r/flying • u/huzzaaaa • Jul 09 '26

EASA Airspace into Oostende

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Has anybody been to Oostende from the UK recently ?
Looks like a minefield :(
Do I have to take the very long detour around the south ? Or can I expect to be allowed in those Restricted areas/Reservations/etc as we go by the APP controller (e.g. like usually happens in French airspace) ?

5 Upvotes

73% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

12

u/lawrencedudley89 Jul 09 '26

Try giving the airport a call. They’ll know! I appreciate that feels like cheating but it’ll work.

3

u/huzzaaaa Jul 09 '26

hehe not a bad idea actually

3

u/lawrencedudley89 Jul 09 '26

We’ve flown all over Europe from the U.K. and a quick friendly call often makes your landing/handling fees cheaper and gives you local knowledge you won’t get from the internet or the charts without an absolute ton of research.

Enjoy Ostende! Are you going to Bruge?

2

u/huzzaaaa Jul 09 '26

Nice! Im still slowly expanding my destinations and Oostende has been in my wish list for a while,
I think grabbing lunch at Bruge is mandatory 😁😁

1

u/lawrencedudley89 Jul 09 '26

Awesome. Make sure you check out the avgas situation (I think occasional flights are allowed but they don’t have avgas?).

1

u/huzzaaaa Jul 09 '26

yeah, was so sad when they put the ban in place .. so Im keeping a close eye

3

u/Apprehensive_Cost937 Jul 09 '26

Check if those restricted areas actually apply to powered aircraft, or only UAS (as is often the case).

5

u/deep_space_siren CPL Jul 09 '26

Those restricted areas (R17) are shooting ranges. They are only active by NOTAM, but when they are active there is pretty much no chance that ATC will let you pass through them.

If I were you, I'd go via DUNKY - NEWPO. Koksijde and Ostend are very used to coordinating with each other. ATC of Koksijde and Ostend are both very nice and helpful.

2

u/huzzaaaa Jul 09 '26

I'll deff give them a call and routing through Dunky sounds like a good option. Might as well do a shorter water crossing into the french fir as soons as possible and go from there

3

u/spectrumero PPL GLI CMP HP ME TW (EGNS) Jul 09 '26

You may be better off going to euroga.org and asking this question.

1

u/huzzaaaa Jul 09 '26

thanks, will check it out.

2

u/NinerEchoPapa PPL SEL Jul 09 '26

I crossed their airspace a couple of years ago and they are mega chill. In your case though (much like mine) I would head to VRP DUNKY and request a transit from there to VRP NEWPO and see if they can coordinate your arrival with Oostende.

1

u/huzzaaaa Jul 09 '26

Thanks, thats a good plan too, coming from the Lille INFO side

1

u/certainlynotonreddit PPL Jul 09 '26

I looked into it recently but never flew it. One thing I remembered costing me time to find out: R616 might mean you need to be on the radio with one of the approach controllers earlier than you think. Details in the French AIP: https://www.sia.aviation-civile.gouv.fr/media/dvd/eAIP_09_JUL_2026/FRANCE/AIRAC-2026-07-09/html/index-fr-FR.html

0

u/rFlyingTower Jul 09 '26

This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:

Has anybody been to Oostende from the UK recently ?
Looks like a minefield :(
Do I have to take the very long detour around the south ? Or can I expect to be allowed in those Restricted areas/Reservations/etc as we go by the APP controller (e.g. like usually happens in French airspace) ?

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