LAVEX 2007 Tripoli Mitiga Air Force Base, Libya.

[Stephen.C.Borg]

This year I had the opportunity to attend to LAVEX 2007, the third Libyan Aviation Exhibition which was held at Mitiga Air Base in Libya's capital Tripoli. The show was a good one with the Libyan Air Force flying the nice Mig-23s, Mig-21UB, SF260W Warrior, Mil Mi-8, Mil Mi-14. The next LAVEX will be held in 2009. Meanwhile here are some pictures I managed to take at LAVEX.

http://planepictures.net/netshow.php?id=691875" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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[PIK Flyer]

Some nice shots of very rare aircraft there.

How was the show? Was it open to the public or trade only? There seem to be no crowds in any of the shots. What was security and photography like?

Its not normally one of the places you think of for photographing aircraft but it looks very tempting for 2009!

[Polecat]

Well done, excellent pics!!
I can imagine the excitement, must be like the first time we shot Russian MiG-25's in GDR back in the early nineties.....
Did you watch the arrivals and departures of the a/c as well?

[Stephen.C.Borg]

Yes I must admit it was really exiting to see all those aircraft especially the Mig-25 in Libyan Air Force markings and also be able to see Libyan Mig-21, Mig 23s, Su-22, Mil-14, Mil-25 and SF-260s flying. The opportunities for photography where quite good and there was no restriction on photography what so ever, the Airshow organizers and the Military where very friendly and helpful. Unfortunately it is a bit of a problem to be able to make pictures of arriving and departing air show aircraft because the runway is some distance away and it is almost all the time with the sun in front of you so it is a bit of a problem to make good pictures, on the other hand the display was quite near to the static display line and there where good opportunities to capture the helicopters doing their display. I was really satisfied with the participation and with the organization.

http://planepictures.net/netshow.php?id=691118" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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[patrick dirksen]

Some very nice shots indeed! One thing: yuo have to change the date on the first three, as I'm quite sure you can't travel in time....
Was the show open for public, and was everybody able to make those shots? Or did yuo have an invitation of some kind? Indeed very tempting if it is held again next year (or whenever....)!!

[Stephen.C.Borg]

Thank you first of all. No I had no special permit to take pictures at LAVEX 2007. The air show was open all three days for the general public and I managed to make those shots in those three days, as I said before the military and the organizers where ok with photography no problem at all.

[voodoo]

Hi Stephen,

I have not seen you at Mitiga AFB, I was there too. You have also visit the Mig23 & Mig-27 flightline, great. Un Sunday two LAAF SU-24 were making two overshoots. To get the visa in Brussel was very hard, did you had the same problem?

[cis]

Hi Voodoo,

Can you post your pictures of the 2 Su-24s ??

These are very rare planes, before LAVEX this year no pictures were known about these very nice aircraft...

I hope you can post them.

[Stephen.C.Borg]

No I did not have any problem with the Libyan Visa at all, I filled in a form with two passport photos and took it to the Libyan Embassy, then after two weeks they asked me for my passport so that they can apply the visa to my passport and after a further two days it was ready and it has a valid window of 45 days from the date of issue. As regards those SU-24 it would have been really nice having the opportunity to see them flying but unfortunately I arrived in Libya on Monday 29 th October and was at Mitiga Air Base in the afternoon.