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Notes on Flying in France
Much useful background information is presented in this site
http://flyinfrance.free.fr/ It has
pages no procedure language etc. It important to note that there are two
types of airfield in France -
- those where a full ATC service is provided
- those where only air ground o air to air radio
is available
In general the latter two are in French and there is no requirement to
pilots or ground radio operators to speak English. Before you get on your
high horse and quote ICAO and we won the war - this arrangement is perfectly
legal internationally Many German fields speak only German but more Germans
happen to speak English. Don't be like some English airmen I have heard who
almost demand english be spoken at a French private field - not a way to
make friends and influence people.
Plates for all French Airfields can be found
here in PDF format click on VAC aerodromes - follow the
links and enter your chosen field.
Another good source is NAV2000 a French language site which gives some
background to the airfield from the private flyers point of view See
Above .
It is important to note the all important phrase "ouvert a la CAP "
which means open to general aviation. They don't seem to have a cocnept of
PPR in France though for example you can't leave or join at Cannes without a
flight plan or submission of 'intention de vol' which is pretty much the
same thing as PPR. There are however numerous small good fields which are
restricted by the local administration to 'based aircraft only' You
can get permission to fly into these but it requires a fax to the local BRIA
or French CAA office which controls the field.
Fields which have air/ground radio - you may well find the FIO will be happy
to try his english and will smooth the path for you - outside hours of
operation of the radio all fields (if they allow landing outside such times)
will be entirely in French
the A/A frequency is often 123.35 or 123.5 check the plate. If you are
competent to speak your French calls all well and good but it is more
important to recognise what other pilots are doing in the vicinity. Read
Flying in France -see above - and make your own mind up. I find his advice a
little prohibitive but then I am reasonably fluent. Just dont go expecting
to be spoken to in English - If in doubt choose a field with full air
traffic control until you are used to things. For example on a trip down
from Le Touquet (great english aTC ) to Reims there is a delightful tourist
spot called Laon with Cathedral good eateries hotels and an airfield but it
is A/A only.
Going on to Reims we used to have Reims Champagne which was a military airfield shared by the Chamber of commerce and a local one plane regional carrier but they pulled out in September 2006 and it is now closed to GA - This is where NAV 2000 site see above is helpfule - the entry says for the alternative Reims Prunay
Radio obligatoire
Auto-Info en francais en dehors des horaires AFIS
Piste non revêtue mixte avions/planeurs
Eviter le survol de Sillery, du centre BP et de Puisieulx, prendre un cap
269° après TKOF QFU 248
Agent AFIS tres competent et serviable
If its radio obligatoire it is most likely to be English eeet ees spoken eere at least during the hours of operation of the tower. Once the tower is closed you are expected to do all calls in French. Leaving this is not a problem because you are soon out of the traffic - joining is a safety issue so watch out if you cannot 'ecoutez' well in French.
There are other sites which give a good introduction to aerial French - when I have time I will list them here. I would say its not at all difficult to build upa repertoire of the half dozen key phrases and this will allow you to get out - hearign what is said back to you is 100 times more difficult and most beginners even advanced french speakers sometimes stumble on numbers KEW N ash mille quinze = QNH1015 or pist trente runway 30 - they say thirty not three zero - Zero is also referred to as unite (ooneetay)
If you look at the aero map of France there seem to be a load
of Restricted areas. Well the French are less prissy about us GA bods going
through them than here in England. Here is a pointer to a complete list of
the areas - its mostly in French - Magic words are 'Contournment Obligatoire'
If you see this then you will definitely NOT get a transit. Mark the area in
pink highlighter on your chart and never expect a transit. They are few and
far between the rest usually say transit approved after radio contact with
.....approach - So there you have it who you have to speak to and a transit.
I find most often if you call up even just a few minutes before the boundary
you are approved for transit immediately. I have even had to query whether I
was approved - the answer came back 'mais bien sur'
So take you map out and look up all the R areas on you track in the
directory and see which approach to talk to. Note that some areas R431 may
have R431a and R431b and they may differ. Also there are long corridors
which generally go up to 2700agl - these are low fluing military - just keep
out - dont expect transit of these - they're semi obvious on teh map because
they are great long thin corridor shapes and they go up to either 1500 or
2700
Who to talk to
As for the military above you will find they generally open Mon- Fr lunch time - after that time your regional radar controller will continue with you through the areas. France is much more organised than th eUK and has a complete Radar following service - The Jeppesen maps show the controlling frequency - a good investment is the French SIA 1.1000000 VFR guide - this shows low level military routes and controlling frequencies.
Flight Plan
Of course you will be filing a flight plan - coming back this
is simplicity itself - you just need to know the BRIA (that is the Frecnh
CAA office controilling the airfield you are departing from - the number is
usually on the plate
Give them a ring and they will take down your flight plan over the phone -
Nantes BRIA are a lovely bunch
When flying in you are responsible for closing your flight plan - it is less
likely than here that the ATC will have done it for you therefore make a
note of the national FP closure number and ring them when you land - they
speak english 0033 810 437 837
Some usefule DRIA de rattachement
Le Touquet (though there are perfectly good facilities in the terminal to
fax) Lille BRIA 0033 320 16 19 65 (or 66)
Reims = Basle Mulhouse 0033 389 90 26 15
Customs (Douanes)
In many places now you may have to give prior notice to Customs. Le Touquet used to be able to accept without prior notice but now request 2 hours - easiest is to fax a copy of your flight plan to Le Touquet ATC marked COPY and 'Demande Douanes'. This has worked for me at many places like Le Mans where French Customs only come out to visit. There are loads of horror stories about French customs but as with trying to engage and speak a little French - usually there is no issue if you are open and cooperative. In the UK Customs and Excise are not the least bit interested as you leave ( I dont know if they apply the same attitude to non G reg aircraft) but in France as a G reg aircraft you are supposed to decalre your departure to customs. This means leaving from a customs field or giving notice again as on the inbound leg. I spoke to a load of customs chaps at Caen recently and asked them about this and they said 'pas necessaire' but I wouldnt rely on that. But comign back via say Le Touquet I wouldn't be too worried
TRA
all nuclear facilities are no fly zones and you WILL be intercepted - take great care mark them on your map and track plan - usually up to 3500 agl.
Routes
It is often said 'fly airways' in France - this is a misunderstanding based on differences in airspace classification. Generally you fly semi circular - if track is 0-180 fly at even thousands PLUS 500ft - this is a VFR level. You wont often get a bollockign from French ATC for flying 5500 say going 090 but frequently if you drift down to 5000 you will get a call telling you to maintain a VFR level i.e. plus 500ft. I have found that if you fly higher and have frequent VOR's or IFR waypoints life is easier. PocketFMS is very good for giving you these airway reporting points.
Documents
Remember your PPL exams or look up the books to determine
what documents - best to do it for yourself - you remember it better
usual stuff - insurance,airworthiness cert release to service, radio
licence, passports, evidence of VAT paid if a fairly new aircraft (they seem
to totally ignore my 1973 Robin) and of course copy of interception
procedures. - dont rely on my list might have forgotten something there -
double check
Have fun