On 2006-08-09 12:23, Cub Driver wrote:
On Wed, 9 Aug 2006 11:17:31 +0200, "Frode Berg"
wrote:


I heard other pilots in French however, so I tried to call and ask if anyone
could hear my transmission.


Many years ago, I visited Montreal, and discovered that whenever I
addressed a local in French, he replied in English.

More recently, again in Montreal, I found that a great change had
taken place. Now, whenever I addressed a local in English, he replied
in French.

It's not that French-speakers don't know English; it's just that they
now prefer to speak French. I'll bet that more French pilots
understood your transmission than would be the case for a
French-speaking pilot at an airport in the U.S.

It's only that they'd rather have you crash than break the rule that
French is the superior language for all purposes.

(Americans are not nearly so arrogant--only ignorant. We genuinely
don't know the other guy's language.)



-- all the best, Dan Ford


I heard a pilot from my club describe a strange event during a trip he
and some friends made to France some years ago, when due to an accident
at their intended destination, they were vectored to a smaller military
field nearby.

The controller at the alternate field never responded to their radio
calls, until the pilot got a passenger who spoke french to make the
contact; once the controller had acknowledged them, the conversation
could continue in english.

/Rolf