Ungland...
Posted on 06/12/2011 5:25:26 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Royal Navy pilots forced to learn French
Royal Navy fighter pilots are being forced to learn French in order to operate on board France’s flagship aircraft carrier.
By Martin Evans
12:18PM BST 12 Jun 2011
The Naval aviators are training with the French, whose jets they may have to use while they await the arrival of the new Joint Strike Fighters, which are unlikely to be delivered before 2020.
The first five of 30 Royal Navy pilots have begun French language training at the defence college in Paris before they join the carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, where they will fly Rafale jets.
They will spend 16 weeks studying French so that they are able to communicate with their colleagues on board the vessel.
While they will wear their own uniforms they will sleep, eat and work alongside French fighter pilots, in what has been described as a major test of co-operation for the two Navies.
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “The relationship with France is strategically important and discussions are ongoing about Royal Navy personnel being based on Charles de Gaulle as part of the bilateral agreement between our two countries. This will allow us to maintain our skills and help to develop an enhanced capability in the future.”
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
For a French carrier I guess there is no “wave-off” command as it’s VSTOL ops only.
So all they need to learn in French is “bail out”.
But....the Left told me that Americans are the ONLY people in the world who only speak one language! </sarc>
Interesting. In order to be certified by IACO as an “International” airport, their need to be controllers on duty who speak both French and English. At Logan, I am told, Air France pilots prefer to speak English, on the reasonable grounds that their English is a lot better than the ATC’s French. Only pilots from Quebec Air insist on using French when contacting ATC.
Wouldn’t it be *much* easier to train one ATC to learn English than to train every pilot in the Royal Navy to learn French?
pardon me if I don’t shed a tear for the fighter pilots who get a four month, all-expenses paid business trip to Paris.
It’s the other way around, the Brits have operated only STOVL carriers over the past three decades. Not the French.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h98UxNcx2X8&feature=related
There is no reason at all for the pilots not to learn French. It’s completely appropriate for the mission. Brits typically have French in school, but I’d imagine that it’s lacking vocabulary useful for carrier operations...
Yes, and in my 2-3 times in France I found that very few of them speak English.
If the Brits would scrap their socialist health care, they could then afford their own large carriers.
yeah, what the Left ignores is that the rest of the world is desperately attempting to learn English as it's a ticket to a good job, upward mobility.
Concerning the carrier Charles de Gaulle; last time I read anything about it, ocean going tugs were being utilized to move it about. Must be burdensome (and embarrassing) to have one’s flag ship towed into combat, lol!
What they need to learn is Arabic.
Hmm...having to learn French must mean the Brits want to surrender soon.....
Let’s see how this thing plays out in a year or two or three. I’ll go out on a limb and say it ain’t going to work.
Ungland...
Knowing French makes it easier to pick up babes in Paris or Marseille.
In other news, British scientists plan to solve the energy crisis by tapping the rotational speed of Lord Nelson's body.
I’m certain that even The Duke of Wellington knew how to speak French.
I’m sure Nelson knew enough French to allow him to accept the surrender of those French ships he encountered.
Will they get issued a new White Flag of France to wear on their uniforms???
The whole world uses ENGLISH as the language of aviation. This is more PC nonsense!
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