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Following the recent 'aquaplane' incident on Friday March 21st, we have acquired some great photographs which may be reproduced without permission.
Fortunately, nobody was hurt when the Ryanair flight from Brussels skidded-off the end of the runway in wet and blustery conditions.
NB Click on Thumbnails for larger image
Pierrette Borsatto writes:
Good evening Sue,
I am looking for an internet address where I could train myself in English-speaking phraseology.
As for instance hear automatic ATIS in England like at Limoges. It does seem to exist.
Can you confirm it to me. I already hear http://www.liveatc.net/feedmap/feedmap.html but many airports are not eligible (I don’t know why ... Echelon perhaps...)
Do you have any suggestion. Many tks for you help.
Hope to see you on next assemblée générale
Pierrette
Questions for publication on francoflyers.org: questions@francoflyers.org
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Questions related to existing articles are best published as comments to those articles
It is now 3 months since we launched Francoflyers and things are going quite well—even if we do say so ourselves.
We have received useful publicity from various aviation magazines including 'Pilot', 'Go Flying' and 'Loop' as well as lots of encouraging feedback from our readers.
We have also enjoyed good co-operation from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and Direction Générale de l'Aviation Civile (DGAC) in sorting-out some of the more obscure rules on licencing, medicals and general flying regulations.
Sometimes, it takes a while to get precise answers but we always strive to present fact rather than opinion or speculation.
We hope to have all of the French 'Rules & Regulations' stuff in place over the next few weeks—articles on 'French VFR Rules' and 'Airspace Classification' are now awaiting independent verification and will be published shortly.
Ultimately, the success of any publication is measured in readership which is currently running at over 300 page-views per day with a peak (at the time of writing) of 477 on Easter Sunday.
Tell your friends
I have now added an 'email this' link to the bottom of each post—this enables you to send your friends a link to the specific article, on a one-off basis, without generating any additional email traffic or 'spam'.
I have also added a 'Subscribe to francoflyers by email' link to the blog sidebar—this will enable you to receive any new articles by email with a maximum of 1 email per day (in practice, 1 or 2 per week).
The articles will be displayed using HTML or plain text, depending on the settings of your email client.
If viewing in plain text, you can always go back to the main site www.francoflyers.org for a 'richer' viewing experience.
You can unsubscribe from this service at any time.
Weblog feeds
For those unfamiliar with the term, a 'feed' contains a list of recent blog posts which can be read by other weblogs and special applications known as 'feed-readers' or 'feed-aggregators'.
I have deliberately avoided placing 'feed subscription' links on this site as they are generally quite confusing for non-technical readers—my basic approach to all software or website development is that it should be obvious, to a non-technical person, what you need to do to make it work.
Also, the articles are presented within the feed-reader format and won't look nearly so nice as the original.
However, for those who prefer to use feed-readers, I would mention that all Typepad blogs are enabled for 'auto-discovery' and you will be able to subscribe to this one by direct reference to the basic web site address.
I am off to Limoges on Wednesday, hopefully for some flying, though it is presently snowing in London so I could well end-up spending my break in Stanstead.
Regards
Les King
Site Administrator
This has been a busy but satisfying week for me, despite extremes of weather and the temporary closure of Limoges Airport owing to the Ryanair incident (see report elsewhere).
I am now getting lots of questions about flying in France though some of these are beyond my knowledge and have been referred to the CAA or DGAC. These organisations are not best-known for their speedy replies but we should get answers to every question in the fullness of time.
At the beginning of the week, we had excellent visibility, blue skies and few clouds. However, a strong wind, gusting at around 25 knots, was coming from the NE.
Matt had some free time from school and I used this opportunity to give him a Navigation practice to some of the excellent small airfields north of Limoges.
The first day, I chose a route to Le Blanc/Argenton/Gueret/Limoges. We headed North to our first airfield La Blanc and the wind was virtually down the runway which made the landing much easier.
I wanted Matt to have experience of flying into short runways. We have such a long runway at Limoges that we can forget what 'ordinary' runways are like.
The area around Le Blanc is very beautiful, a 'mini Lake District'.
The airfield is well maintained. In fact, it is pristine.
After a Touch and Go, we headed East to Argenton which is not too difficult to find, being adjacent to a tall radio mast.
Another excellent landing was performed and then we continued SE to Gueret over higher ground and spectacular countryside.
Gueret was a little more tricky with a strong crosswind which required some accurate flying. We turned for home with a feeling of intense satisfaction.
Excellent countryside, interesting flying and a job well done.
The three airfields which I had chosen were all uncontrolled so my French R/T was essential.
In fact, we had the skies to ourselves and did not see another aircraft during the 2-hour flight.
The following day, we chose the route from Limoges/Angouleme/Riberac/Bergerac to do our navigation exercise.
It all went well and the added bonus was the Touch and Go on the grass strip at Riberac, deep in the Dordogne countryside.
I awoke on Thursday with great trepidation and 'butterflies' in my stomach (which I have not experienced since my racing days).
The reason for such nervousness was that I had been invited as Guest Speaker at an English ladies luncheon party, to address the topic of "Why did I become a Pilot/Instructor".
Mavis collected me from my home, en-route to the Aero club. We flew to Angouleme and were then ferried deep into the Charente countryside to our final destination.
My audience ranged in age from 27—87 and included one gentleman who had begged to attend.
They proved to be highly-interested in my story and bombarded me with a lot of questions following my 'speech'.
I have been invited again in the summer, to either Angouleme or Riberac, where husbands and friends are invited and there will be trial flights on offer!!
We flew back to Limoges in near perfect weather, still as a mill pond, and I felt a great satisfaction that the day had gone really well.
My peace was short-lived as, upon returning home, I realised that "Blanchette" was in the first stages of labour and had decided that my bed was her chosen 'nest'.
Eventually, she agreed to compromise and chose the corner of my bedroom to have her litter.
Eventually, after a long night and an even longer day, she finished producing a litter of seven healthy pups.
I am still trying to make up for the loss of one nights sleep, which never bothered me as a teenager but has certainly taken it's toll now.
Best wishes
Sue
I am always happy to receive your questions and comments, as follows:
Questions for publication on francoflyers.org: questions@francoflyers.org
General queries not for publication: sue@francoflyers.org
Questions related to existing articles are best published as comments to those articles
Limoges Airport is temporarily closed following an incident on Friday 21st March when a Ryanair flight from Brussels skidded off the end of the runway in wet and gusty conditions.
There were no injuries to the 175 passengers and 6 crew who were evacuated using the aircraft emergency slides
We undertand that there is no truth in the rumour that Ryanair will be charging extra for use of the slides.
According to the latest information on the Ryanair web site, www.ryanair.co.uk, they expect to move the aircraft over the weekend, thereby allowing the runway to re-open.
The Limoges Tower blog has some pictures of the stranded aircraft.
Update (from www.ryanair.co.uk)
Ryanair can confirm that as from 1900 hrs GMT, Saturday 22nd of March, the Runway in Limoges has reopened.
Ryanair engineers have moved the aircraft onto a stand where it will be inspected overnight and any wheel damage will be repaired.
All Ryanair flights on Sunday 23rd of March in Limoges will operate as scheduled.
Ryanair wishes to apologise sincerely to any passengers travelling to and from Limoges airport who have experienced any inconvenience as a result of this runway closure.
As a general rule, English is the language used by all French Air Traffic Control services unless you address them in French when they will respond accordingly.
At ‘uncontrolled’ airfields, however, all radio traffic is conducted in French between pilots operating in the local area.
Even if you can’t hear any other traffic, it is important to announce your position and intentions for the benefit of those who may be in the vicinity.
Note that many controlled airfields revert to being uncontrolled, but still available for use, outside of normal operating hours.
Because many small airfields use the common frequency of 123.5 MHz (130.0 MHz in mountain areas) and those with their own frequency will have nobody to confirm that users have selected it correctly, it is good practice to prefix radio calls with the name of the uncontrolled airfield being addressed.
Radio conversations in the vicinity of uncontrolled airfields are naturally ‘sparse’ compared with those in controlled airspace as other aircraft won’t be particularly interested in your origin, aircraft type or approach altitude.
This is a typical sequence of calls (with English translations) for visiting the uncontrolled airfield at Marmande:
NB Knowledge of English-language radiotelephony is assumed
NB1 Click on the highlighted French text for audio.
| Numbers | |
| 0 | Zéro |
| 1 | Unité |
| 2 | Deux |
| 3 | Trois |
| 4 | Quatre |
| 5 | Cinq |
| 6 | Six |
| 7 | Sept |
| 8 | Huit |
| 9 | Neuf |
| Numbers 0-9 | |
| 100 | Cent |
| 200 | Deux Cent |
| 1000 | Mille |
| 2000 | Deux Mille |
| 2200 | Deux Mille Deux Cent |
| Follow same principle for constructing larger numbers | |
| ● | Décimale |
| Example: Fréquence Unité, Deux, Trois, Décimale, Quatre (Frequency 123.4) | |
Runway Numbers Runway numbers may be read out as single digits as in the UK (e.g. runway one three) or as complete numbers (e.g. runway thirteen). For pilots new to speaking French, we would recommend the single-digit approach initially though you should learn to recognise the following additional numbers ASAP. | |||
| 10 | Dix | 24 | Vingt-quatre |
| 11 | Onze | 25 | Vingt-cinq |
| 12 | Douze | 26 | Vingt-six |
| 13 | Treize | 27 | Vingt-sept |
| 14 | Quatorze | 28 | Vingt-huit |
| 15 | Quinze | 29 | Vingt-neuf |
| 16 | Seize | 30 | Trente |
| 17 | Dix-sept | 31 | Trente et un |
| 18 | Dix-huit | 32 | Trente-deux |
| 19 | Dix-neuf | 33 | Trente-trois |
| 20 | Vingt | 34 | Trente-quatre |
| 21 | Vingt et un | 35 | Trente-cinq |
| 22 | Vingt-deux | 36 | Trente-six |
| 23 | Vingt-trois | Numbers 10-36 | |
| Other values, such as time and aircraft-type, may also be expressed using either single digits or full numbers. | |||
| Phonetic Alphabet pronunciation | |
| Alpha | November (Fr: Novembre ) |
| Bravo | Oscar |
| Charlie | Papa |
| Delta | Quebec (Fr: Québec) |
| Echo | Romeo (Fr: Roméo ) |
| Foxtrot | Sierra |
| Golf | Tango |
| Hotel | Uniform (Fr: Uniforme ) |
| India | Victor |
| Juliet (Fr: Juliette) | Whisky |
| Kilo | X-Ray |
| Lima | Yankee |
| Mike | Zulu (Fr: Zoulou ) |
| Standard Alphabet pronunciation As with the UK, acronyms such as QFE, ETA, etc, are usually spoken using the standard alphabet though the phonetic alphabet may be used to avoid misunderstanding. Standard alphabet pronunciation is a little bit different in French. | ||
| A B C | D E F | G H I |
| J K L | M N O | P Q R S |
| T U V | W X Y Z | Whole Alphabet |
| Airfield position | (English) |
| Verticale | overhead |
| Vent Arrière | downwind |
| Vent Arrière prolongée | late downwind |
| Etape de Base | base leg |
| Dernier Virage | final turn |
| Longue Finale | long final |
| Finale | final |
| Courte Finale | short final |
| Piste Dégagée | runway vacated |
Sortie de zone—vers le nord |
leaving the area—to the north |
| Taxiway | |
| Point d’arrêt | holding point |
| Virage a gauche | left turn |
| Virage a droite | right turn |
| Vent Traversier | crosswind |
| Other useful terms | (English) |
| Affirme | affirm |
| Altitude | altitude |
| Atterrissage | landing |
| Circuit à gauche | left-hand circuit |
| Circuit à droite | right-hand circuit |
| Complet | in this context, a full-stop landing |
| Décollage | taking-off |
| Fréquence | frequency |
| Négatif | negative |
| Nuages | cloud |
| Pieds | feet |
| Piste | runway |
| Piste en Service | runway in use |
| Prêt au Décollage | ready for departure |
| QFE | |
| QNH | |
| Remise de Gaz | going round |
| Touche-Décollé | touch and go |
| Tour de Contrôle | control tower |
| Vol VFR | VFR Flight |
For further study of French radiotelephony, I can recommend
La Maîtrise de la Radio pour pilote privé et pilote professionnel (CD-ROM) which is available from www.amazon.fr or www.boutique.aero
We would welcome comments on all aspects of French air traffic control, including those which are outside the scope of this article.
Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge the contributions of those who assisted with the checking of content and French R/T phraseology:
Gorges Thety—Flying Instructor, Aéro-club de Limoges
Jean Pierre Neymond—Air Traffic Controller, Limoges (Bellegarde) Airport
Esteban Dwarka—Member, Aéro-club de Limoges (French audio recording)
Virtually everyone I meet asks “Why did you choose France”?
To answer that, I must go back some 20 years to my reasons for learning to fly.
My introduction to flying was a little different to the ‘conventional’ aviation enthusiast who probably started at an early age by making Airfix models and graduating ‘up the ladder’ with a passion for aircraft and flying.
In fact, my childhood passion was horses though my family had no equestrian connections and worked hard at running their own newsagent shop.
When I bombarded and cajoled my parents into having riding lessons at the age of four, they decided that it was easier to just give in and sent me to the local riding school once a week. Little did they know that I was on my way to a future career.
As money was short, I was not born to be one of the privileged few who could have any horse that I wanted and my first pony, loaned to me by the local Horse Protection Society, was 24 years old
The next was a foal bought in the local auction market for £20 guineas and transported home in the back of an old van.
I moved up the ladder and, after a childhood of successful show jumping, I fell in love with horse racing and eventually became a point-to-point rider. In fact, I was one of the first lady jockeys allowed to ride in steeplechases previously exclusive to men.
I was totally consumed by my racing passion for 18 years though horse racing is a dangerous sport and the falls finally took their toll. Broken bones and disc problems forced me into retirement.
Devastated by this, I moped around feeling very sorry for myself until my eldest son rather scathingly asked what I was going to do now for an adrenalin buzz.
This ‘stung’ me and my first thought was “I will SHOW HIM”. When I asked myself what would be the greatest challenge to me, a voice in my head said “flying a plane” which was a bit odd as I have never liked heights and climbing ladders fills me with horror.
Having booked a trial flight at my local airfield in Gloucester (Staverton), I was very nervous after take-off and wondering how this little plane could stay in the air.
However, after my 45 minute flight, I was truly hooked and could not wait for my next lesson.
Six months later, I proudly showed my new PPL to a very surprised family.
I knew immediately that I wanted to be an instructor and set about achieving this goal by first gaining ‘Night Rating’ and ‘Instrument Rating’ qualifications.
Sadly, circumstances thwarted my ambitions as my home life was in turmoil and a divorce was on the cards.
As I had four children to support, professional flying was put on the ‘back burner’ and, for several years, I did just enough to keep my PPL current.
Everything changed on September 2nd 1998 when I suffered a serious riding accident .
At the time, I was managing a team of Endurance competition horses which involved exercising them on a daily basis.
That morning, I had several horses to exercise and rode one horse while leading another as I had done many times before.
.
Suddenly, the horse which I was leading spun around and galloped for home dragging me backwards out of the saddle.
The horse I was riding received a huge jolt in his mouth as I was pulled backwards, causing him to rear up and crash over backwards, pinning me to the ground.
Suffice it to say that my one and only flight in a helicopter was in the air ambulance!
I was rushed to hospital with a broken femur, shattered pelvis and torn knee ligaments together with various lesser injuries.
Upon returning from hospital, I found that I no longer had a job or a place to accommodate my own horses.
.
It took some three years and several further operations before I could walk again.
During this period, I studied the CPL correspondence course and, despite my limited talent for technical matters, I finally gained my Commercial Licence which was the hardest work that I have ever done.
As I was now in a critical financial position, I realised that I needed to drastically change my lifestyle if I wanted to keep my horses.
After some internet research, I found this farm in France with six hectares of land for the price of a tiny cottage in Worcestershire.
I arrived here on my own, except for 6 horses and a pregnant Vizsla dog .
I did not learn French at school, so I was somewhat bereft of language skills.
They say that “every cloud has a silver lining” and, in the event, moving to France proved to be the best decision I ever made.
Were it not for the accident, I doubt that I would ever have realised my dream of becoming a flying instructor and living in France is just the ‘icing on the cake’.
How did you come to take up flying or to live in France? — let us know with a comment to this post
Last weekend was very special for me as my family arrived on the Saturday (courtesy of Ryanair) to celebrate my birthday.
Their arrival was a birthday present in itself, as it is a treat for me to spend precious time with my 'kids'.
I never seem to have sufficient free time to spend with them. Christmas seems to be the only time in the year when we all manage to get together for any considerable time.
My daughter had bought her boyfriend a trial flight voucher for his Christmas present so, as soon as they arrived at the aero club, they all wanted to fly and we took the larger Robin DR400/180 which can easily accommodate four passengers.
Sam had never even been close to a light aircraft and had never travelled in anything smaller than a 747 therefore he was a little nervous at first. He turned out to be a “natural” and took to flying like “a duck to water”.
In fact, he spent the rest of the weekend reading my PPL books and firing umpteen questions at me about taking the licence. I have no doubt that he will be flying with me again at his earliest opportunity.
During this flight, I took the opportunity to show my family the infamous village of Oradour sur Glane which is only 9 kilometres from the airport (in fact, it is our official reporting point, November Whiskey).
Towards the end of the Second World War, the Germans, wrongly believing that Oradour was an active cell of resistance fighters, surrounded the village and killed over 600 inhabitants.
They rounded up the women and children and shot them all in the church. The men were shot in the houses and barns with only a few inhabitants managing to escape from this dreadful fate.
Afterwards the village was completely burned by the Germans.
The French people have left the village untouched since the incident. The burnt-out cars, lorries prams and sewing machines still remain in the buildings. The aspect from the air is decidedly eerie.
I am told that birds and wildlife are never seen in the vicinity of the old village. This historical site is viewed by thousands of visitors per year including some German people.
It stands as a grim reminder of these atrocities and may hopefully act as a deterrent to future generations.
Last Friday evening was my first lesson of the week and the weather was near perfect, therefore Matt used the conditions to his advantage and clocked another hour of solo circuit time towards his PPL.
Luckily, we do not have to pay landing or 'touch and go' fees here at Limoges Airport though I heard from a student this week that some UK are now charging a £9.00 fee for go-arounds which seems ludicrous.
Perhaps some of you could advise me if this is really true and keep me up to date with the unusual extras charged by British airfields.
We had hoped to use this Saturday to do some serious flight training including a long navigation exercise.
The morning was perfectly flyable but the forecast was for a storm coming in from the south with winds gusting up to 35 knots.
Consequently, we set off relatively early and landed at Bergerac on the first leg of the navigation exercise, with the dream of finding some hot coffee and a couple of warm croissants.
Sadly, luck was not with us as everything was closed, including the terminal who where obviously not expecting any low-cost international flights on that particular day!
We decided to visit Perigueux for a touch and go then on to Brive before turning for home.
As weather deteriorated rather earlier than forecast, we did a touch and go at Perigueux and headed straight back to Limoges before the storm broke. We arrived in record time with the strong tailwind giving us a ground speed of 148—153 knots.
KT was snugly back in the hangar when the storm arrived at Limoges and I headed for home in driving rain, grateful that we had managed two hours of flying which is always better than none at all.
It was my student's first taste of flying in turbulent conditions which did not phase him at all.
The most popular topic of conversation at the Aero club this week seems to be the new ICAO rules regarding International Radio Telephony in English.
The French authorities have agreed to comply with the rules for their Professional Pilots but are not presently enforcing this rule for Private Pilots.
Some club members have discussed this subject with me and virtually all would like to be proficient in English RT to enable them to fly confidently in Europe.
With this in mind, our next project is to provide an RT audio file in English to aid our French friends when flying in Britain.
As flying is not possible today, I shall use the time to give the dogs a long walk in the woods and, if the rain eases, I shall move the electric fence to provide better pasture for the horses.
Life is never boring at Nearlyheaven!!
Happy landings
I am always happy to receive your questions and comments, as follows:
Questions for publication on francoflyers.org: questions@francoflyers.org
General queries not for publication: sue@francoflyers.org
Questions related to existing articles are best published as comments to those articles
David Baverstock writes:
Hi
I have a question I would like answered if possible.
I have a Cessna 152 G registered and an FAA PPL
Am I legally allowed to fly to france.
Questions for publication on francoflyers.org: questions@francoflyers.org
General queries not for publication: sue@francoflyers.org
Questions related to existing articles are best published as comments to those articles
David Pedley writes:
Dear Sue,
Firstly, a thank you for all the hard work you have put into creating such a useful site. I have just found it through the details being published in Pilot magazine this month.
We bought a house in the Vendée in December and I have an N-registered SR22 arriving in April. Up to now, I have visited France (not venturing much beyond Cherbourg, Deauville and Le Touquet) in our group-owned G-Reg TB20.
I have a UK PPL at present. I intend to obtain an FAA PPL but this involves a trip to the States and I am not sure when I shall manage this.
So, the question: do you please have any experience of the French authorities’ attitude to N-Reg aircraft and to flying them in French airspace with a UK PPL? I understand from AOPA that the latter is legal but that does not mean that difficulties will not be encountered! I do know about the necessity of carrying evidence that VAT has been paid on the aircraft.
Please submit your questions, as follows:
Questions for publication on francoflyers.org: questions@francoflyers.org
General queries not for publication: sue@francoflyers.org
Questions related to existing articles are best published as comments to those articles
Colin Tucker writes:
Thank you for the excellent section on your site providing an introduction to French ATC phraseology. I found it particularly useful having the audio version included since it is a long time since I took my French O Level.
I hope to make a flight to Saumur in the next few weeks and would like to know whether digital versions of the official French VFR maps are available. I have paper versions of these and the Jeppessen maps but have been unable to find digital versions.
I fly a Piper 6X with the Avidyne Integra system so have map and approach chart functionality built in but I like to have the back-up of digital CAA maps on a PDA when flying in the UK and would like to do something similar in France if possible.
Do you know of a source of such digital maps and software?
Thanks again for taking the time to provide such a useful site.
Colin Tucker (G-RAGT)
Please submit your questions, as follows:
Questions for publication on francoflyers.org: questions@francoflyers.org
General queries not for publication: sue@francoflyers.org
Questions related to existing articles are best published as comments to those articles
At last I have returned to the right hand seat after my enforced convalescence following an operation in January.
My respite from the Aero Club has given me the time to work on the Francoflyers blog and to answer the many questions which continue to arrive on a daily basis from all of you intrepid pilots hoping to fly in France,
I am delighted to be of help to you all. Of course, I don't know everything which is why the blog offers everybody the opportunity to share information.
I shared my convalescence with my newly-purchased Hungarian Vizsla puppy, who also had an operation to repair a torn cruciate ligament. She was confined to her 'cage' for 6 weeks, which was a nightmare for both of us as her energy levels grew to bursting point.
Thankfully, she is fully recovered and enjoying her freedom again.
My other bitch is pregnant and due to have her litter of puppies in 2 weeks time. She is huge now so I dread to think what size she will be prior to the birth.
If anybody fancies a Vizsla puppy from 'championship' bloodlines, I am taking reservations now.
It felt so good to be flying again and my student Matthew had a wide grin on his face when he arrived for his lesson.
His younger brother decided to ride in the rear seat during the flight but didn't seem too thrilled by the experience. Everyone is different, 'horses for courses'.
On the subject of horses, my hospital consultant has banned me from horse riding for 3 months which is a blow but, thankfully, I have her permission to fly.
I would have been impossible to live with if my flying had been curtailed for that length of time.
I saw a lot of Matthew during the last week of February as he came daily to my home to do his compulsory week of 'work experience' as part of his school curriculum.
We used this time to cover some tuition on the ground subjects and I am delighted to announce that he finished the week by passing three exams with excellent marks.
As mentioned in a previous article, Matt came to me, at the age of 15, with the ambition to become an airline pilot.
He has always worked hard and diligently towards his goal so I was proud to send him solo after only 8 hours of tuition (NB minimum age for solo flight is 16, mimimum age for issue of a PPL is 17).
He is hoping to pass the PPL on his 17th birthday and then his sights will be set on the ATPL.
Teaching young students who want to become airline pilots is extremely rewarding as they are all highly-motivated, focussed and very quick learners.
My youngest student came to me at just 13 years old, knowing more aircraft types than I did, thanks to his passion and his computer.
At the other end of the scale, I have several customers in their 60's and at least one septuagenarian.
You're never too young and never too old to enjoy flying.
Best wishes
Sue
I am always happy to receive your questions and comments, as follows:
Questions for publication on francoflyers.org: questions@francoflyers.org
General queries not for publication: sue@francoflyers.org
Questions related to existing articles are best published as comments to those articles
Kim Hampshire writes:
Congratulations on an excellent site. It is a real service to pilots planning to fly VFR in France.
I have a share in an AirTourer 150 and I plan to take a tour in France in August 2008 lasting only 8 days.
II am planning to enter France at Cherbourg. From there I plan limiting myself to the regions of Poitou-Charantes, Limousin, Aquitaine and Midi-Pyrenees. I am particularly keen to visit smaller French airports and visiting the parts of France away from the usual tourist centres. I will be visiting Mimizan and would like to visit Aire-sur-L'Ardour. Apart from that at this stage I have no fixed itinerary.
Over 30 years ago I worked in a French company and was fluent in French. My French is now rusty and I have never flown using French R/T procedures. I would therefore like to spend a few hours with an instructor to practice French R/T procedures and make sure that I understand French Air Law and practices. As I plan to visit the smaller airports, I would like to listen to circuit traffic and communicate in French.
Questions :
1. Do you have any recommendations for an instructor either in Cherbourg or nearby for either Saturday 16th August or Sunday 17th August?
2. Can you recommend a good guide for 'Chambres d'hote' near airports?
Please submit your questions, as follows:
Questions for publication on francoflyers.org: questions@francoflyers.org
General queries not for publication: sue@francoflyers.org
Questions related to existing articles are best published as comments to those articles
Steve Powell writes:
Hi, can you please tell me when Mode S transponders will have to be used in France.
We operate the Amphibious Flying Club with a Maule M7 in Enniskillen and will be attending the Seaplane fly in at Biscarrosse on the 1st of May and have been putting off fitting one.
In the UK at the moment as long as we do not travel by class A airspace then they are still not required as yet.
Please submit your questions, as follows:
Questions for publication on francoflyers.org: questions@francoflyers.org
General queries not for publication: sue@francoflyers.org
Questions related to existing articles are best published as comments to those articles
The Aéro-club de Limoges have published their latest schedule of flying charges, effective 1st March 2008 2008.
| Aircraft Type | Hourly rate (euro) | Sterling equivalent |
| Robin DR400-140 | €105.00 | £80 |
| Robin DR400-180 | €114.60 | £88 |
| Diamond Star DA40 | €115.80 | £89 |
| Mooney M20J | €153.60 | £118 |
| Prices shown are for solo hire (wet) and include local taxes Prices are also inclusive of landing fees at Limoges Sterling equivalents are approximate, based on March 2008 exchange rates | ||
This French club has a growing population of English-speaking members and can provide training in either language.
Annual club membership for 2008 is €75 (Sterling equivalent = £56)
Annual membership of the Fédération Française Aéronautique (FFA) for 2008 is €61 (Sterling equivalent = £45)
FFA membership is compulsory for French aero-club members and other pilots based in France but does include €10,000 accident insurance cover and access to various services such as Meteo France.
Club and FFA membership is not required for trial lessons (1 only).
I had an odd experience yesterday.
I was booking a Ryanair flight from Stanstead to Limoges for the end of March (slightly short notice to get a good price) when I hit a problem with the credit card payment.
It turned out to be one of those 'random' checks where the credit card company asks the retailer to contact them in order to establish the identify of the buyer—a little bit tricky if the retailer is a computer and the customer is not present.
If no contact is made, the card is blocked.
Anyway, having prevailed upon the credit card company to unblock my card, I rebooked the same flights to discover that the price had dropped from £120 to £74—RESULT.
I am used to the concept that prices rise as the flight time draws nearer but the algorithms are obviously a bit more complex than that.
In fact, I could have saved myself a further £18 by taking hand luggage only and using the on-line check-in facility—they were charging £5 (each-way) per item of cabin baggage last year but now they charge £6 with an additional fee of £3 for airport check-in (since you can't deliver the baggage without checking-in, that's £9 each way for a single bag).
At these prices, you can't really complain and there are plenty of bargains to be had—even if Ryanair don't make it that easy to find them.
The main thing with all of the cheap airlines is that each leg of the journey is considered as a single transaction—you may see a £10 trip to La Rochelle advertised but you won't necessarily get the same price on the way back.
Until recently, the Skyscanner site was able to present Ryanair flights a month at a time so that you could see, at a glance, the cheapest flights out and back.
At the time of writing, Easyjet flights are still presented this way but Ryanair seem to have 'put their foot down with a firm hand'.
So it's back to the Ryanair site and the old technique of juggling the dates about to find the best fit.
For example, at the time of writing, I could travel to Limoges on Monday 28th April for £10 (1p + taxes) and return on Wednesday 30th April for £10.
My more-typical pattern would be a long weekend but I could still go out on Thursday 24th April (£10) and return on Tuesday 29th for £10.
Oddly, the following week is a lot more expensive with return fares ranging form £32.50 to £49.50.
When completing the booking, be sure to deselect the 'extras' such as priority boarding (£6) and travel insurance (£15.52) unless you really want them—you can, as I mentioned, opt for free on-line check-in and hand-baggage only though I don't see any way of avoiding the £6 credit-card fee if booking on-line.
There are some excellent bargains to be had with Ryanair but do be sure that you only pay for what you actually want.
With one-way trips available for £10, I am beginning to contemplate the idea of flying over by Ryanair and returning to the UK in a club aircraft, if I can pair-up with somebody who wants to do the same thing in reverse.
I am delighted to report that Georges Thety is now our ‘Resident Examiner’.
Georges is now on the list of approved Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) examiners, as well as being an approved French (DGAC) examiner.
He is available for flight tests and any SEP revalidations which need a flight with an examiner.
As mentioned in other postings, I am specifically authorised to conduct ground examinations in France, using English-language papers.
Whether your licence is issued in France or the UK, we have it covered.
Mike Stones writes:
Hi there,
Just enjoyed visiting the Francoflyers site.
Do you know how I could find taildraggers for hire in the Montpellier region? I'm moving there to work as a journalist in May and would dearly love to continue flying Super Cubs or any taildragger aircraft.
Web searches haven't revealed much.
Thanks for your help.
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