Eastern 2017

The outlook for Eastern 2017 is great. We’ve been putting plan together for a VFR fly out to Spain.

– April 7, Orleans

– April 8-9 Ile d’Yeu
– April 10-11, San Sebastian
– April 12-13, Sabadell
– April 14-17, Fayence

I hoped to be able to fly this route in a Cessna R182RG. It turned out differently and now we’re flying this route into a Cessna 172SP. We’ll have some more sightseeing to enjoy.

Some 25-30 hours flying time is scheduled for this flying adventure. Hopefully the weather will be nice, one never knows

scheduled Eastern 2017 flying route

Details to follow

Early morning flight to Gouzy Sedan in France

This weekend, it was a sunny one. All planes in the Luxembourg club were booked, But I managed to secure a plane early Sunday morning at 08.30 am. My 7 year old son joined me enthusiastically as always and so we took off an headed to a place I never been to before, the airfield of Gouzy Sedan. We did not fly on a direct route, we first flew over our own house, but the rest of the family was still in bed….

Gouzy Sedan


we flew with a Cessna 172S , the LX-AIE. Our flight took some 45 minutes. We made a quick landing at the airfield…but no action or mouvement whatsoever at this early hour. Shortly afterwards we returned on a direct flight back to Luxembourg. There was some incoming traffic (Ryanair, Lufthansa) and so we  had to make some 360’s over the Bravao waypoint, but the friendly controller arranged us a quick landing. My son loves this kind of little trips. We’ll likely repeat it to another destination.


2017 first sign of spring

At the end of each winter, I perform my annual checkout as a private pilot and fly with examinator Michel Notelaers to renew my bi-annual SEP rating. I further pay my annual club fees to my Belgian and my Luxembourg flying club. Finally, I renew my medical certification. All of this happens between X-mas and the end of February. I do so since many, many years. Also in wintertime, we make some plans for the upcoming flying season. This year hasn’t been different.

After a dark, rainy and cold winter, there’s always, every year again a weekend with bright weather and temperatures going over 15 degrees Celcius. You never know when it happens, but it happens every year. This year, that very special date in my pilots life was March 12th, 2017.

Lucky for me, I booked already a while ago a C172SP in my Belgian club from 10.30 am till 1.30 pm for this Sunday, without knowing that we’d have such a bright and pleasant weather. My friend, with whom I travelled two years ago to the US, Ludo Holtappels called me some days ago asking if he could join. My younger brother Marc called as well and so we ended up with a party of three on this particular Sunday.

We decided to fly from Genk Zwartberg in Belgium to Midden Zeeland at the Dutch coast and planned to have lunch there.

I used the flightplan submitting feature of Skydemon to file a flightplan, seems to work very well. Great. After take off in Zwartberg, we crossed the CTR (control zone) of the military basis of Kleine Brogel (not active in weekends) and flew over the old coal mine of Beringen, some at 1500 feet (some 500 meter above ground) and enjoyed the flemish landscape

former coal mine of Beringen

The road is quite easy as one simply has to fly west of the Albert canal connecting Liège and Antwerpen, that’s exactly what we did.

Albertcanal
We’ve flying over the radionavigation beacon of Bruno and shortly afterward we got Antwerpen in sight. This is a control zone, so we called them by radio and asked for a crossing clearance. That was approved and so we were flying directly of the city center of Antwerpen

Airfield of Antwerpen in sight
the city center of Antwerp

After Antwerpen, we flew over the mouth of the river Scheldt and enjoyed SCENIC views which all three of us onboard enjoyed a lot. Amazing.

mouth of Schelde
silting up
mounth of Scheldt on the map

more silting up
Cargo ship approaching Antwerpen
Landing at Midden Zeeland was easy. Our flight took less than an hour. My brother Marc was very happy he joined 

Picture with my brother Marc

We enjoyed a small dutch lunch at the cozzy bar restaurant of Midden Zeeland whilst talking about planes and dreams. That’s what I enjoy about being a pilot. 

bar and restaurant wit terrace at Midden Zeeland airfield
 After lunch, we took off again heading back to Genk Zwartberg and followed the same route. No need to take additional pictures. All by all, a very nice first spring day. That’s the way I like it. 

motorflying schedule 2017 is promising

LUXEMBOURG MOTORFLYING schedule 2017

Nr
Date
Name activity
Organized by
Responsible organization
1
20/01
New Year’s drink offered by the President
Aviasport
Aviasport
2
04/02
Safety seminar
UPL-AOPA
Birgen/Kremer
3
11/02
General Assembly
UPL-AOPA
Birgen/Kremer
4
10/03
General Assembly
Aviasport
Aviasport
5
08/04
Season opening: Fly-out Freiburg
Aviasport
Paul Hengen
6
07/04- 08/04
25e Aero Friedrichshafen
UPL-AOPA
Aéro-Sport
Individually or visit by bus
7
15/04
Airfield Hopping part 1 Training/Refresher
4 airfields in the Greater Region
Aviasport
Guy Klepper & Mike Hein
8
23/04
Season Opening 1st weekend after Eastern :  Speyer
Aéro-Sport
Pierre Lorang
9
24/04
Pinch Hitter (INS)
UPL-AOPA
Birgen/Schockmel/Kremer
10
02/05
Pinch Hitter (INS)
UPL-AOPA
Birgen/Schockmel/Kremer
11
09/05
Pinch Hitter (Aéro-Sport)
UPL-AOPA
Birgen/Schockmel/Kremer
12
20/05
NAV refresher
UPL-AOPA & Aéro-Sport
Bernard Frechen
13
25/05-28/05
Ascension 4 days weekend: fly out to Corsica-Elba
Aéro-Sport
Jean Birgen
14
25/05-28/05
Ascension 4 days weekend: fly out to Borkum (North Sea island)
Aviasport
Bill Erpelding
15
03/06-04/06
Fly out Champagne (Claude Penot) + Ferté Alais airshow
Aéro-Sport
Jean Birgen, Jean Salis
16
22/06-25/06
Fly-out Belle-Ile (French Island)
Aviasport
Guy Klepper
17
15/06 – 25/06
Memorial  Hans Gutmann   Tourist Rally Flight  2017 : White nights St Petersburg
UPL-AOPA
Jean Birgen, Mike Kornev, Artem Kirillov
18
30/06 -03/07
Fly out to Ardèche
Aéro-Sport
Jean Birgen
19
08/07-09/07
Fly out Duxford air show
Aviasport
Chris Vannieuwenhyse
20
14/07 -17/07
fly out to the North sea (Island hopping Texel and/or Norderney)
Aéro-Sport
Peter Sodermans
21
22/07
Airfield Hopping part 2 Training/Refresher
4 airfields in the Greater Region
Aviasport
Mike Hein
22
15/07
Grill party club House
Aviasport
Aviasport
23
18/08-20/08
Grimbergen, Midden-Zeeland, Texel, Lelystad
Pipistrel
Joop Snel
24
22/07
Airfield Hopping part 2 Training/Refresher
4 airfield in the Greater Region
Aviasport
Mike Hein
25
02/09-03/09
Fly out Annecy or other Alps destination – 30th  edition
UPL-AOPA
UPL-AOPA
26
12/09 -17/09 &
15/09-17/09
ANR – Air Navigation Race  – world championship @ Castellon, Alicante Spain
& Fly out to Spain in combination with ANR
FAI General Aviation commission
& Aéro-Sport
Jean Birgen
27
15/09-17/09
Fly-Out Savoie
Aviasport
Aviasport
28
16/09-17/09
Rally UPL-AOPA
UPL-AOPA
Marco Felten – Bernard Frechen
29
23/09
Airfield Hopping part 3 Training/Refresher
4 airfields in the Greater Region
Aviasport
Aviasport
30
23/09
Aviasport Info Day
Aviasport
Aviasport
31
23/09-24/09
Rally Aéro-Sport / Instalfit
Aéro-Sport
Jean Birgen – Marco Felten – Bernard Frechen
32
30/09-01/10
Season closing: Burgundy, France
Aéro-Sport
Peter Sodermans
33
21/09
Bavarian evening
Aviasport
Enrico Mela
34
09/12
Season closing party
Aviasport
Aviasport