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PAF Memories: Stranded in Tripoli

Imran Khan

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Stranded in Tripoli
By S.m. Hali | Published: August 31, 2011


The media is saturated with news from Libya, where the so-called Arab Spring has finally overtaken the Middle East’s longest ruling ruler. However, this article is not about the current events, but my personal experience of 1976 while transiting as a PAF aircrew on C-130 aircraft.
The PAF flights to Europe and USA found it expedient to stage through Libya, since we had a contingent of deputationists, who would host us graciously. My previous visits to Okba Ben Nafi - the Libyan Air Force base near Tripoli - were uneventful. The transit flights through Libya were stopped in 1975, because of the maltreatment of PAF personnel posted there, and instead Malta was selected as a tran-sit/overnight stopover for the aircraft.

On this fateful flight in 1976, en route from Jeddah to Malta, our aircraft developed a technical problem and we were forced to make an emergency landing at the alternative airfield, Tripoli. We were informed that the aircraft was not permitted to land at Okba, but were made to land at Tripoli’s international airport. After landing, we contacted the senior officer of the PAF contingent, deputed to Libya, to make the arrangements for our stay. An inspection of the aircraft revealed that a component required change, which would have to be flown in from Pakistan by the next PIA flight, which was three days away. Further we were informed that due to a trade fair at Tripoli, no hotel accommodation was available and we would have to stay at the base. Now, we had no option, but to proceed on the gruelling two and half hour drive from the airport to the airbase. On reaching it, we put our luggage in the rooms allotted to us in the Officers’ Mess, while the airmen aircrew proceeded to the Sergeants’ Mess.

The contingent commander, a senior PAF Group Captain, at Okba, had asked us to come directly to his house for dinner. We reached his residence and as soon as we had commenced dinner, there was a loud banging on the door accompanied by the wailing of police sirens. Our host rushed out and soon returned with a group of Libyan air force police personnel, brandishing Sten guns, and shouting: “Where are the infiltrators?” Our exasperated host tried to explain that there were no infiltrators, except the visiting aircrew from the PAF, who had been permitted to stay at the base by the Libyan Air Chief, Colonel Farjani. But the police guards said that they did not know Farjani, and permission should have been obtained from Lieutenant Tantawi, the base security officer.
We were marched at gunpoint to the guardroom, where we were supposed to be locked up. Our airmen aircrew had also been rounded up and brought to serve the same fate. The officers comprised two Senior Wing Commanders, who had served in Libya on deputation, two Flight Lieutenants and one Flying Officer. The senior PAF officer tried his best to save us from the ignominy of being locked up, but the Libyan police was adamant. That is when I noticed a Libyan officer, who had been my student as a cadet in PAF Academy Risalpur, passing by. I hailed Lieutenant Razzaq, who immediately rushed to me and after embracing me, wanted to know what the matter was? It turned out that he was a member of the powerful Revolutionary Council Committee and ordered the Libyan police to set us free. The compromise was that we would not re-enter the base. Thanking him profoundly, we realised that we had nowhere to go. A PAF officer on deputation to Libya offered us stay at his flat in a civilian area of Tripoli, which had been allotted to him, but his family had not arrived yet. We reached there hungry and tired and disgusted with the events, since the flat had not been used for over a year and was dusty and dirty, but it was better than spending time in jail.

Our ordeal lasted another three days and we remained stranded in a friendly country, which had unpredictably decided to turn hostile. Once the requisite C-130 component reached by the PIA, our aircraft was repaired, and we were able to take off promising to never set foot in Libya again. Only a year after this incident, a Libyan officer misbehaved with a PAF officer that turned into a serious altercation, and all PAF deputationists to Libya were withdrawn. So much for our Libyan allies!

http://nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-...nions/Columns/31-Aug-2011/Stranded-in-Tripoli
 
Oh man not good they shuld respect officers and they had no other choice but to land there

off topic but still what will happen if an paf or iaf aircraft has to make an emergency landing in india or pak
 
Oh man not good they shuld respect officers and they had no other choice but to land there

off topic but still what will happen if an paf or iaf aircraft has to make an emergency landing in india or pak

no problem dear if its emergency they can land in each other country and professional air forces officials are not like our defence.pk members :lol:
 
no problem dear if its emergency they can land in each other country and professional air forces officials are not like our defence.pk members :lol:

hahaha well true indeed but i pray that none of our brave men see an emergency landing situation
 
now where Libyan air force on earth ? they was really unthankful idiots.
 
It was only 5 years since we lost B 1971, I can understand PAF Crew; frustration at not being able to do anything.

It’s about time we Rename Gaddafi Stadium To something more Reasonable*

:sniper:
 
Oh man not good they shuld respect officers and they had no other choice but to land there

off topic but still what will happen if an paf or iaf aircraft has to make an emergency landing in india or pak

It's nearly impossible to face a situation like this. AirIndia or PIA can land. NOT PAF or IAF cause they cannot fly over others, except for the fact they are on a planned routine. If they fly close to border and need a emergancy landing, there are Air bases present on both sides, hence the plane would chose its own Air base.

F-18 in Emergency

Early one morning, I got a call from the air traffic controller that a US Navy F-18 with a serious emergency was coming in to land at Shahbaz. His wingman was with him. The controller told me that the visibility was very bad and it had been conveyed to the pilots. A more serious issue was that both the aircraft were armed with 4,000 lbs of bombs each, as they were on a bombing mission to Afghanistan. I drove down to the de-arming area to quickly evacuate personnel, if any. There I met a USAF Warrant Officer who rechecked about the local de-arming procedure with me. I asked him where were other technical personnel, to which he replied that he, along with another technician, would take care of everything. “Has Col McCain been informed?” I asked. “Sir, I am not sure, but he need not be here. I am the Airfield Safety Officer and can handle such stuff.” After a few minutes the two F-18’s landed and taxied to where we stood. The Warrant Officer steadily went ahead, supervised insertion of the safety pins in the bombs by the armament technician and gave a thumbs up to the two F-18s to taxi back to the main tarmac. As the taxiway was blocked at the other end by PAF Mirages, the only option for the F-18s was to switch off, as a U-turn on the narrow taxi track was not possible. To my utter surprise, I saw the wings of the aircraft fold 90° up and they did the U-turns as ordinary vehicles would do on the road! As the aircraft taxied in front of me, I saw that the canopy of one F-18 had been shattered and large panels near the side and front of the cockpit were missing. I later learnt that the aircraft had a nasty scrape with the refuelling probe of an aerial refueller. The stricken aircraft switched off on the tarmac while the other F-18 did a ‘hot-refuelling’ (with engines running) and, in a matter of minutes, took off alone for a recovery on its aircraft carrier.

Back in office, I called McCain to check if he knew about the emergency. “Yes, they called me,” he replied. He understood my concern and added, “I am a C-130 guy, and I bet I would have messed up things if I’d been there. I am sure the safety officer did a good job. He is trained for it.” In the handling of this emergency, I was struck by the confidence every supervisor had in himself as well as his sub-ordinates. Authority had been duly delegated and there was no interference by the higher-ups, whatsoever. A JCO and a couple of NCOs had handled a very serious emergency with remarkable ease.
 
There are other interesting stories of our brotherly Muslim Nation which were kept from the knowledge of the general public that would have amazed everyone how our Libyan brothers treated Pakistani civilians and military personnel residing in Libya. These events are detailed in Ambassador Shahid Amins' book. He was posted as ambassador to Libya.
 
It was only 5 years since we lost B 1971, I can understand PAF Crew; frustration at not being able to do anything.

It’s about time we Rename Gaddafi Stadium To something more Reasonable*

:sniper:

We should name the stadium Omar Mukhtar stadium. After all it was build by Libyan money, and thus we can still honor them this way.
 
no problem dear if its emergency they can land in each other country and professional air forces officials are not like our defence.pk members :lol:


hahahah ................true..............they are professional peoples..will allow to land each other's planes in case of emergency.....
but question is which plane..............commercial or fighter planes..........if fighter...........what it was doing inside of other country's territories.
 
Now I have no doubt that this Libyan govt. is mad.

Good thing the PAF walked out of there. You would think that being under sanctions they would value thiei friends.
 
There are other interesting stories of our brotherly Muslim Nation which were kept from the knowledge of the general public that would have amazed everyone how our Libyan brothers treated Pakistani civilians and military personnel residing in Libya. These events are detailed in Ambassador Shahid Amins' book. He was posted as ambassador to Libya.

what is the books name sir?
 
There are other interesting stories of our brotherly Muslim Nation which were kept from the knowledge of the general public that would have amazed everyone how our Libyan brothers treated Pakistani civilians and military personnel residing in Libya. These events are detailed in Ambassador Shahid Amins' book. He was posted as ambassador to Libya.


and why have we named the Lahore Stadium after Moamer Gadhafi?


Arghhhh.....
 
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