Landing in a field in France

[Flyluke]

I have the opportunity to land in a Farmers friends field in France from time to time.

Can anyone kindly guide me towards what regulations do/do not exist for this, and/or to whom I might direct enquiries to see what can/cannot be achieved ?

Thanks in advance.....

[DaveW]

You'll need three lights set out in the shape of an 'L', and a ladder on the outside of the aircraft. Oh, and watch out for the Gestapo.








Seriously - many moons (sorry) ago, there was a discussion on either here or the Flyer forums that discussed this. IIRC that the French don't have the same tradition of farm strips as we do over here, and that permission would probably be required from several places, including the gendarmerie and the local mayor. Of the those two, my memory of the discussion was that it was the mayor who held by far the greater clout!

I'm not sure any definitive conclusion was drawn, but a search might throw up more.

[airborne_artist]

To land a helicopter away from an airfield in France you need a chit - search on Rotorheads - you may need the same chit for a plank.

[Flyluke]

Very drole, DaveW !

Thank you for the responses so far - I'm not altogether surprised that this is heading in a bureacratic direction!

You are right about the Mayors - in a French village they are close to God - I THINK ours is reasonably friendly.

Any other thoughts, anyone?

[gyrotyro]

As a French resident and also a fixed and rotorwing pilot be very aware that you absolutely positively cannot land a light aircraft in a farmers field in France. Even with the landowners permission it is not possible.

It is possible with a helicopter if you have the landowners permission and there are also different regulations for ULM's (Microlights).

A friend of mine once landed in a field and the Gendarmes who arrived shortly afterwards were none to pleased, he called me for assistance and I managed to drive over and placate them, the pilot was told in no uncertain terms to beat it to the local airport quickly and never try it again.

There are a proliferation of small airfields in France and it should be possible to find an airfield close to your required destination without too much trouble.

Try this site:

NAV2000 - L'information aéronautique pour le pilote de loisir

Email me if your require any assistance.

[LH2]

What gyrotyro said. Unless in an helicopter, a ULM, a glider, a balloon, a paraglider, a hanglider, a parachute, or an emergency, it is not legal nor (in all likelihood) very sensible.

As the gentleman also said, there are airfields almost everywhere and the landing fees are very reasonable or nonexistent. In theory, A/A is supposed to be French only, but that's just on paper--feel entirely free to use English.

[airborne_artist]

GT - apart from the fact that we know the French ( and the Germans) love their rules, have you discovered why the French are so against RW/FW landing off airfield?

[VOD80]

gyrotyro:

Try this site:

NAV2000 - L'information aéronautique pour le pilote de loisir

Thanks for that! Top site, from the little parse that I've been able to give it. Cheers