Flight Plans

As in the UK, flight plans must be filed for any international border crossing.

Additionally, in France, flight plans are mandatory for IFR flights, Night VFR (other than local flights*) and for flight over maritime** regions where it is not possible to make a successful landing in the event of an engine failure.   

* as well as flights starting and ending at the same aerodrome, flight plans would not be required for flights between two aerodromes for which the approach is provided by the same air traffic control service, within the airspace under its authority—for example, flights between any of Limoges, Brive, Angoulème, Montluçon.

** the specific rule covering maritime regions is that flight plans must be filed if the distance from land is equivalent to 15 times the aircraft's altitude.   

Flight plans should be filed at least 30 minutes before take-off—exceptionally, flight plans may be filed while airborne but do expect a debate as to whether the circumstances for doing this are justified.

The so-called ‘abbreviated’ flight plan is the information given to Air Traffic Controllers when requesting entry to controlled airspace and is not directly relevant to this article.

Filing the Flight Plan 

Larger airfields will usually have a facility for filing flight plans ‘over the counter’ or via a direct link using telephone, FAX or computer terminal.

In France, flight plans may be filed using the Olivia web site (English-language version) which also provides access to NOTAM and weather information.

Flight plans can also be filed by phone or FAX using the number appropriate to the departure region—if using FAX, do check receipt of the plan by phone.

Region	Phone	FAX
LILLE	03 20 16 19 65/66	03 20 16 19 71
BALE MULHOUSE	03 89 90 26 15/12	03 89 90 26 19
LYON	04 72 22 56 76/77/78	04 72 23 80 67
MARSEILLE	04 42 31 15 65
	04 42 14 22 90	04 42 31 15 69
NICE	04 93 17 21 18	04 93 17 21 17
AJACCIO	04 95 22 61 85
	04 95 23 59 80	04 95 23 59 69
TOULOUSE	05 62 74 65 31/32	05 62 74 65 33
BORDEAUX	05 57 92 60 84	05 57 92 83 34
NANTES	02 40 84 84 75
	02 40 84 80 45	02 40 84 80 39
LE BOURGET	01 48 62 53 07	01 48 62 72 07
	01 48 62 53 14	01 48 62 65 04

In my experience, most of these offices have fluent English-speakers available—you just need to ask and they are happy to oblige.

Opening the flight plan

When departing from a ‘controlled’ airfield with an ATS (Air Traffic Service) unit, this is normally done by the controller.

If departing from an uncontrolled airfield, you can contact the nearest available ATS unit instead.

You can also use the so-called AZUR telephone number which serves the whole of France—0810 437 837 (08 10 IFR VFR)
   
Closing the flight plan

Flight plans must be closed on (or shortly before) completion of the flight in order to avoid unnecessary deployment of the emergency services.

In France, this may be done using any of the aforementioned methods for opening the flight.

The Flight Plan

Flight plans are set out in a standard format, even though the headings may be in different languages.

Most seasoned pilots carry a battered old flight plan to use as a crib sheet, or even several battered examples for regular routes.

Many of the entries are self-explanatory so I have written just a few notes on those which are not.

Here is a sample flight plan for a trip from Le Touquet to Biggin Hill, crossing the international border at EGTT (London FIR) on the way out—on the way back, you would cross at LFFF (Paris FIR):

   

NB click on picture for larger image

Notes

Item 8:

Flight rules, for our purposes, are either V (VFR) or I (IFR)    
Type of flight, for our purposes, is G (General Aviation) 

Item 9:   

Aircraft type (C150, P28A, DA40, etc)—a complete list of ICAO codes for aircraft identification can be found here

Wake turbulence category—L (light) if under 7000 kg

Item 10:

Equipment—S = standard COM/NAV
                  /N = no transponder
                  /A = transponder, no altitude reporting 
                  /C = transponder, with altitude reporting

Item 13:

Departure time—always in UTC (GMT)—local French time will always be one or two hours ahead of UTC, depending on the season

Item 15:

Cruising speed—usually expressed in Knots (N0090 = 90 knots) or Kilometres (K0150 = 150 kph)

Cruising level—A035 (Altitude=3500 feet), F050 (Flight level 50), VFR if unspecified

NB When selecting a cruising level at more than 3000’ (ASFC), be aware of the French semi-circular rule which is:

Track 0°—179°     FL* 35, 55, 75, etc
Track 180°—359° FL* 45, 65, 85, etc   

* below transition altitude, same principle but using feet (3500, etc)

Route—although our sample route is essentially a straight line, it is good practise to show a waypoint at or near the point of crossing the coast

For example DCT-RYE-DCT (Le Touquet is on the coast so not mentioned)

A more-complicated route, via Dover and Detling VORs, would be DCT-Cap Griz Nez-DVR-DET-DCT 

Item 16:

Total EET is Total Estimated Elapsed Time—you should also give an EET in Item 18 (Other information) for crossing any international border

In the interests of accuracy, please check here for up-to-date information on French air traffic rules and services.

A standard English-language flight plan form, which can be filled-in on-line and printed, is available here.

Comments

[Les King]

I have flown to the UK from Deauville several times but never managed to successfully file a flight plan using their computer terminal—it always failed at the point of transmitting the data.

It was much easier to write out the plan and use the free phone situated next to the computer terminal.

Several years back, Le Touquet installed a direct-line FAX machine though it was important to press the correct button—I once got all strapped in to discover that no flight plan had been filed, because I had pressed the 'copy' button.

I haven't been to either place for about 4 years so I am not aware of their current arrangements.

[travis holland]

I think it is much easier to just file a flight plan on-line with the free www.eurofpl.eu website. I really like the SMS verification that the flight plan was filed.