Just to set the story straight:
but a big international airfield like CDG is no place for 2 languages. All AF pilots speak "good" english [....] they just prefer not to. Again, this only implies one thing: Rather proud than safe.
Just for info, this is nothing to do with either AF pilots or CDG controllers. A few years ago, after that famous incident which very nearly resulted in a catastrophe, one of the safety recommendations put out by the BEA (French AAIB) and accepted by the DGAC was to make Charles de Gaulle English speaking only. Unfortunately some fringe extreme right group (not even the FN
), and some minority labour union caught onto that, kicked up a stink which reached the popular/populist press and from that point on it was all down to politics, bugger safety and everything else.
So please, whatever your thoughts on the issue of multilingual R/T, and however much you may love to hate the French, blame the politicians and other uneducated opportunists for this particular issue, not French pilots, nor ATC, nor the aeronautical authorities.
Now I'm outta here. Bye and happy rants
