A serious note of caution. A friend wants you to fly him to Ostend. Is he going for business or pleasure? How vital is it he gets there? You are rightly cautious about the trip and have started asking good questions. If on the day you are not happy due to the weather or the aircraft is he going to start pressuring you to go no matter what? I earn my living as a corporate helicopter/aeroplane pilot and believe me when you tell a customer its a no go the pressure really can come on, I'm lucky I have a P2, ops department and company backing up my decisions.
Also are you sharing costs, or is he paying the full whack? If the latter then you will probably find you are not insured, and the flight is illegal anyway.
A first trip like this is best done in your own time with no pressure from anyone else, believe me,if things start going wrong the extra pressure from a passenger ignorant of your workload is horrendous. Make him fully aware from now that in the event of the weather or anything else being a bust then you won't be going.
Other than that Ostend is a lovely place and a favourite nightstop amongst our pilots and cabin crew.
SND