francoflyers

French Radio Calls re-posted

I can't believe that It's now four years since I set up Francoflyers and hope that it's been of some use in providing information which was only available in 'dribs and drabs' when I first joined a French flying club.

One of our most popular and useful articles is the one on French Radio Calls which I have re-posted as a permanent page on the sidebar of this blog so that it's easier to find.

The article is still at it's original location so no need to change any 'favourites' links.

I also intend to make some minor changes and will do so when the original 'recording artiste' gets back to the UK in a few weeks.

For the benefit of English-speaking pilots who haven't flown in France, I would emphasise that English is the principal language of Air Traffic Control but the French calls come in handy when dealing with 'uncontrolled' airfields—basically, you just use French to let any other aircraft in the area know what you are doing.

It's all fairly simple stuff, even for somebody like me whose command of French is generally limited to eating-related matters.

UK Radiotelephony Manual (CAP 413)—Edition 19

Thanks to Gareth Lamb for pointing out that a new edition (19) of the UK Radiotelephony maula is now published on the CAA web site.

Download it from CAP 413 R/T Manual

A Reference Guide to UK Phraseology for General Aviation Pilots

This new publication from the UK Civil Aviation Authority is an interactive guide providing a quick reference  to Radiotelephony Phraseology most frequenly used by GA pilots.

This is a supplement to CAP 413 which remains the 'bible' for UK radiotelephony procedures.

Note that there are some minor differences in R/T usage between the UK and France.

A Reference Guide to UK Phraseology for General Aviation Pilots

Radiotelephony Manual (CAP 413)

UK Radiotelephony Manual (CAP 413)

The Civil Aviation Authority Radiotelephony Manual (CAP 413) is being updated with effect from 12th March 2009—would you believe, Edition 18.

Fortunately, you no longer have to shell-out hard-earned cash for the hard-copy version every couple of years because it is available on-line at CAP 413 R/T Manual.

  

Book Review—L'Anglais Pour Voler

After reading a few articles on the Francoflyers blog, author Dominique Défossez was kind enough to send me a review copy of the excellent L'Anglais Pour Voler which is now in it’s 4th Edition.

Although the title suggests a publication aimed at French speakers learning aviation English, the book works equally well in the opposite direction.

But this is not just a few handy ‘tourist phrases'—it is a comprehensive work on all aspects of aviation terminology.

For example, under the ‘Aircraft Types’ section, I learned that ‘un cerf-volant’ is a kite and ‘un planeur’ is a glider—actually, I already knew about the cerf-volant having often visited the excellent restaurant in the hotel of the same name by the entrance to Limoges airport.

In addition to aircraft types, areas covered by this book include airframes, engines, systems, flight instruments, performance, maintenance and air traffic services.

There is also extensive coverage of radiotelephony phraseology.

As if more than 200 pages of that good stuff weren’t enough, there are English-French and French-English reference sections arranged alphabetically together with a section on ‘Meteo codes' organised both thematically and alphabetically.

Just to allow for anything that may have been missed, the last 2 pages provide useful terms for ‘a whatsit’ (un Machin) and 'a thingummyjig’ (un Bidule).

I was most impressed by the organisation of this book which comes in a handy spiral-bound format for easy handling.

The book may be purchased directly from www.anglais-pour-voler.com or from various ‘aviation’ shops also listed on the web site.

The publication will also be available in 'Le CD-ROM' format later in the year.

There is, incidentally, a very useful FREE resource on this web site—a monthly English-language audio recording of the "In English, please" column from the French 'Info-Pilote' magazine.

ATC Ringtones—whatever next?

If you're bored with 'The Simpsons', 'Rondo alla Turca' or 'the Nokia tune' on your mobile phone, you can now choose from a growing library of 10-15 second radio-call ringtones provided by www.bristol-airfield.co.uk.

Use the 'Message Alerts' link on the sidebar to locate the ringtones library. 

This 'aircraft enthusiast' site is still very much under development and is in the process of being moved to a new server which will accommodate the growing number of photos, sound clips and video clips.

There is also a large library of English-language ATC radio conversations available from the 'Sound Clips Library' link though these are still in the process of being transferred from the old web space.

These will be of particular interest to our French colleagues who wish to polish-up their English-language radio skills before it becomes compulsory to do so.  

Readers can sign-up for a newsletter which will advise on updates to this site.

English-language Radiotelephony

A new web site to promote Bristol Airport, being developed by aviation enthusiast Andrew Grist, includes a selection of sound-clips which will be of interest to French pilots who wish to improve their English-language radiotelephony skills.

The recordings include:

Bristol Tower
Bristol Approach
Bristol Approach & Tower
Bristol Airport's Flight Information Service
London Control - Bristol Sector

There are also a couple of ATIS recordings with a printed translation which is just as well as they have that special sound quality only found with aircraft radio transmissions.

The site is still under development but most of the recordings are already in place and the remainder will be there shortly.

The sound clips page can be found at: www.bristol-airfield.co.uk/sound_clips.php and the ATIS recordings are at: www.bristol-airfield.co.uk/atis_examples.php

For further study of English-language Radiotelephony procedures as used in the United Kingdom, download the Civil Aviation Authority Radiotelelephony Manual (CAP 413) from www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/cap413.pdf

As with most countries, there are a few variations from the ICAO standard which are listed in the manual.

French Radio Calls

NB For easier reference, we have re-posted this very popular article as a permanent page directly accessible from the sidebar of this blog.

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.

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

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 translation and audio recording)