Dan wrote:
“open to the right”
What does that mean? I’ve never heard it and it is not standard phraseology as far as I know.
@Airborne_Again, agree it ain’t “standard” or ICAO, nor CAP413, but who cares… the ATC contrôleuse 
just told me textually “can you open to the right”. Having some experience of the differences of different countries of course helps 
I’ve never heard it and it is not standard phraseology as far as I know.
I’m curious to know what the standard phraseology would be? I’ve never seen anything that would cover this case.
I think standard phraseology can become a bit of an obsession tbh. Sometimes a controller – or pilot – needs to express something which isn’t covered by the standard – or which even if it is, is so rare and obscure that they can’t be expected to remember it. What are they supposed to do?
johnh wrote:
I’m curious to know what the standard phraseology would be? I’ve never seen anything that would cover this case.
Since I honestly don’t understand what “open to the right” means, I can’t suggest any standard phraseology….
I think standard phraseology can become a bit of an obsession tbh. Sometimes a controller – or pilot – needs to express something which isn’t covered by the standard – or which even if it is, is so rare and obscure that they can’t be expected to remember it. What are they supposed to do?
You’re supposed to use plain language.
Open to the right is an attempt to translate something into English which is usual in French.
It is really what you would use to perhaps “break” right to do a circle to land.
Ie Your descent is towards the threshold of one runway but you are going to land on the reciprocal do you do a circuit which involves breaking.off at some stage and going to join the downwind for the reciprocal. In French most things involve " gates " and openings. Break in French would probably be “casser” and the pilot would respond that he is not going to break anything,(I French of course)🙂
If anybody is interested I could post the French/English phraseology manual which is the basis for teaching pilots and ATSOs here.
I think this only come up when flying straight-in to one runway before circling to opposite runway:
- “Open right” = “fly right” = “fly left hand circuit to land”
- “Open left” = “fly left” = “fly right hand circuit to land”
In UK, when circling to non-ILS end, ATC use “north”, “south”, “east”, “west” in addition to “R/L hand circuit” which I found very neat as I tend to know where the north sits but I have few seconds doubts on my left/right
Spending too much on RT nitty details tend to spoils such nice views though
UdoR wrote:
Last year I had a photo session with a professional photographer and he used all kinds of stuff (including long ladder) to get the right perspective. You can do a lot.
Or the gear was photoshopped out. Would take about 30 secs.
Airborne_Again wrote:
What does that mean? I’ve never heard it and it is not standard phraseology as far as I know.
Some of the french phraseology cannot be translated literally. Confusing even for a native who learned to fly abroad.
So how would you as the pilot respond?
The thing is that they are not necessarily telling you to turn right NOW. They are usually asking you to report turning. The act of turning eg on a circle to land is in the PICs hands as long as you do it either at, or above minimums.
In the case of LFMD as in the case of French Altiports, usually the approach takes you into the path of departing traffic from the main runway. IIRC you need to confirm that you are cognisent on the use of LFMD before you can go there (but I may be wrong).
I don’t recall the EASA or ICAO phraseology manuals giving any guidance on what wording to use in this situation. It might be that ATS are wrong to use the word “open” as in open the door to departing traffic. But I have heard it used before at other airfields. The question I would ask is if @Dan understood what was being asked?
