PH-KEE

PH-KEE

Discovering Ursel Air Base: first military landing

Flight info 05-11-2022 DEP/EHRD ARR/EBUL PH-HLR 2:00 hrs 148 NM RMK/none

Home of Vliegclub Ursel and the Victors Formation!

Some fun facts about the flight from Rotterdam to Ursel:

We flew a distance of 80 NM and spent 57 minutes doing so. We had an average groundspeed of 85 kts, which tells you we had quite a bit of headwind. To avoid even stronger winds, we did not fly above 2500 ft. 🐢

On the way back, however, those headwinds turned into tailwinds, and we decided to profit from stronger winds by flying higher.

The way back was also a bit shorter, 68 NM. We spent 37 minutes flying back to Rotterdam and flew at 3500 ft. Our average groundspeed was 109 kts and our maximum groundspeed (noteworthy) was 147 kts. 💨

Ursel is a military airfield and for general aviation open only on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. The runway is about three kilometers, but only 799 m is available for us to land on. It’s located in some forests, but it’s remarkably easy to see because the forests around the airfield are the only ones nearby. So much for covering up a military airfield? 😮

Because it is a military airfield, we got a small paper note called a ‘daglidkaart’, to make sure we were visiting legally! Kind of an awesome souvenir, I think! 📝