US Pilots Give 1st Description of Libya Air Attack

AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy (AP) — U.S. fighter jet pilots say teamwork with coalition partners has minimized the threat from anti-aircraft weaponry of forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi's regime.

Reporters were allowed by U.S. military officials to interview some of the pilots and other crew based at Aviano, in northeast Italy, where F-16s have taken off for night missions over Libya earlier in the week. They are the first accounts of their sorties in the U.S.-led airstrikes.

Air Force Capt. Ryan Thulin, an F-16 pilot, recalled on Friday how even with night goggles the desert sky over Libya was so dark only the towns below were visible.

The 28-year-old Thulin, from Michigan, has flown some 800 sorties.