Houéville: French Airspace
There is a 500 page manual titled “Manuel en Route France” published and updated by the French Airforce, giving contact information for airspaces. Currently it can be downloaded under this link: https://www.dircam.dsae.defense.gouv.fr/images/Stories/Doc/ERF/erf_complet.pdf
I’m no expert but here’s what I’ve learned. Thanks Reynald & Seb for sharing your wisdom.
Step 1: Are the RTBA’s active? France is criss-crossed by corridors patrolled by fighter jets flying as low as 300 m off deck. Look up if they’re active: https://www.sia.aviation-civile.gouv.fr/schedules
France is crisscrossed by RTBA corridors for low level fighter patrols.
Step 2: Check airspace.xcontest.org for the French airspaces active on that day. Some of the problematic ones include:
R 5 A-D Atis: These guys showed up in pink contours. Click on them and call up the first number on the list. I called +33 671 28 66 07, practised my French, and learned that the airspace wouldn’t be active on the two coming days, but that we’d need to monitor radio frequency 118.775 for traffic and make blind calls. Also, don’t overfly the critical military infrastructure (shown in red on xcontest).
Avord CTR, TMA and R 20’ies: Same procedure as above, but on +33 248 69 25 72. Turned out to be inactive (but monitor radio / make blind calls).
St. Yan: No number listed on airspace.xcontest.org, so had to look up in the Manual https://www.dircam.dsae.defense.gouv.fr/images/Stories/Doc/ERF/erf_complet.pdf Use the search function to look for St. Yan and called all the numbers listed. The one labelled “Exploitant AD“ turned out to be the right one. Turned out to be inactive (but monitor radio / make blind calls).
Parc National des Forêts: That’s the circle with the Rorschach Test in it. No flying below 1000 m AGL! You can however request a permit here: http://www.nancyvollibre.com/media/kunena/attachments/593/ParcdeForetsGuidedclaracionsurvol202007.pdf Submit your request 48 hrs (!) ahead of time. If you don’t hear back, it got approved.
Step 3: CTR Ochey: The takeoff in Houéville is inside Ochey Airforce base’s CTR. Call them (+33 357 80 67 00) before takeoff and they’ll tell you how high you can go. With me they were pretty cool about it.
Step 4: In the air, stay below Nancy’s TMA’s around 1700.
You’ll find most of the relevant links on Alpsfreeride.com