Last Saturday I made a quick lunch run to Maubeuge (LFQJ), which was the first time I flew into a FR-only field. Problem is I didn’t know it was FR-only, because I really wasn’t familiar with the SIA VAC system and relied only on the AIP. Now I understand the system better and can prepare for this in the future. 25 years ago I spoke French fluently, but it’s been a long time since I’ve used it with any regularity and was completely unfamiliar with aviation phraseology.
So when I called and asked for information in English, I got a friendly but firm response that it was French only. After a moment of debating with myself about whether I should continue, I responded and said, “Ok, avez-vous les informations?” At that point I just made up something to communicate my intentions… “YR-MAY entre le circuit”; “YR-MAY finale deux-trois”; “YR-MAY sort de la piste”. While eating lunch I quickly googled the appropriate phraseology, which I used uneventfully upon departure.
I’m wondering, for those more experienced with FR-only fields, what level of French proficiency I should have in order to safely operate out of such fields? For anyone with a basic command of the language, the phrases seem pretty straightforward. Should I consider myself safe to fly into these fields?
I am pretty sure the debate has been done in the 42 previous pages ;)
Some (myself included) will say you can only use a language in which your proficiency have been tested.
So you would only be OK to fly in a FR only airfield at the condition you have a “French Radio proficiency” on your licence.
The problem is : you can only have this proficiency if you hold an EASA licence issued by french DGAC.
Some others would say, as long as you can be perfectly understood by others on the ground (and as long as you can understand them, which can be trickier), there will be no problem….
no problem until a narrow minded gendarme will come and control you, or until there will be an accident in which some radio transmissions will not have been completely understood.
We have some phrases here but, as has already been done to death 
my view and that of many others is that unless you can actually speak and understand sufficiently, this will just trip you up as soon as somebody replies. And somebody well might to make a point if they are having a bad day. Probably somewhat more likely after 31/12/2020
jeff64 wrote:
Some (myself included) will say you can only use a language in which your proficiency have been tested.
That is atrociously very wrong, way too wrong to be debated but will try nenthless
It’s only true if you don’t have English LP,
- Once you are tested in English, you can speak ANY LANGUAGE if it’s allowed in the country
- If you are not tested in English, you need to be tested in the country language
This is not specific to France,
- You can speak French if you have English in your Swedish PPL (with no English you need French LP Niveau 4)
- You can speak German if you have English in your Dutch PPL (with no English you need German BZF)
Let go back to France
‘FR Only Airfields’ is only about language used in aerodrome vicinity it has nothing to do with ICAO pilot license or language proficiency, at least it’s not that obvious from reading page 13 here,
https://www.sia.aviation-civile.gouv.fr/pub/media/reglementation/file/r/a/radiotel_v3.pdf local copy
https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/loda/id/JORFTEXT000000217980/
Also what you are saying above can’t be true for ‘non FR Airfields’ like Orly? I regularly hear French pilots flying RyanAir within France talking French to French ATC as they have to comply with 2.4 ‘French needs to speak French’ in the document above, are you saying such legal requirement is actually illegal? as they should hold DGAC papers get tested for French LP instead of flying with Irish papers and English LP, I am sure those professional pilots are well versed on what is legal and not legal when it comes to speaking French versus the average 12h Sunday pilots in ‘FR Only Airfield’…
We can invent restrictive interpretation of this but ‘heureusement que le ridicule ne tue pas’
jeff64 wrote:
The problem is : you can only have this proficiency if you hold an EASA licence issued by french DGAC.
Nope, I have it on my Luxembourg licence :)
dutch_flyer wrote:
While eating lunch I quickly googled the appropriate phraseology
Not sure what you found, but for everyone’s reference the “official” and complete one is at https://www.ecologie.gouv.fr/sites/default/files/manuel_phras%C3%A9ologie.pdf
https://www.ecologie.gouv.fr/reglementation-circulation-aerienne-en-france#scroll-nav__5
https://www.sia.aviation-civile.gouv.fr/reglementation
See also https://www.aeroport.fr/uploads/documents/nav%20aerienne/PHRASEOLOGIE_lecturedoublepage.pdf
I’m a native French language speaker (though not French), and I forever forget how to say “unable” in aviation French, so I periodically refer back to it. I always want to say “incapable” (straight translation from English), but it is is “impossible”.
Peter wrote:
unless you can actually speak and understand sufficiently, this will just trip you up as soon as somebody replies.
As I mentioned in my post, I do actually understand and speak French at a decent level. It’s certainly good enough to use in an environment with constrained phraseology/vocabulary provided I’m familiar with it. I wasn’t so much asking about the legality, as I agree it’s been covered already. But more the practical side, i.e. if I have rusty but decent French skills, is my statement that I’m good enough a reasonable one? Or will there often be lots of nonstandard radio chatter in which I will be expected to participate? With my one experience I’m inclined to feel ok about it, but it’s a single data point.
dutch_flyer wrote:
Or will there often be lots of nonstandard radio chatter in which I will be expected to participate? With my one experience I’m inclined to feel ok about it, but it’s a single data point.
There should not be much chatter, much less one in which you would be expected to participate (most chatter, in my experience at least, is when 2 persons know each other and say things like ’C’est pierre? Tu va bien, passe le bonjour chez toi.’). From that point of view, I would say that your level, if you do look into the specific phraseology, should be sufficient, from what you describe.
lionel wrote:
See also https://www.aeroport.fr/uploads/documents/nav%20aerienne/PHRASEOLOGIE_lecturedoublepage.pdf
This is very helpful. Thanks!
Ibra wrote:
- You can speak German if you have English in your Dutch PPL (with no English you need German BZF)That is not quite true, you need German LP (at least level 4), if you don’t have any English LP, plus the BZF in any case.
Nope, I have it on my Luxembourg licence :)Correct, you can enter French LP also into Swiss licenses, just like German and Italian LP. The Swiss FOCA also enters “German” under radio privileges, in order to keep their pilots ‘safe’ in Germany.
From a practical point of view, many of these fields are very quiet. Particularly so at specific times of the day/week.
A call to the airfield before hand can often reveal that if you come at certain times there will be nobody in the tower and almost certainly nobody in the air. So how good or bad your French is, isn’t very important!
I’ve visited a handful of such fields, and rarely come across much traffic at them. More often than not, I’m the only one in the air. Having said that, my visits would often be midweek.
dp
