French Radio Calls

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—and during lunch-breaks.

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.

Arrival

Marmande; Foxtrot Golf Mike Kilo Tango, ETA five minutes Marmande; Foxtrot Golf Mike Kilo Tango, estimé cinq minutes

Marmande; Foxtrot Kilo Tango, overhead, joining downwind for runway 11 Marmande; Foxtrot Kilo Tango, verticale, nous intégrons vent arrière pour piste unité, unité

Marmande; Foxtrot Kilo Tango, downwind for runway 11 Marmande; Foxtrot Kilo Tango, vent arrière pour piste unité, unité

Marmande; Foxtrot Kilo Tango, base leg for runway 11 Marmande; Foxtrot Kilo Tango, étape de base pour piste unité, unité

Marmande; Foxtrot Kilo Tango, turning final for runway 11 Marmande; Foxtrot Kilo Tango, dernier virage pour piste unité, unité

Marmande; Foxtrot Kilo Tango, final for runway 11 Marmande; Foxtrot Kilo Tango, finale pour piste unité, unité

Marmande; Foxtrot Kilo Tango, runway vacated Marmande; Foxtrot Kilo Tango, piste dégagée

Departure

Marmande; Foxtrot Golf Mike Kilo Tango, taxiing holding point for runway 11 Marmande; Foxtrot Golf Mike Kilo Tango, roulons point d’arrêt pour piste unité, unité

Marmande; Foxtrot Kilo Tango, entering active runway Marmande; Foxtrot Kilo Tango, Je pénètre

Marmande; Foxtrot Kilo Tango, backtracking runway Marmande; Foxtrot Kilo Tango, Je remonte

Marmand, Foxtrot Kilo Tango, lining-up runway 11 Marmande; Foxtrot Kilo Tango, aligné piste unité, unité

Marmande; Foxtrot Kilo Tango, taking-off Marmande; Foxtrot Kilo Tango, décollage

Marmande; Foxtrot Kilo Tango, leaving the zone Marmande; Foxtrot Kilo Tango, sortie de zone

 

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 )
	Whole Phonetic Alphabet

 

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 Sortie de zone—vers le sud Sortie de zone—vers l’est Sortie de zone—vers l’ouest Sortie de circuit—vers le nord Sortie de circuit—vers le sud Sortie de circuit—vers l’est Sortie de circuit—vers l’ouest	leaving the area—to the north leaving the area—to the south leaving the area—to the east leaving the area—to the west leaving the circuit—to the north leaving the circuit—to the south leaving the circuit—to the east leaving the circuit—to the west
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

We would like to acknowledge the contributions of those who assisted with the checking of content and French R/T phraseology:

Esteban Dwarka—Member, Aéro-club de Limoges (French translation / audio recording)
Gorges Thety—Flying Instructor, Aéro-club de Limoges
Jean Pierre Neymond—Air Traffic Controller, Limoges (Bellegarde) Airport

Comments

[Gentreau]

Hi, I have to disagree with the statement "other aircraft won’t be particularly interested in your origin, aircraft type or approach altitude." I'm a french licenced microlight pilot and during my training it was made very clear to me that the blind calls on 123.500 need to provide more information that you give in the example.

I was taught, and always give the following:
Provenance, sector, altitude, ETA, next call.

Example:
Marmande; Foxtrot Golf Mike Kilo Tango, ULM en provenance de Poitiers, à cing nautiques secteur nord-est, deux mille pieds QNH, estimé cinq minutes, je rappelle verticale.

That tells any other traffic where to look for me and where I will be in 5 minutes.

[Les King]

Hi Gentreau

Thanks for your comment which I am happy to publish even though I disagree with it.

I can't imagine why another pilot would want to know, for example, the origin and type of your aircraft though this information is certainly part of the standard call when speaking to an Air Traffic Controller.

As you can see from the 'credits', this article was checked and approved by a French flying instructor and a French Air Traffic Controller.

Also, the article is aimed a pilots without French as their first language so I think that the full standard call would be a bit too challenging.