Flight to Ostend from White Waltham

[nick ritter]

Flight to Ostend from White Waltham

Weather permitting I hope to fly to Ostend this coming Saturday from White Waltham. The trip is purely for pleasure and will be my first flying experience in Belgium having only recently experienced Le Touquet and Deauville

I was looking to cross the channel from Dover to KONAN (where I would speak to Ostend approach?) and then continue direct to Koksy and Ostend

Any advice, suggestions and recommendations (especially for a nice lunch) would be much appreciated

Thanks in advance, Nick

[Molesworth 1]

I'm also planning to fly to Oostend in the next few weeks. Never done it before.

Apparently you can get to Brugges by catching a bus to the station and then a short train journey. The thing to do in Brugges (besides having lunch) is to walk around the canal area.

[Jan Olieslagers]

Koksyde AFB is not active in the weekends so no need to talk to them. The a/d is used by the local aeroclub in the weekends, they do A/G on the same frequency (122.10 I should think).

Contacting Ost APP should be done before entering their TMA, I should think?

As for lunch: there used to be a quite nice restaurant in the airport terminal, good view over the (generally VERY calm) apron, and not expensive. I haven't been there for several years, though. And indeed Ostend city is only a short bus ride away, and offers an overwhelming choice.
Depending on your interests, you might wish to visit the Ensor museum (in the artist's residence) or the Mercator sailing ship, if she's in.

HTH,

BTW where's KOTAN? Not mentioned in Belgian AIP...?

[Katamarino]

Hey Jan, I'll be down at EBGB this weekend; looking forward to visiting a lovely little airfield again! :ok:

[Pianorak]

For KOTAN presumably read KONAN, ie half-way point.

[Jan Olieslagers]

I'll be down at EBGB this weekend; looking forward to visiting a lovely little airfield again!
A nice place it is, mainly thanks to the lots of nice people around. I'd love it better still if they allowed ultralights so I needn't drive for close on one hour before taking off...
But if you come please DO be careful to respect procedures, nimby-ism is very bad down there and their permit is not perpetual. Also mind you p's and q's on the radio, there's some critical secondary listeners about };-)
Care to tell your reg?

[BackPacker]

Two things that might be useful to know:

a. The Koksijde CTR might also be active, but to a lower limit that's depicted on the chart. Obviously Ostende APP will know whether you need a clearance through or not.

b. When flying from Belgium to the UK, Ostende APP by default seems to arrange a "handover" to London Info (insofar a "handover" to an INFO frequency is possible). Who are happy to take your position report and will ask you to report coasting in over DVR. But Manston is actually able to provide a LARS service in this area as well. Next time I'm going to do the crossing I'm going to try Manston first, London Info second.

Furthermore, have you crossed considerable bodies of water before? There's an effect you need to know about, and have a strategy to deal with it. At FL45 or so, you will find that the grey-blue of the sky seamlessly blends into the blue-grey of the sea, leaving you without any horizon. Even (or maybe: particularly) in CAVOK weather.

The solution is to go on instruments or look straight down to see waves, boats and other stuff that will give you a clue as to your attitude. I happened to be in an aircraft with an autopilot and simply switched that on.

It's not particularly dangerous, but it is something that you need to think about beforehand. And if you find you really can't hold a proper attitude, TURN BACK and try again at a lower altitude. At a lower altitude the distance to the horizon is closer and this effect is less pronounced. But obviously you'll be out of gliding distance from land longer.

[nick ritter]

Thank you for this. I have crossed the channel but only a few times, the most recent from Seaford to Dieppe and then the return leg from Cherbourg to Bembridge which was flown around 4000. Thanks for the advice on trying a lower altitude should I have issues, which I had not heard before

[Jan Olieslagers]

The Koksijde CTR might also be active, but to a lower limit that's depicted on the chart

Any sources or references for this? I've never heard anything like this, not for EBFN neither for any other Belgian a/d. Belgian AIP is brief and clear: "GND-FL55" and that is that.

And, in my experience, Koksyde will very rarely be active during weekends - though of course, NOTAM's must always be consulted.

[BackPacker]

I was flying COA-KOKSY-DVR at 4500' and Ostende APP told me, when I asked about it, that the Koksijde CTR was active up to 3500'. So I could fly overhead at 4500' without any further clearance. (Other than the one I had for the Ostende TMA.)

[Katamarino]

Jan - PH-SVR, assuming it isn't Tech! I have visited once before, and know how important it is to obey the local rules; we'll be most careful! The DA40 TDi is, at least, fairly quiet :)

[Jan Olieslagers]

I was flying COA-KOKSY-DVR at 4500' and Ostende APP told me, when I asked about it, that the Koksijde CTR was active up to 3500'. So I could fly overhead at 4500' without any further clearance. (Other than the one I had for the Ostende TMA.)
A very queer story, this, very intriguing to me. Was this during normal EBFN operating hours? Any mention in the notam's? Were you offered any explanation?

[dirkdj]

DVR-KONAN-KOK is a good route. Talk to Ostend APP before entering their TMA at KONAN. They will know if EBFN is active, it may happen on weekends, I had a Seaking dropping paras from something like FL60, while I was at 4000ft on top of an overcast at 3000ft.

Give Ostend App a call on 120.60 well in advance, they are very helpful.

On DVR-KOK keep well to the centerline, French airspace is very close to the south. There is a SAR Seaking on standby at Koksijde airbase, these guys are very good, did my military service there.

As mentioned, you can have a fishbowl effect on hazy days where the sea and the sky seem to have the same colour and flying by instruments is needed.

[BackPacker]

Was this during normal EBFN operating hours? Any mention in the notam's? Were you offered any explanation?

This was on a Saturday morning. I did not check EBFN operating hours nor the specific NOTAMs for EBFN as I did not intend to land there. I was flying on the basis of it being active, and asking Ostend APP to arrange a transit for me. Plan B was to simply route around, picking up the KOK-DVR route a few miles offshore.

I did not ask, nor were given an explanation.

[Jan Olieslagers]

Thanks for info, BackPacker!

[outofsight]

EBFN Has a local flying club that is pretty busy at the weekend and also the military helicopters do still fly at the weekends. The local club does circuits at 900' and the overhead join is at 1,400 ft but you usually need to be a club member to go there.



If you are talking to Ostende approach you will have no problem.
From KONAN you can usually get direct to Ostende.

[easy307]

careful if cleared BIG - KOK ...

[nick ritter]

Thanks for the advice and help above – The weather was too bad for my proposed trip to Ostend Saturday so I took advantage for once of the conditions to start my IMC training before a flight to Perranporth in Cornwall on the Sunday. Weather permitting will use the above for a trip to Ostend in not too distant future

Thanks again, Nick

[Molesworth 1]

Nick

Don't know if you finally made it to Ostend. I did for the first time on Sunday - not from White Waltham but from Stapleford... in a Cessna 152.

If the weather forecasts were to believed I would have cancelled. It actually turned out not too bad. I decided on a direct route via Manston, KONAN and Koksy. Maybe not so wise in retrospect as few vessels for the rescue should one have been needed.

Manston informed me that they were not receiving my squawk. I changed to 7000 which they did get, then back to the issued code and nothing. SFCs maintenance regime is not exactly five star so I wasn't surprised. Still, fiddling around with the transponder was a distraction I didn't need and was a bit stressed by the time we had crossed the FIR boundary. The FIR boundary coincided almost exactly with a lower cloud base of about 2000 feet.

I contacted EBOS approach and was told to maintain 1800 feet. They said they had "radar contact" which seemed to imply the transponder was now working. I climbed to 2200 feet and was roundly trounced "You are in controlled airspace!" Oooo! I was instructed to follow the coast until I had the airfield in sight.

Instructed to descend to 1000 feet and join left downwind. Realising there were aircraft behind me I approached much too fast and flared too high (wide runway!). Also a fearsome crosswind.

After landing there was a severe shimmer on the nose wheel and I was afraid I had damaged it on landing. A fire engine was sent out and the crew cheerily checked the wheel as soon as I had vacated the runway. All seemed ok and I followed the little yellow car to the parking space.

They told us they would be back to fetch us within ten minutes - which they did. Very friendly too. Passports checked, we found the bus easily outside the very quiet terminal. One arrived almost immediately. About 20 minutes to the railway station (2 euros) and then aboard the train to Brugge. Very frequent and the journey 12 minutes (just over 4 euros return).

This left us with about three hours in Brugges. On the road up from the station there's a gentile cafe called "t'oost'. Not the fastest service, but then rushing in a place like that didn't feel right!

Brugges is a very walkable city and very pretty too.

We got back in good time for the flight back. Through security and passed on to the big C with a "have a nice flight!". At the big C (10 euros landing, 10 take off and 10 per passenger) I was told I had made a mistake in my flight plan and entered my destination as Ostend. Please will I ring ATC on the phone in the flight room.

ATC had no knowledge of any flight plan, correct or not correct. But no problem - you can file over the phone. Very helpful- this couldn't have taken more than a minute.

Take off on runway 26 - climb straight out to 2000 feet in the direction of Koksy.

Flight time out - 1:00. Return 1:25 (due to headwind)

A great trip and destination. Le Touquet is nice too but this is very different!

http://i446.photobucket.com/albums/qq182/DavidHoul52/DSCN6341.jpg

[nick ritter]

Molesworth, (http://www.pprune.org/members/294148-molesworth-1)

Thank you for the report above. I couldn’t make Ostend due to the weather the weekend I had pencilled in and on the following trip when the weather had turned we went to Perranporth due to issues at the time with my wife’s passport

It is a trip that I certainly hope to make shortly so appreciate the update on your experiences

Thanks again, Nick

[Pianorak]

Also a fearsome crosswind. . . . After landing there was a severe shimmer on the nose wheel . . .

According to my maintenance engineer strong crosswind can be one of the causes of nose wheel shimmy. But, of course, it's not the only one.

[Molesworth 1]

Pianorak

I later thought that might be the reason but I hadn't heard about this previously. Thanks!