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Bruges and Ghent (EBOS)

Reading recent post on EuroGA about Oostende EBOS, my wife and I decided it was time to visit Bruges/Brugge which has been on our wish list since we watched famous movie many years ago. Although we planned visit over the weekend, due to some family obligations we had to postpone departure for Sunday but luckily, we had ability to extend our stay until Wednesday.
Arriving out of Schengen in order to speed up immigration control, Oostende required us to send Gendec which we did a day before our departure. Forecasted enroute weather was mainly ok except some buildups in the Alps region. I was considering two routes (small difference in distance) and the choice was made two hours before actual departure based on most recent weather situation and forecast.

Although the second one looked better at GFS picture, I chose the first one because actual weather and short time radar images forecast were more promising for this route. In flight evaluation and observing the weather showed that decision was good. Of course, some avoiding was needed and we were just in time to pass before serious buildups developed over the Alps. ATC was cooperative both in terms of approving diversions and straightening our path regardless a lot of traffic in Munich and Frankfurt area and other pilots’ requests for avoiding weather. ADL help with strategic avoidance was great and it improves once’s ability to estimate what can be expected when comparing images with what you can see outside.


The flight itself lasted some 3:55 with headwind most of the time, ranging from 5 to 20 kts with average around 10 which was pretty consistent with forecast. As forecasted, on landing we had some low clouds with occasional clear areas and BKN010, showers and 10 kts of crosswind during ILS approach to RW08.

ForeFlight’s tracklog feature is interesting for postflight analysis and it’s pretty accurate in drawing your route all the way to final stop at apron.

After landing we refueled the aircraft and we were picked by NSAC (FBO) and driven to security check because we had to go to the main terminal building for immigration control due to out of Schengen arrival. After the formalities we exited main building and got to bus number 6 to Oostende. We didn’t have small euro bills or coins so driver let’s us on a ride for free – nice welcome by De Lijn. The train ride from Oostende station to Bruges was some 10 min and we used this time to book the accommodation as we usually do that after landing.

Bruges is really scenic city and a real gem for the architecture lovers. The inner circle is approximately 2 km in diameter which means you can easily walk across whole old city in 30 min. However, huge network of small streets, canals and bridges give you the opportunity to explore city for many hours. Depending on preferences, you can choose to visit one of many museums which range from featuring beer, lace and other local products to famous painters. Visiting few famous churches (Cathedral, Church of Our Lady and Basilica of Holy Blood) regardless (non)religious orientation and climbing Belfry are not to be missed.




Since we were first time in the region and we had time until Wednesday, we decided to make a daily trip on Tuesday to Ghent. Although there are similarities in architecture, comparing to Bruges, at first glance you can see that Ghent is much bigger and more vibrant city.



The city prepares itself for the biggest street festival in Europe expecting over 2 million visitors over 10 days. Unfortunately, we’ll miss it because it’s starting this weekend. From all museums, churches, buildings and attractions, I would highlight Gravensteen – a 10th century castle which offers interesting tour with funny audio guide and nice panoramic view of Ghent.

Initially we planned our departure on return flight for late afternoon but the weather forecast didn’t look promising for crossing the Alps – frequent TCU and CB including thunderstorms were forecasted for Salzburg, Klagenfurt and Graz regions and the mountains between them after 14:00 UTC. So we were supposed to depart latest at 11:00 UTC to arrive before buildups caused us big detour. After breakfast we went for last walk through Bruges bought some presents and caught train to Oostende and then bus to the airport, everything on schedule, allowing us to be at airport at 12:30 local time (10:30 UTC).

After quick passing security and immigration checks, NSAC transferred us to their facility to settle the bill (€90 for landing, 3 days parking and fuel surcharge, VAT included). Everything was smooth and fast so we complied with our filed EOBT which was 11:15 UTC.

After departure we were immediately cleared to MACKEL and climb to FL170 followed by other few directs straightening our flight path. We were constantly accompanied by tailwind up to 25 kts, averaging 15 kts as forecasted.

On half way home our ground speed peeked to 200 kts while most of the time was 190+ kts.

To ensure interesting flight, series of avoiding started just as hitting the Alps. Again, nice service from Munich and Vienna ATC allowing us to circumvent all bad stuff which grew up as expected or even higher but still not blocking our way completely.

Tailwind significantly shortened our flight time comparing to outbound flight (3:25 vs 3:55) with same engine settings and fuel consumption while zero wind time would be around 3:45.

LDZA LDVA, Croatia

Excellent trip report Emir.
That’s a fairly long trip, and longer than most of my trips.
Another 25 mins flight time outbound and you would have been in my area.
Despite being fairly local, I’ve never made it to Bruges. It has been planned and cancelled many times.

United Kingdom

Nice trip !
Your wife agrees to fly for hours with canulas ? You must be among the happy (very) few !

LFOU, France

Your wife agrees to fly for hours with canulas ?

We’ll probably all end up with cannulas in one point in our lives, so better to get used

Seriously, I don’t see why would anyone have problem using cannula – supplemental oxygen brings so much safety to flying non-pressurized aircraft in weather avoidance that anyone considering risks in GA flying should gladly use it when needed. My O2 tank is always full and I’m ready to use it on practically every flight.

That’s a fairly long trip

Not the longest leg I did (which was over 6 hours) and not the longest trip I made in one day (over 9 hours in 2 legs with 30 min refueling break). All of these were with (sleeping) wife on board

I usually plan flight for up to 5 hours, allowing it to extend to 6 in case of heavy headwind keeping enough reserve fuel and few landing options.

Last Edited by Emir at 19 Jul 04:41
LDZA LDVA, Croatia

Great trip report!

We’ll probably all end up with cannulas in one point in our lives, so better to get used

Hopefully not if you eat mostly veg

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Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom
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