Archer,
Thanks for the correction re. Unicom/CTAF. There is very little self-announcement in the UK. Every licensed airfield must have, at the very least, Air-Ground radio. Unlicensed fields (which includes all private farm-strips, etc, and some larger GA fields) are usually non-radio, but a few of the bigger ones have Air-Ground frequencies. In many cases, once the person manning the radio (whether it's ATC, AFISO or A/G) goes home, the airfield closes and can't be used any more - but in some cases (my home airfield being one, certainly for aircraft which are based there) you can still use the airfield, and you self-announce on the frequency.
New acronyms for you:
FIS = Flight Information Service. Available from any ATC unit. They can give you a pressure setting (QNH), information on local airfields or local weather and so on. Non-radar (although if you ask for a FIS from a radar unit they may choose to radar-identify you for their own purposes).
RIS = Radar Information Service. Available in Class G in much of the UK. You will receive traffic information on any relevant traffic (as long as the traffic is squawking, of course). If you ask the controller, you can be given traffic avoidance advice.
RAS = Radar Advisory Service. Available in Class G in much of the UK. The controller will attempt to provide you with standard separation from any other traffic. Since the other traffic may not be under his control, though, this can't be guaranteed. You must either obey all instructions, or, if you choose not to do so, you must cancel the RAS. This is only available if you are IFR.
AFIS = Aerodrome Flight Information Service. An AFISO is the person on the ground who provides this service. A very strange concept, where the ground service can issue you instructions on the ground, like ATC, but advice and information only, no instructions, in the air and on the runway.
You are quite right about circuits vs patterns, although most people would know what you were talking about if you used the word pattern. Type is not included in the call-sign, you are correct. Generally, when calling a unit, your initial call includes only your call-sign, and possibly the type of service you want. The unit will reply with "pass your message", and that's when you tell them your type, along with a load of other information (e.g. "G-CD is a C172, from somewhere to a-big-place, 5nm N of somewhere at 2000', request FIS").
The different types of controllers around large airfields will vary from place to place. London is very unusual because there are five large international airports (ok then, four large ones plus London City) all sharing the nearby airspace, which is the London TMA. Since the TMA is Class A, and I'm not instrument rated, I'm not allowed to use it, so I don't know too much about how it works. In practice, anywhere in the world I've flown, I've just dialled up the initial frequency from the airfield guide, and then followed instructions, and it's worked fine! The only exception was the first time I encountered a clearance delivery frequency. They gave me a frequency, and then handed me over to ground - and it took me a while to realise that the frequency they'd given me wasn't the one I was supposed to contact! That was in the US.
Never flown in Germany or Italy, but in France, all ATC will speak in English if you call them in English. Uncontrolled airfields generally use French only. There are plenty of website with crib-sheets that you can read from, and since it's all self-announcement there's no need to understand and reply to anything. But obviously if you don't understand, then it's absolutely essential to keep your eyes very wide open. Only done it once, and didn't have any trouble - I'd be quite happy doing it again.
FFF
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