Harar Meda Airbase

The military airbase and aviation academy a few kilometres southeast of Debre Zeit. It is not a tourist site — entry is restricted — but the airbase explains much of the town's character. Ethiopia's air force, search-and-rescue helicopter fleet, and pilot training school are all here, and the steady drone of training flights overhead is a constant in Debre Zeit life.

The civilian side, Harar Meda Airport, occasionally handles charter flights. For travellers it is mostly a landmark on the way in or out — the airfield perimeter runs along the road south toward Mojo.

things to do sight history
A story
Debre Zeit became Ethiopia's principal air base in the 1940s because the high, dry plain south of the town was the most suitable airfield site near Addis. The Imperial Ethiopian Air Force trained here from 1947; Israeli instructors ran the first pilot programmes and helped lay out the original runways.

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