EXPRESSION FRANÇAISES

The first International Air Navigation Conference was

convened in Paris , France in 1910, the year after

Frenchman Louis Bleriot's first international flight by a

heavier-than-air machine across the English Channel.The

treatment of aviation matters was a subject at the Paris

Peace Conference of 1919 and, following the Chicago

Conference in 1944, ICAO was formed in 1947 with

headquarters in French-speaking Montreal in Canada .

It's no wonder there are many French words and expressions

used in aviation.Apart from French words that are

exactly the same in English (such as aileron, empennage

and fuselage), there are a number of others that are

widely used that you may have found a little obscure.

Here is a selection of them:

FRENCH AVIATION USAGE

la brume = mist BR mist

la fumée = smoke FU smoke

la poussière = dust PO dust devils

la grêle = hail GR hail

heures de jour = hrs of day HJ day time

heures de nuit = hours of night HN night time

jour ouvrable = working day JO weekday

jour férié = non-working day JF weekend and

public holiday

universel temps coordonné UTC Coordinated

Universal Time

m'aidez = help me mayday

la panne = breakdown pan-pan pan-pan pan-pan

sortir = to leave sortie

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