Hi all,

Trying to plan a day trip to Belgium but can't work out what would be the best field to fly to. I would like an upper limit of about 90 mins flying each way from Elstree in a PA28 (about a 150nm) and somewhere we can grab a decent lunch.

Any suggestions much appreciated,

J:ok:

Only been to Belgium once, and that was to Charleroi. Very pleasant airport - friendly staff, friendly ATC, GA welcome (no landing fees), etc. I think it might just about make your 90 minutes, but it may be slightly over - not sure without getting the charts out and measuring.

Unfortunately, didn't have time to look around or head into Brussels itself - but Brussels is only 30 miles away, so easy to get transport I would imagine.

Only complaint was having to wait a while for fuel while the fuellers were off filling up the RyanAir flight.

FFF
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Plenty of airfields in Belgium where you can eat on the airfield,
In the West of the country you can go to Kortrijk/Wevelgem (EBKT), Ostend (EBOS) or Saint-Ghislain (EBSG).

Charleroi does charge landingfees, they only send the invoice later but there's not a real restaurant on the field I think. It is however a cheap airport (fees around 7 Euro for a C152)

Deing

Simple!

Fly to Oostende, where the landing fees are a little high by continental standards (about £20 for a SEL). This is more-than made up for by the 1 EUR bus fare into the town centre (every 5 minutes even on Sundays) and the enormous numbers of great restaurants, particularly in the main drag opposite the harbour.

PM if you want more details.

Ostend is a grea destination, big but friendly and pretty cheap, we went a few times last year and on one occassion stayed on a barge on one of the canals that has been made into floating hotel!

Ostend it is.


Thanks for the help.
J

I seem to recall from our Dawn to Dusk flight that aerial photography is banned in Belgium. Can anyone confirm that?

Aerial photography is banned in most countries from aircraft not registered there. The UK is no exception in this regard. Not something that is really enforced in civilised Europe - you would probably want to be more cautious elsewhere :D

Is it banned in France? When FFF & I were doing our research, we only found threats about what would happen if we got our cameras out in Belgium. We didn't venture anywhere more exotic; Skegness decided to close early.

Like 2Ds said.

I asked the European Commission if that "locally registered aircraft only" thing was appropriate, and got a long and tortuous answer that I think said "No, but we're too busy to worry about that right now."

I've never been warned about it, except for Belgium, but that may be an old urban myth that won't go away.

DON'T do it in Greece.