHISEA.ZIP)
Nadi international airport by Bill Melichar (NADI.ZIP)
Sydney Kingsford Smith Intl by Clive Marriott and Greg Archer (KINGSFOR.ZIP)
Tibet scenery V7.2 by Uranusjay - Jan Martin (TIBET_72.ZIP)
EBBR Brussels National airport scenery by Robert Buysen (EBBR2002.ZIP)
FS2000 commercial scenery add-on
Polynesia 2000 by FlightWorld
FS98 freeware scenery add-on
Malives 98 scenery V2.1 by Daniel Zenker (MALDIV21.ZIP)
FS2002 airport gates - AFCAD files
EBBR gates for Robert Buysen's scenery, by Jan Van Ooteghem (EBBR-JVO.ZIP)
FS2002 AI flight plans
SN Brussels Airlines AI flight plans (summer 2002) by Ben Laenen (BFPSNS2.ZIP)
Virgin Express AI flight plans (winter 01/02) by Amedee Vermeire (FPLVEX.ZIP)
Many thanks go to all these people for their quality add-ons and in particular to Ernie Alston whom flight plan converter has provided a precious help.
I hope that you have enjoyed reading this article as much as I enjoyed making it. Any comments, critics or questions concerning this review are welcome.
Cedric De Keyser
cdk@ngi.be
