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.
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
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
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.
Posted by: Gentreau | 30 December 2011 at 04:59 AM
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.
Posted by: Les King | 30 December 2011 at 10:33 AM
As a English Microlight pilot, i have found this website invaluable, as i am hoping to be flying in France in the very near future. I was based at a airfield with air to ground radio but now i am flying out of an international airport in the UK with full ATC. There has been a steep learning curve with my RT.
In the UK when we are arriving at a airstrip after hrs or without a ground radio are first call will include the airfield name followed by traffic. Give are call sign and where we are in relation to the airstrip followed by traffic calls at the appropriate times. EXAMPLE: Popham Traffic G-CCEF 3 miles West for overhead join. Poham Traffic G-CCEF Downwind for runway 25. ETC. Nice and simple and keeps the airways clear. Hope this is helpfull. Regards Peter
Posted by: Peter Disley | 27 July 2015 at 05:56 PM
My wife and I are keen French tourist aviators. The French language skill is not just a courtesy but in my opinion an essential safety requirement. Coming into Nantes they speak to me in English but an Air France Airbus behind me is conversing in French! We land in completely unmanned airfields like Villefranche de Rouergue, Joigny etc and its a real comfort to understand where everyone is positioned.
Very useful website but probably not well known in the UK. I will make a mention of it in AOPA UK news.
Posted by: Robert Hill | 16 January 2017 at 06:34 PM
Typepad
Hi Robert
Thanks for your kind comments which I have published on Francoflyers.
I started this blog when I was flying regularly in France (with the Aeroclub de Limoges) and experienced some difficulty in pinning down the different rules, including such matters as what I could or could not do with my original UK PPL (since upgraded to JAR and then EASA).
Sadly, the site has been somewhat neglected of late as I now fly mainly in the UK.
The original concept was to have lots of contributing authors but that never really materialised.
If you know, through AOPA, people who fly regularly in France would like to contribute suitable material, that would be most useful.
Regards
Les King
Posted by: Les King | 16 January 2017 at 09:24 PM
Hello,
I'm a student pilot based in Angoulême who flies to Limoges often. Since my main language is English, I'm not allowed to go A-A airfields alone.
Thanks to the great references on this site, I've practiced to understand and make radio calls in French myself. Now I'm able to speak simple French on the frequency and understand what people around me are doing.
I would like to share this site to other non-French speaking classmates, it's just wonderful!
Regards
Chris
Posted by: Chris | 30 March 2021 at 02:59 PM