Brussels South - Charleroi  EBCI

Date of Visit = October 1999

Pilot: = Julian Storey

e-mail = 101465.1065@compuserve.com

Field Report = I found the airport without difficulty tracking via Koksy, Mackel and Dender NDB's (the latter may not be necesary if Chievres military airbase isn't operating on the day of your flight).

The flight from Redhill in a Katana DA20 took about two hours.

Charleroi is a very well equipped, reasonably major airport with a lovely long runway, but despite this seemed amazingly quiet. Ryanair seemed to be just about the only scheduled airline which flies in and out of there.

I spoke to the tower with a few miles to run and was given runway details. I asked for confirmation of the circuit direction and was told "left or right at your discretion" - unbelievable for such a substantial airport.

It was very windy on the day of my flight and the controller in the tower was brilliant, giving me a wind check probably every ten seconds on my final approach. I had absolutely no language difficulties RT wise either at the airport or when speaking to Brussels control. They seems to be markedly better than their French equivalents whom I have always found to be a bit shabby when compared to our own.

We were escorted to our parking place by a little van, whose driver jumped out and tied down the aircraft as soon as I had stopped the engine. Customs were extremely friendly, the landing fee was more than reasonable and I couldn't have wished for a more helpful bunch of people.

The only problem I encountered was the following day when I tried to get refuelled before my flight home. It took four requests and nearly an hour before the refueller arrived and when he did arrive, he stank of beer having obviously over imbibed with his Sunday lunch to the extent that he was noticably drunk. One might question how safe it is to have a chap in his condition driving a tanker full of avgas around in an area where aeroplanes land, take off, and taxi !

At the time of writing I only have about 110 hours and managed the trip with absolutely no difficulty. I arrived back at Redhill to be greeted by a number a number of PPL friends who could not believe that I had made the trip. Can't see why. Finding Brussels is no harder than finding anywhere else. The hardest part was finding the money to pay for the trip !