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)

Comments

[Pierre CROZET]

Excellent idea,this "french radio call" is a perfect basic package for english spoken pilots to operate safely on uncontrolled airfield
Bravo SUE
Pierre

[sue virr]

Hi Pierre

many thanks for your message.I am delighted that you have seen my new site.
My next project is to write a similar file, this time the audio will be in English for the French pilots who wish to fly to England or Europe, I hope that this will make it easier for them to speak with the English speaking controllers.

[Roger]

Very impressive - well done. It will help me learn the French radio patter and also the pronunciation...

[sue virr]

Hi Roger

Thank you for your posting I am delighted to be of assistance to you.
Good luck with your French Radio calls in the future!Perhaps you can report back to us after putting it into practice in France.

[George Brown]

Hi Sue
This is great, just what I have been looking for.
I did visit you 2 years ago when you were away.
Went flying with Philippe at the aero club (twice)
We especially remember the mushroom pickers and your husbands socks catching fire in the lounge!!!
Hope to see you in 2008
George and Mary.
G-GERY

[sue virr]

Hi George

i am delighted that you are enjoying the site.We usually add something new each day so keep watching this space.

It would be superb if you can make the time to visit me in 2008.Please give me plenty of notice as i get very booked up in the summer months.

[david thelwall]

This basic French RT stuff is great. Well done.

Our microlight club, N Yorkshire Fling Club, is planning a French Trip in May / June and this will be a tremendous help. Hoping that some of us can make it to Limoges.

A couple of Questions:

1. How do you ask for "Airfield Information"? .. and anyway would you expect a reply at an uncontrolled airfield.

2. In the above files, you refer to "estime cinq minutes". In English RT this would mean that you expected to be at the designated point at 05 mins past the hour and NOT in 5 minutes time. What is the French meaning .. I suspect the "in 5 mins"

3. Are distances referred to in KM, SM or NM?
.. and is height in feet or metres (M on maps)?

Thanks

David

[Les King]

Hi David

Glad you enjoyed the article on French R/T which has generally gone down well.

In fact, R/T is a language of it's own with many variations of use, even in the UK.

In answer to your specific questions:

1/ At uncontrolled airfields, the only source of information, apart from the signals square, is the other pilots who will generally provide the required information.

As a French speaker of limited ability, I tend to keep the language as simple as possible with questions such as "quelle piste en service" (which runway in use) or "demande QFE" (request QFE).

If you get no reply, the idea is to announce your position/intentions at each stage which is a lot easier than having an actual conversation.

2/ We checked out our script with one of the Limoges Air Traffic Controllers and are fairly happy that "estime cinq minutes" means that you will arrive in 5 minutes.

In the UK, I would say "ETA zero-five" to mean 5 minutes past the hour but I find this a bit confusing so usually cop-out and give the complete time.

3/ Units of measurement did cause a lot of confusion several years back when lower airspace was shown in Metres and Flight Levels were shown in feet—even more confusing on the Southern UK maps where the units changed mid-channel.

I use the popular French half-million charts where all vertical measurements are now shown in feet or flight levels (also feet).

Horizontal distances may be measured directly in Nautical Miles with your 'Nav Rule', as with UK maps to the same scale.

Note that these charts only show airspace up to 5000' AMSL (above sea level) or 2000' ASFC (above surface) where this is higher.

On French airfield charts, runway dimensions are shown in Metres and distances from nav-aids, etc, are shown in Nautical Miles, just like the UK in both cases.

Regards

Les King
Site Administrator

[Roger Bell]

Dear Sue,

Excellent. There was a handy sheet printed in Pilot a few years ago but nothing as user friendly as your site. Please pass on my thanks to Les King.

Good luck with the pups.

Kind regards,

Roger Bell

[david thelwall]

Les

Thanks for reply.

I think the reason for not giving the Hours in UK situation is that the Local Vs Zulu time confusion is removed.

Anyway French etime meaning is very helpful.

Cheers

D

[david thelwall]

How do you ask for Zone Transit in French? My thought is that full ATC service would be in English but what about military airfields (say Creil which is directly en route from Abbeville to Fontenay-Tresigny and looks as if you can go acroos at >2500 feet without asking) .. do military operate in English?.

David

[sue virr]

I have always spoken to the military in English.

They have been extremely courteous and helpful at all times.

Do remember that most military areas are unrestricted at weekends and bank holidays.

If you have any problems about ANYTHING, speak to your nearest FIS in English and ask them to ask for zone transit for you or for confirmation that the area is active or not.

The French ATC (in English) is exactly the same as the British ATC apart from the French accent!