Landing in Breton trouble

If you want to get somewhere quickly, don't take a small plane. The old rule was confirmed again this morning when I found myself facing a platoon of heavily armed and rather nervous soldiers of the French special forces on the rainswept tarmac of an airport in Brittany. Oops, was my first thought. I must just have done something bad, like violating prohibited air space, and they have come to get me.   

It was mid-morning and a time when I should have been at my desk in Paris.  The little episode was of no importance and has nothing to do with our usual matters of moment, so read on only for the sake of anecdote. It's a chance to mention a beautiful corner of the world and another example of French hospitality towards aviators.

                                                                    I flew on Saturday to Belle-Ile-en-Mer, the biggest island off South Brittany. It is a popular retreat and holiday spot in the Atlantic off the Quiberon peninsula. As well as its two little fishing ports, 50 miles of rugged coastline, lighthouses and bicycle routes, Belle-Ile boasts a charming little airfield. For a modest landing fee, Maurice, the manager-controller-barman, makes visitors feel at home. Approaching Belle-Ile across Quiberon Bay (site of the British destruction of the French fleet in 1759 -- I had to mention that) and then out into the Bay of Biscay is one of those magic flying moments. The 10-mile passage from the mainland is full of sailing boats -- many of them British at this time of year -- making their way to Le Palais, the Belle-Ile capital. 

What the guides do not mention is the ocean climate that can suddenly blow ground-level stratus cloud -- fog -- onto the aerodrome. The fog blocked my planned return yesterday and conditions were marginal when I finally took off under a low sky this morning. The weather was supposed to be acceptable but after crossing the Quiberon bay, I found that ground-level cloud again, lurking like a grey curtain on the mainland of le Morbihan.

I picked my way through a bright patch and decided to give up and land. The big runway at the city of Vannes was nearby, so I headed for it, flying low and asking permission a little late. No other aircraft was out in this weather and I had an odd feeling after parking alone in front of the control tower. The soldiers were standing there with their fingers on the triggers of their Famas assault rifles and talking  into their headsets. An armoured car with 20mm canon was parked nearby. "Where were you heading and did you have a flight plan?" the controller asked over the radio. "Er... No", I replied because I had understood that a plan was not mandatory for the short sea-crossing. I climbed out expecting to be thrown on the ground and handcuffed -- the standard greeting for errant pilots in the USA these days.
The soldiers looked serious. They raised  their weapons and mumbled something in code over their radios.

To cut the suspense, it was a false alarm. I had stumbled into a training exercise for the Special Forces, tough young men with knives and high-tech pistols strapped to their legs as well as those rifles. They had been set a test involving something like an assault on the airport and appeared to think that my appearance out of the rain might have been part of the scenario. An airport fireman enlightened me. The friendly controller forgave the late announcement of my arrival and helped send me on my way after a coffee when the weather lifted a little. The sea-crossing flight plan was, it turned out, not mandatory.  After a dodgy 20 minutes under a low ceiling, I found a path between Rennes and Dinard, climbed and zipped the final 150 miles home with a tail wind.

         

Comments

[Rob McCann]

Take me with you next time Biggles!

[Jorg Andersen]

Good to read praise for the French attitude to aviation. They need it with the mess at Airbus. Seriously, I agree the best way to see France is from a low and slow airplane. Keep writing about the flying, but I wonder if you were being a bit naughty with the Visual Flight Rules this time ?

[Flocon]

Jorg Andersen, just keep in mind that Airbus isn't a French company but a Franco-Germano-British-Spanish conglomerate... It probably would feel good to some to learn that a French company is in dire straits but as a matter of fact, we're on the same boat...

[michael robertson]

Well, as it happens, you did get somewhere quickly, but not to where you had intended!

Perhaps the mainland rises higher than that the island, which could explain why the cloud was still well established there, even after having partly cleared from the island. Maybe the weather had been good all weekend, only for it to close in just as you needed to fly home.

Still, you did well to land at the first opportunity and sit it out; It’s just that the Special Forces were having their fun too! It’s not as if you had done anything wrong, but the combination of circumstances obviously proved “interesting”, shall we say? The sight of the armed soldiers must have been very alarming, but, your unexpected arrival may have provided just the distraction the organizers of the exercise might have hoped for!

Had this taken place in the UK, or Germany, the outcome might have been rather less benign, but then again, the favourable attitude in France to light aviation is obviusly one of the reasons you like living and working there!

Finally, whilst your flying exploits might not attract the same number of comments as other more mainstream topics, these posts prove interesting, informative, and amusing to those of us who have an interest in light aviation in France. Keep it up!

[colin grayson]

how about trying the airport at la canourgue when you come to la lozere ....no barman , no buildings , no soldiers!!!

of course it is a little unusual being up on the causse , having been built at great public expense for one man , the former regional chairman ; but the fact that which ever way you landed you landed downhill and ran to a stop uphill never seemed to worry him

[anna de brux]

Reminds me of the time when I got lost in the Warminster area (??? can't remember the spelling) on my way to Bristol. My son and I found ourselves in a green jacket training exercise - I think they let us get in to surprise us to have a bit of fun coz before we realized what was happening, there were tanks all over the place.

Ok, I didn't see the sign post - no entry or something to that effect - this driving on the "wrong side" in England flays on one's nerves so you actually try to get off the main road when you can.

The green jacket guys were actually nice - they even showed my teen-age son the inside of a tank trying to convince him that he'd better off in the Army than in the RN (my son was wearing an HMS Submarine sweatshirt).