Redhill to Bruges (via Ostend) in my PA28

The Flying Reporter takes a cross channel trip from Redhill to Bruges via Ostend with fellow pilot Tom McNicholas aka The Micro Pilot.
About me, FAQs, Flight Tracks, Newsletter;
www.jonhunt.net/
Facebook:
/ theflyingreporter
Tom's channel...The MicroPilot
/ @themicropilot
Here is Tom's video of our return flight
• Belgium to UK with The...
Mapping courtesy Skydemon:
www.skydemon.aero/

[@TheMicroPilot]

Was an absolute pleasure finally meeting you and flying with you. Was a fantastic day and look forward to possibly doing more stuff in the future, but till then, happy flying!

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Lovely having your on board Tom.

[@PlaneOldBen]

What a lovely trip, nice to see you and Tom flying together he’s a great guy!

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks Ben!

[@Sir_vAce]

Gotta love that West-Flamish accent of the ATC in Ostend ;)

[@WhiskeyAlphaPilot]

Fantastic video I'm doing exactly this flight in a couple of weeks. (but departing from Elstree) really helpful!

[@danharrodian]

By heck Jon, if it weren't for the numbers at the beginning I could have sworn you took-off from a taxi-way. Surely not? All the best at Redhill.

[@flyingweka]

Its the old C/D taxiway used during the winter months when the grass runways are water logged. It’s still unlicensed but it was recently widened and slightly straightened which makes it much more usable.

[@webmonkeyuk]

www.redhillaerodrome.com/pilot-information/runway-0725

[@danharrodian]

To anyone else who might want to inform... I know, it was a joke. A humerous quip... LOL. What's the emoji for satire?

[@flyingweka]

, I'll admit that went right over my head........... Doh!!!! :)

[@flyingphobiahelp]

Top notch! Based on how superbly you transitioned (change squawk, clearance, position reporting, routing etc) the multiple control zones WITHOUT hand offs speaks highly of your training and proficiency

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thank you Douglass.

[@DeadReckoner]

Another great video! It's nice to see you collaborating with yet another smaller channel, too :) I'll look forward to watching the Bosnia and Croatia trip. Maybe we could fly together, sometime!

[@drewtuley]

Another excellent and informative video Jon. I'm planning a similar trip to Ostend from Oxford in a couple of weeks and flying alongside you and Tom was really useful as a preflight. Looking forward to following you on you Balkan adventures.

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks Andrew

[@PrivatePilotFlightVlogs]

Great video I would love to do that trip this summer. 👍👍

[@TheFlyingReporter]

And you should. Nice, easy trip.

[@andydonaldson5593]

Looking forward to more of these European trips John. Nice work.

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks Andy.

[@JUSTYH82]

Brilliant video Jon, good to see you fly together, enjoy both channels :-) . Thanks for sharing.

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks JP.

[@julianpratt9616]

Another fantastic video Jon, absolutely loved it! Never done a channel crossing and that's going to change, brilliantly educational and inspiring! About to watch the return flight! All the best, Julian

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks Julian.

[@webmonkeyuk]

21:59 I believe it was DIK (in Luxembourg) that made him and chaps chuckle. KOK had me smirking too though :D

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Ah. Easy to mix up DIK and KOK.

[@orelia29]

Golf Fox Golf here. We were keeping a good lookout for you around Dover, but just couldn't see you below us. On reflection I think next time in such a situation I might also restate my heading, since with us heading due south I guess you could have safely climbed to your desired flight level within a mile or so. Thanks anyway for the video!

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Hi Robert. Thanks for the message. I'm sure I could have climbed, and we would have avoided each other, I'd worked out you were heading in a different direction from me, but sounded like you were right above me at that moment.

[@TheCaptain714]

Hi Jon, yet another interesting video. Brugge is indeed a gorgeous city on a sunny day. I was particularly interested in the Sky Demon shots you showed. Now that Foreflight is in Europe, I'm now studying both to see which to use when I eventually get re-licensed with an EASA license. The airprox was an interesting bit of film..both lucky, I wonder if the Citation pilot actually saw the micro-light. Had a similar incident once, whilst on short final with a C182....a C172 flew over the top by a few feet..needless to say, with only one way to go (down) and with only about 300 feet of air left..it was kind of tense for a few moments...

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks Steve. It'll be interesting to see how Foreflight goes over here.

[@mickeydefrance]

Nice flight John.:)

[@Petertronic]

I enjoyed this interesting flight!

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks for watching.

[@tommasopoletto1324]

i have my planning ready to go to oostende tomorrow for a full day there but unfortunately the weather will not be good ;( still hoping until the last moment! anyway great video !!

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Hope you get there soon!

[@theflyingfool]

A great video Jon!

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks Steve.

[@davidhorobin1060]

Most enjoyable - thank you. A trip I've done myself a few times. Would you like to do it again, IFR, FL90, in my Robin?

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Of course David!!

[@forfengeligfaen]

Nice job 😀

[@LeeRussell]

Great video Jon. Very informative.

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks Lee!

[@flybe146]

Fantastic video Jon, thoroughly enjoyed it, I have subscribed to the boys channel as well - awesome stuff.

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Cheers David.

[@PrivatePilotFlightVlogs]

Looked like a taxi way you took off on at Redhill!

[@TheFlyingReporter]

And it sort of is, a taxiway really.

[@davejones542]

I think the problem with TEMVO and other triangular waypoints you have showing in skydemon is those are more traditionally IFR waypoints, not VFR. Great video by the way!

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks Dave. London Info should be able to see them. I didn't help that I spelt it wrong initially. I think they were looking for a waypoint at the FIR boundary.

[@Mark-rv5dd]

My goodness ! I cannot believe my eyes! An iPad on the left yoke? No! Impossible! :)))

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Now I've shelled out for a mini... Yes. So much better.

[@flyingweka]

Wow!! That AirProx was scary. Kudos to the instructor for the evasive action that jet was virtually invisible on the horizon. You mentioned in your report that the micro light didn’t appear on the jets collision avoidance system, Is this because the Microlight does not have a mode C transponder (or does it?) or for some other reason?

[@TheFlyingReporter]

The micro was transponding, hence why the board was perplexed.

[@paulwhitear4983]

Nice video. Do you please the aircraft.

[@SteveCox72]

Brilliant video, first time I’ve watched a transit from uk space, does the iPad sun reflection cause you problems now you’ve got the mini on your yolk?

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks. Haven't noticed a problem.

[@davejones542]

other than PPR and filing filigt plan and UK GAR form to leave UK, to fly to belgium do you need to file anything with Belgium ahead of the flight as a matter of interest - never been ..

[@TheFlyingReporter]

I don't think Ostend wanted anything (best check their aip) but I emailed them out of courtesy, and also emailed the calais customs and the airport of my intention to list them as a divert, with pax details.

[@geoffreycoan]

Unfortunately there is another wrinkle with flying in Belgium that’s important to highlight. As you fly an EASA aircraft it doesn’t apply, but for permit aircraft, unless they are home built, you have to have a permit to fly in Belgium’s airspace and the permit costs E100. Details of the different country regulations is on the LAA website www.lightaircraftassociation.co.uk/engineering/TechnicalLeaflets/Operating%20An%20Aircraft/TL%202.08%20Travelling%20abroad%20in%20a%20Permit%20Aircraft.pdf I’ve just returned from flying my factory built microlight to Germany and had to fly down through France and then up through Luxembourg to avoid Belgium. Added about an hour’s extra flying but cheaper than the permit. Belgium revoked the permit requirement for home built permit aircraft last year so hope they will do the same for factory built.

[@alexandervasyliev766]

Is there any specific actions about flight plan/booking when it goes for country borders? Do you need any special call or sort of request?

[@TheFlyingReporter]

If I understand your question, no, just a flight plan...Although you might need to inform customs in advance. Check the airport's AIP.

[@alexandervasyliev766]

thank you!

[@michaelmiklosofficial]

No auto pilot that's real flying

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Indeed.

[@patricepnc]

Great, didnt he ask you to descend to 3000 instead of 2000 when passing kok .?

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks. No. 2000ft.

[@davejones542]

what are the landing fees at Ostend

[@TheFlyingReporter]

About €40 if my memory serves me correctly.

[@BlueLineSpeed]

I'm curious why you report 3300ft to London when your altimeter indicated 3500ft. The same again early in the video you report 2100ft to LGW when indicating 2300ft. Were you mentally calculating altitude whilst using standard pressure or what was the reasoning? Thanks for posting another interesting video. Fly safe.

[@manuelbonet]

BlueLineSpeed It could be parallax error, although I'm not sure

[@TheFlyingReporter]

I was on the London QNH (set in altimeter 1) because I don't want to bust the London TMA. I was given the regional pressure setting for Chatham by London information (which was put in Altimeter 2 (out of view)). When asked my altitude, I reported my altitude to London INFO on the chatham QNH, while keeping the London QNH in plain sight in front of me, to avoid busting the controlled airspace. Hopefully makes sense.

[@forfengeligfaen]

10:03 is the transition altitude is in the text pages for the airport you're flying from?

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Sometimes, yes. Certainly on IFR charts, if the aerodrome is IFR.

[@MartynWright1604]

Hi, what device do you use to fix your iPad to the yoke? Looks like it might be quite useful.

[@TheFlyingReporter]

This is one of my FAQs, although I have recently changed to an ipad mini mount...www.jonhunt.net/faq/

[@davejones542]

why did you go via kok instead of direct - was it to minimise time over water (and sorry for the questions) - very interested!

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Restricted airspace West of Ostend.

[@davejones542]

Thanks I wondered about that - however I thought @18:49 the controller gave you "proceed direct from Konan to field" which implied you could fly through that airspace ?

[@TheFlyingReporter]

I did wonder that, but the airspace was definitely hot. And it was notified as a mandatory avoid, you couldn't be cleared through it by Ostend.

[@neomatrix3612]

Request permission to enter KOK. Good vid.

[@davejones542]

do you share your skydemon logs as a matter of interest ?

[@TheFlyingReporter]

They're on the flight tracks page of my website.... www.jonhunt.net

[@forfengeligfaen]

Matt Guthmiller and JP went to DIK not KOK 😂

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Really? I thought it was KOK. That's me corrected!

[@forfengeligfaen]

It's only 152 nm from DIK to KOK though 😂