The online club reservation system in Genk Zwartberg indicated that the pilot who booked the Mooney M20P this Sunday, opened his flight for other pilots. So I contacted Sven Kuil. Although the indication on the website was made unintentionally, he and his fellow pilot nevertheless invited me to join them for an flight to Oostende. Good plan

This time I am sitting in the backseat as I am not current on the Mooney. The weather to take off in Genk is ok (VMC) but Oostende is still IMC. We flew at flight level 60 with more than 30 knots of wind coming from the west, which slowed don our ground speed. Richard Boer proved to be a skilled pilot (commercial license holder) and he mastered the situation.

Landing in Oostende went perfect although the weather was really poor. IFR flying clearly has its advantages.

When returning to Genk Zwartberg, we had the wind in our back and were flying at more than 200 knots. Amazing speed ! We could’t descent from flight level 60 directly to Genk (clouds) and had to make a controlled descent in Liège. The ceiling was quite low once below the clouds, but we headed full speed in VFR to Genk where we landed some minutes after sunset. Great experience and two new pilot friends.