AC-DC, Im finally home, and with a little extra info.
What I said some time back is basicly the way it works. In France you do need to call and request a crossing for each restricted area in much the same way as you would request crossing a Danger area in the UK, but you are seldom refused access. Similarly, you can ask the Flight Information Service for the region you are flying in for the activity status of all the restricted areas you wish to cross and if they dont give you the all clear, will hand you over to the frequency of who you do need to call. Obviously if its easy to plan around/over/under them then do so, hieght limits are on the 1:500000 chart I have, though I know alot of the time it initially looks like there is no way through. To be honest its not any more hassle than traversing controlled airspace.
You have probably already thought about getting/have Delage, but also a good idea is to get the french pack/booklet 'Documents VFR -
Préparation de Suivi de Vol' , mine is from the Fédération Nationale Aeronautique(FNA), but you can also get it from the Service de l'information Aeronautique(SIA), who also provide the french AIP - This is the publication I was on about before which has informaation on all restricted areas etc.
Contact the FNA : Tel. +33 (0)1 44 29 92 00
www.fna.asso.fr
Contact the SIA : Tel.+33 (0)5 57 92 56 68
Email.
[email protected]
Also try Transair?
For information before you fly over here its also a good idea to call the regional Flight assistance & information office (BRIA)and talk about your route, someone there will speak English. You can file flight plans directly with them and they can give you alot of info/advice on your route about all the above and NOTAMs etc. Because here, as you may know already, flightplans/NOTAMS are accessed by Minitel 3614, and as there is no minitel in the UK, I got the BRIA telephone numbers when at my flying club yesterday and have listed them below.
I hope this is of some help to you, and not too late for your trip.
Regards, SD.
Lille +33 (0)3 20 87 52 10
Bale Mulhouse +33 (0)3 89 90 26 15/12
Lyon +33 (0)4 72 22 56 76/77
Marseille +33 (0)4 42 31 15 65/14 22 90
Nice +33 (0)4 93 21 38 18
Ajaccio +33 (0)4 95 22 61 85
Toulouse +33 (0)5 62 74 65 31/32
Bordeaux +33 (0)5 57 92 83 31
Nantes +33 (0)2 40 84 84 75/80 45
Le Bourget +33 (0)1 48 62 53 07
BTW - I know the Bordeaux & Toulouse BRIA numbers work & they definitely speak English too, Ive called them when planning a trip myself and they are more than willing to help!! You will probably want to call Lille if coming from the UK.