24 Hours in Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf, Germany

I last touched down in Düsseldorf back in 2021, right at the tail end of COVID. I’d only just earned my instrument rating, and this was my very first international IFR flight, and my first time landing at a proper big airport. That trip lit a fire. It became the catalyst for some of the biggest flying adventures I’ve had over the last five years.

Fast forward to this year. Money’s been a little tight, I’ve just moved into a new home, and the aircraft had been grounded since my Ibiza trip, right through until the start of summer. So the plan was simple: a quick 24-hour night stop back in Germany to revisit Düsseldorf, now a much busier, livelier airport than the quiet pandemic-era field I remembered. The challenge was officially on.

[Coming soon]

Flying to Spa F1

Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium We originally looked at flying to an F1 race in late 2024, starting with the Austrian Grand Prix, but the cheaper tickets sold out quickly, and the plan quickly collapsed as life got in the way. Furthermore, with the aircraft AOG and no return date in sight, planning for such a big trip at the end of June became impossible, so we looked further afield for a late-July slot and locked in the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps (25–27 July 2025). Once we had secured our tickets, the real challenge kicked in: finding a suitable airport to land at with our aircraft. Liege fell short, despite being the closest at about 40 minutes from the track, with limited HOTAC (hotel/accommodation) options nearby during the high-demand F1 weekend, and rental cars pretty much sold out or severely restricted in availability.

[Read more here]