VFR through Belgium - Military airspace/danger zones
I am planning a VFR flight from London/UK to Frankfurt/Germany. The shortest routing would take me through Belgium and my planned routing through Belgium is roughly LEQ-GSY-TAU with slight deviations from the direct route to avoid the EBBR TMA.
My main questions are:
- I have read that Belgian ATC is generally quite helpful and open to light VFR aircraft crossing class C airspace. Would this also apply to the EBCI (Charleroi) TMA, especially at lower altitudes (say at 3000 MSL) given the expected lower cloud bases in autumn?
- There are many restricted and danger areas (EB-D, EB-R) and also TSAs/TRAs. Some of these areas are activated by NOTAM so it is possible to check their status beforehand. There are others that are not announced by NOTAM. How often are these areas generally active? Given the huge amount of restricted areas in the south of Belgium and the fact that a large portion of the remainder of the airspace are taken up by TMAs around EBCI, EBBR and EBLG, how does anyone manage any sensible flying?
I am therefore looking for advice about whether I should avoid Belgium altogether and take a more southern route through France which has much less restricted airspace.
For Belgium, is there any other good routing that someone can recommend?
Many thanks in advance!
Regards,
Wolfgang Bardorf