Just spent a week flying out of Brest including a flight to Ouessant. I thought I would ask some questions on how easy it is for a non French speaker to fly in and out of the airfield. I could not talk to the AFIS because I was told he has been forced to take a holiday.
So I spoke with several flight instructors, an examiner and one of the Cessna Caravan pilots who does the daily trip. I don’t really think I learnt anything that hasn’t already been covered in this thread.This
I will precis the conversations. Q. “How would a non French speaker go about flying to Ouessant.”
A: Carry a sheet of paper with key phrases on them and read them out at the appropriate time"
Q: But what If the AFIS is on and he asks something?
A1) Go when its quiet and AFIS is not there
A2) He is only going to say rappelle en vue or rapelle finale, vent arriere or whatever so just add to the paper je rappelerai en vue etc.
I.e they reckon that AFIS will usually only ask you to "report in view or report downwind or wherever to which you reply Je rapellerai (I will report…)
Q) This is not very helpful to tourists from other countries wanting to fly themselves, why shouldn’t they just go to tue Scilly Isles instead of Ouessant.
A) The Scilly Islands are great we take a lot of our CPL students there so they can practice their English and have a great lunch in wonderful surroundings.
Q) Don’t you think it would be good if foreign pilots came to Ouessant sometimes, instead of the Scilly Isles?
A) I’m sure the businesses on the Island would love more foreign pilots, I should be having a meeting with the mayor of Ouessant in the next few days I’ll mention it to him.
(This last statement was from the CEO of an aviation business based at Brest).
Sorry not to get any more than already covered.
I was supposed to be in Ouessant this weekend, but due to the forecast I opted for another destination in Brittany. In the end it turned out that I got rain after all although it wasn’t forecast.
Many thanks for checking that out, Gallois.
I reckon Ouessant would get a lot of UK business if they had immigration too 
Not all AFIS are English qualified – there are several airfields where only one person is and you have to ask in advance (Laval for example), or where none are, such as Ouessant, Cahors….
Flying to an uncontrolled FR airfield with pre-learned phrases is one thing, but trying to do it with a “real” person on the radio without some training would be ill-advised IMHO. It would only take a momentary incomprehension to cause problems not only for you but for the AFIS also, meaning an administrative headache.
Finistair operate commercial flights with a Cessna Caravan from Brest to Ouessant.
Hello
Ouessant is nice Island for lunch stop. If you plan to stay overnight i suggest Belle Ile
gallois wrote:
He is only going to say rappelle en vue or rapelle finale, vent arriere or whatever so just add to the paper je rappelerai en vue etc.
Isn’t the answer to that in any language WILCO anyway?
Noe wrote:
Isn’t the answer to that in any language WILCO anyway?
Not if the request includes a runway number, I think. That would have to be read back, at least if you’re dealing with ATC. An AFIS may let it slip maybe.
Even if it were not mandatory with an AFIS, I think it’s a very good idea to always read back runways, headings, altitudes and altimeter settings (QNH). Could avoid dangerous situations like I once had at Île d’Yeu: The commercial commuter plane had just taken off from runway 32, there were around 4 or 5 planes on the frequency heading towards the airfield to land, and we were number 2 on downwind. On base (IIRC), you could hear the commuter plane on frequency saying that he had just had an airprox with a plane heading in the opposite direction. After we touched down, the other plane went around on very short final to the opposite runway 14, overflying us at maybe 50 ft, to be never seen again.
Maybe not exactly a misunderstanding about the runway in use, because the pilot was never heard on frequency, but nonetheless a rather dangerous situation to be approaching the wrong runway. So I would say, at least learn to say the numbers of the runways that you can expect in French before heading to a FR only field.
Even though don’t recall a number being normally mentioned on these (it’s usually report final / right base / etc), I still don’t think it’s required.
The required readbacks are: https://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/33/SRG-NATS_RTDISCIP.PDF
Taxi instructions
Level instructions
Heading instructions
Speed instructions
Airways or route clearances
Runway-in-use
Clearances to enter, land on, take-off on, backtrack, cross, or hold short of an active runway.
SSR operating instructions
Altimeter settings
VDF information
Frequency changes
Types of radar service
I would reply to “report pasing 2000 ft” / Report final runway 22 the same: WILCO, since they are not Runway / Altitude instructions
The reality is that most FR only airfields are less busy, but you have no way to know that before hand
Exception, the last time when I visited Calais outside ATSU hours at lunch time it went busy: it was a bunch of 4 inbound pilots in the circuit from Netherlands, Germany, UK all trying to speak French
But “runway in use” is a required read back according to your list?
