Flying through France

Direct track looks fine to me. You’ll need to ask Tours for a VFR transit, and check the AZBA charts the day before:
https://www.sia.aviation-civile.gouv.fr/asp/frameset_uk.asp?m=39

You can check in with the FIS after departure and if not too busy they’ll probably help. At Rodez you can ask for a transit or duck down to 1000 ft agl. If R193B is active you can cross it below 800 ft agl.

I frequently fly through France, and honestly have given up checking AZBAs ahead of time. There are so many changes last minute.
what I do is talk to the controller early on and ask which areas are active ahead of me. They are helpful typically they will also issue routing instructions to avoid or even talk to the mil guys and get you through.
Disclaimer: i seldom fly as low as you do

Some French CAS is so complicated it is hard to work out, but they usually clear you through.

A transponder probably helps and as always in a radar environment makes you more likely to look like you know what you are doing

But they may not clear you through the various D P etc areas so plan to avoid them with own navigation.

Obviously GPS is a must because a lot of especially n. France is featureless. Of course opinions on this will vary but if you want to have a simple life and enjoy the flight…

Airspace is so complicated that you can never be sure not to infringe some forbidden zone in France

You should always require a flight information service (out of CAS you won’t have a traffic service, and basic service is just a British thing)
FIS with radar is available almost everywhere in France.

Approaching a mil zone, just ask the AFISO if it’s active, if it is, depending on the zone, you might get a permission to cross it from the military controller.
The Cartabossy is an incredibly efficient tool to fly VFR in France and to prepare your flight, much easier to use than the AIP (Jean Bossy took most of the useful information of the AIP and put it on his chart without the useless part of the AIP). Skydemon does not tell you much about the possibility to cross a military zone, The Cartabossy does.

About Tour, I remember years ago, one of my first flight as a captain, having been cleared to transit, then the military controller told me to descend at 500ft AGL, turn left, right, etc. and then told me “you’re leaving my airspace, have a good flight au revoir”. Of course I was lost. A call to the FIS, and they told me where I was, and vectored me to my next visual waypoint.
In France, above 3000AGL, the semi circular rule is mandatory. Above 3000AGL the rule is to fly a semi circular altitude below the TA of the TMA if you are in a TMA or below a TMA the floor of which is an altitude, and if no TMA is above you to fly a semi circular FL. Of course the controllers don’t enforce that rule if you are out of CAS, yet the rule applies, although most pilots don’t abide.

d4p,

There are essentially 4 categories of airspace in France.

1. Class A airspace
2. All other classes of controlled airspace
3. Restricted chunks/areas of military airspace.
4. Low level restricted tunnels of airspace.

The first is around Paris only. You can’t go in there VFR no matter what.

The second one will surprise you as a British pilot. Unlike the UK, you can reasonably expect to be cleared through controlled airspace in France, along your requested route, at your requested altitude! Of course you need to be prepared for the unusual occasion that you don’t get cleared through, but there is no need to have plan A to avoid. You are very very likely to be cleared through without any fuss at all. There is NO need to plan to avoid these area as a matter of course.

The third one, the restricted chunks of airspace, generally have activation times. Outside these times you can just go through. During active times you’ll need a clearance. However just like the controlled airspace there is a good change that you’ll get through without issue. If there is active exercises going on you might not get through, but you do stand a good chance of getting through. I’d have a Plan B just in case, and it it’s trivial to avoid, then you might as well. But getting through is more likely than not in my experience. The other thing to note is that these areas often look a mess, with overlapping restricted areas with different times. However if you check them in the AIP, you’ll likely find that all the ones in a similar area are controlled by the same agency. And even if they aren’t, they often are on the day in question, or they work closely together. So while it might look a mess, you are often cleared through multiple restricted areas in one radio call.

The last one, the low level tunnels, have specific activation times. They are listed on a daily basis (link given earlier in this thread). If they are active on that day, then you need to avoid them. There is no facility to be cleared through them. You can go under (the base is usually 800AGL) or high over the top (tops are often FL75 type of region), or delay your flight a few hours to avoid the activation hours. (They are usually only active for a few hours at a time).

So in short, don’t let the overly complicated map put you off. It’s not like the UK. You can expect that you’ll be cleared through most of it. (From memory, I can’t remember ever been denied access to airspace in France, which I usually visit one or twice per year, flying through a fair part of it, and never trying to avoid controlled airspace).

There are some things to take into account though.

1. All these airport have VFR reporting points around them. There are usually something like “November” for the one in the north of the airport, or “Whiskey” for one to the west, or “Whiskey 1” & “Whiskey 2” etc if there is more than one. You need to know where these are and refer to them in your requested routing. Also use IFR waypoints. France isn’t big on routings via “Little village” and “Small town” type waypoints. This actually helps you as you don’t need to know how to pronounce the town names ;)

2. Speak slowly and clearly. Especially your callsign (which is all to easy to roll off your lips quickly out of habit). Most French ATC has excellent English, but it is their second language and if they have a hard time understanding you, obviously they’ll be less inclined to talk to you ;)

3. Always, Always (and for good measure) Always use the FIS services. France is divided up into different SIV areas (think London Info/Scottish Info).There is specific frequencies covering different areas. These will give you a squawk code, and follow you on radar. Most importantly they will help give you hand overs to the appropriate agency for your next clearance, or quick often, they will even get the clearance for the next airspace for you, and tell you not to bother changing frequency, but to stay with them, as they already have the clearance for you. They make life so much easier, and will be a second pair of eyes in case you miss something ;)

I hope that helps.
Colm

Colm, all of that that corresponds with what I read and heard elsewhere. But I think there is one important caveat: isn’t it important, or even essential, to carry a transponder, active in at least mode C, to have reasonable chances of being cleared through controlled airspace?

I should expect non-transponder equipped planes have to refrain to uncontrolled airspace i.e. class G.

Great post, DP. Let me make a small fix, not relevant to most: France is Class A all over, above FL200.

I can’t speak for the non-TXP scenario in terms of what clearances you actually get because I never fly non-TXP. But in theory France does not need a TXP for VFR, even in CAS. I don’t suppose ATC like that very much, because a primary-only target is obviously ambiguous if there is more than one in the same place. So I don’t know how they deal with CAS crossings and separation, other than by using the clenched buttocks method e.g. the UK Luton-Stansted SFC-2400ft gap

Most of my flying in France has been IFR but I would say flying VFR is much easier on a weekend when the military are not active…especially in S France….