Little French Trip - Suggestions

[carlmeek]

I’m planning a little 3 day trip, and wondered if anyone could offer any pearly words of wisdom or suggestions of where's nice to visit. I’ve only ever left the country 3 times (St Omer, Le Touquet, Midden-Zeeland), and two of those were this weekend, so i’m on a steep learning curve.

I’m trying to keep the hops short (90 minutes or less) and total travelling time per day to 2 hops. Its a 3 day trip, based on a bank holiday or taking a monday off work when weather looks good. I’m calculating based on 120kts, VFR. I’m set on going to La Rochelle, but the rest of it is flexible. Here’s my first stab....

DAY ONE (Saturday)
Deanland-Cherbourg via St. Catherine’s Point. Through closed DA. 0:52 10:00-11:00. Lunch.
….to La Rochelle. Straight Line. 1:27 14:00-15:30. Uplift 50Litres. Hotel

DAY TWO (Sunday)
….to mid france (like Auxerre-Branches). 1:37 10:00-11:30. Lunch
….to somewhere in Luxembourg, or Germany. 1:45 14:00-16:00. Uplift 70 Litres. Hotel.

DAY THREE (Monday)
….to Oostende 1:13 10:00-11:30. Lunch
….Home 0:49 14:00-15:00.

I’m a bit concerned about french RT, i speak D-Grade 20 years ago GCSE french, so cue cards are the name of the game, but i’m screwed if anyone asks me a question. AIP doesn’t seem to help much here, as even Le Touquet says “FR seulement/only” so i’m not sure how to ascertain which ones _really_ speak french only. Can I get by in a french only field? Is “G-TESR je ne comprend pas” acceptable RT?

-C

[Rob P]

2Ds and I planned Auxerre on our way to Italy. We arrived around lunchtime having battled a headwind, a bit short on fuel, waited a couple of hours and couldn't find a single person on the entire aerodrome. It made the Marie Celeste look like a rush hour tube.

In the end we headed back uptrack to Troyes on fumes

This would have been 2006 so things may have changed.

Generally speaking a French-only field won't have an ATSU, so you are announcing much like Safetycom rather than interacting.

Rob P

[Dave W]

Itinerary looks do-able assuming the weather plays ball.

Cherbourg and La Rochelle will be fine for English language; IME all ATC fields are fine. I've only ever been to Auxerre by road, and it seemed a pleasant (very) sleepy hollow. I have used crib cards to clearly self-announce on FR-only fields, fitting in with other traffic. I've never had a problem or complaint.

(St Omer, Le Touquet, Midden-Zeeland), and two of those were this weekend.

Was that Saturday? I wonder if we crossed, as we went to Le Touquet and St Omer at the weekend. (Red/white Jodel G-AYLC).

As an aside, Thierry who was controlling at Le Touquet on Saturday, and is building a Jodel 1050 from plans so came over to chat, speaks better English than wot I do.

[carlmeek]

Thanks Dave, That's really helpful. When using your crib cards, how do you determine which are FR only? (i.e. Le Touquet is... but i doubt you spoke French there)

Yes- Le Touquet was saturday, I just wrote a trip report up in the 'trip reports' part of the forum. I departed UK at 10:45 and landed LFAT 11:17. I actually saw a red Jodel... climbing out of 32 as i was coming downwind. Could have been you? Funnily enough.... i saw another red jodel in midden-zeeland the day after, there are obviously a few around

[carlmeek]

Its just been pointed out to me that I misunderstood the AIP. I thought french only applied to the whole airfield at all times.

It says: "TWR : 118.0 - Absence ATS : A/A (118.0) FR seulement /only"

"This means Tower is on 118, but when ATS are absent, it's Air-Air which is french only"

[Dave W]

When using your crib cards, how do you determine which are FR only?

If on first call the answer (to me) is in French, or there's no answer at all, I self-announce in French. The answer has to be to me, since the sort of airfields that are "FR-seulement" tend to share the frequency with other places, so a call in FR doesn't necessarily come from my destination or is in response to me.

Yes- Le Touquet was saturday... and landed LFAT 11:17. I actually saw a red Jodel... climbing out of 32 as i was coming downwind. Could have been you?

Sounds like us, off to St Omer via Vimy ridge.

Funnily enough.... i saw another red jodel in midden-zeeland the day after, there are obviously a few around

Ah, yes, but ours is without doubt the best.