Unexpected telephone call from my flight buddy on Tuesday wondering if I cared to join him on a IFR flight to Luxemburg.  Since I’m off on Wednesdays, I did not hesitate.

We both looked for two more passengers for further flite sharing but only the two of us made it the next day. Now that I think of it , I did forget to make one call ! Hard to find people on weekdays anyway. The person I forgot, you know who you are ;-) sorry !

Departure at 13:00 hrs local time, -2 Zulu. Steven did the leg to and I flew the return.

FL090 was called for with the following IFR route: EBKT-MAK-LNO-DIK-ELLX.

VFR on top from about 4000 ft with a great white layer of cotton candy beneath us.

Yes, WE did see the sun that day. Brussels did give us a small shortcut direct LNO VOR.

With easterly winds, cross-headwinds to Luxemburg. In cruise the Piper Archer pulled a 100 kts ground speed. Two pilots, our gear and full tanks prior departure. Brussels did ask us to continue climb to FL110 due to traffic but we responded with a negative. 30º turn to the right did the trick too. Vectors to the ILS 06 at ELLX. A nice uneventful two hour flight, with a pick-nick lunch and some refreshments for on route.

Stewardess in back but we forgot to blow her up ;-)

After short taxi to P6, the general aviation parking we wondered how we could get off the field. Oddly LUX only has an approach and tower frequency, no ground. Called the tower back wondering who to call us and pick us up from this position. Came back with a frequency of the LUX-AIR ground handling. Called these nice people and a black Audi A8 was ready to whisk us away.  Short ride to the handling agent who called us a taxi while filling in the necessary paperwork. About a 10 minute ride to downtown Luxemburg.

Count on about 30 to 35 euros one way. Without us knowing it , that morning a brand new passenger terminal opened for international travelers. Lux-Air has its hub there, and plenty of cargo going in and out of the field. 747’s are no problem with its 4 km runway.

We headed for the tourist office for a map of the city. More info at : www.lcto.lu

Plenty of museums and places of interest in walking distance from the center of town.

Perfect locale for a city trip ! We enjoyed our afternoon chatting on a terras of one of the local pubs. Sun was in and out of the clouds, but the many multi-lingual people made the stay worthwhile. French, English, Dutch and a local dialect seemed very common.

With all the international banks there, plenty of business and money flowing in Luxemburg or little Switzerland. Had to be back in Kortrijk, Belgium before sunset, which is 21:00 hrs local. Back with a cab to the airport around 18:00 hrs for a departure planned an hour later. Payed the handling and landing fees which were only 18 euros.

Not a bad deal for this 5 star service. Most of the airports I go to ask double for basically nothing. IFR flight plan for the return, the same but the other way. SID DIK2T with a direct CIV and direct EBKT was actually given to us by ATC. About 1:36 hrs. on the hobbs for the return. Climb to FL080 but half way I needed to climb to FL090 due to cloud tops rising. Didn’t feel like flying another 45 minutes inside the clouds without an autopilot on board. YES, this flight was done by hand. About 15 nm from our home field Brussels told me to contact Kortrijk Radio. Kortrijk is a non controlled airfield in class G airspace. Being very hazy and flying into the sun, our visability was bad. Replied with a negative in which Brussels replied that no traffic was reported in our area. Back at about 3000 ft by then we switched and flew the last minutes visual, direct OKT and circle to land runway 06. Taxied back to our parking spot, locked down aircraft after completing all the log books. If you’re still debating, YES, an IFR license is worth gold.

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