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Fog

  • Writer: Flight Attendant Phrases
    Flight Attendant Phrases
  • Aug 24, 2019
  • 2 min read

English: Fog

French: Brouillard


As a flight attendant, you’ll come across foggy conditions once in a while. Fog can be disruptive to flights and cause delays or cancellations.


Even with modern technology that guides airplanes electronically to the runway, it is still necessary for your pilots to physically see the runway for take-off and landing. The severity of the impact of fog on flights will depend on a few factors. How advanced are the instruments on the airplane when it comes to flying in low visibility? How advanced are the instruments at the airport that guide airplanes in low visibility? (More advanced instruments naturally cost much more.) How thick is the fog and how far is the visibility? The minimum visibility required for take-off can also differ from the minimum visibility for landing.


Fog can also slow down the rate at which an airport can process arrivals and departures. For example, on a clear day, one runway may be able to process one landing per minute. If it’s foggy though, they may need to keep more space between each airplane for safety and only allow one landing every 90 seconds, or every two minutes, etc. This greatly reduces the airport’s capacity to handle its traffic at its normal frequency, causing delays or cancellations.


Brouillard (m)=Fog


Our Canadian French for Flight Attendants audio course uses a different word for “fog”, as “brouillard” can be hard to pronounce for learners.

Want to learn to speak the French you need to work as a flight attendant? Learn even more with Canadian French for Flight Attendants.


Flight Attendant Souvenirs. Souvenirs d’un agent de bord. New Orleans 2015. La Nouvelle Orléans 2015. This is a trip I took to New Orleans a few years ago. As mentioned in a previous post, "New Orleans" is the English translation of the city's original French name "La Nouvelle Orléans", named after the city of Orléans in France. Pictured are the French quarter of New Orleans and the parks nearby. I was doing a step challenge and remember walking everywhere to get my steps in.


Hail

  • Writer: Flight Attendant Phrases
    Flight Attendant Phrases
  • Aug 18, 2019
  • 1 min read

English: Hail

French: Grêle


Just to cover our bases for weather, let’s talk quickly about hail.


Hail=Grêle (f)


Hail is uncommon and even when it does fall, it’s usually very short-lived. Therefore, your pilots will rarely get the chance to announce that it’s hailing. They may say that there’s reports of hail in the area. As a flight attendant, you also won’t need to translate this very often either. Though if the occasion does arise, you can say that “it’s hailing.”


Grêler=To hail

Using "il" as an impersonal pronoun again, we can follow the same pattern as "il pleut" and "il neige" (it's raining, it's snowing).

Il grêle=It’s hailing

Want to learn to speak the French you need to work as a flight attendant? Learn even more with Canadian French for Flight Attendants.


Flight Attendant Souvenirs. Souvenirs d’un agent de bord. Hong Kong 2014. Well, as expected, Hong Kong is a big, densely-populated city. Taking the ferry between the mainland and the island is cheap, easy, and offers a great view of the skyline. Taking the cable car up on the island offers great views as well.



Freezing rain.

  • Writer: Flight Attendant Phrases
    Flight Attendant Phrases
  • Aug 10, 2019
  • 2 min read

English: Freezing rain.

French: Pluie verglaçante.


Freezing rain is not as common as snow, but when it does fall, it becomes just as, if not more, disruptive than the heaviest of snowfalls.


Pluie (f)=Rain

Verglaçante=Freezing


In the word “verglaçante”, you can see the root word “glace (f)” “ice” in it.

You may also hear your colleagues and passengers refer to freezing rain as “verglas (m)”.


Under freezing rain conditions, airplanes can become completely covered in ice. Your airplane (if your flight is not already cancelled) will need to get de-iced to remove the ice. De-icing during freezing rain often takes more time per airplane than in other weather conditions. Not only does the ice from the wings and critical surfaces need to be removed, but essentially, all the ice from the entire fuselage needs to be removed before the plane can take off. If a piece of ice falls off the fuselage while the plane is flying, it can potentially fly into the engine, causing catastrophic damage, or it can fall onto the ground, causing severe damage or injury. De-icing centres work very slowly during freezing rain, which greatly reduces their capacity, and thus causes many flight cancellations and delays.

Want to learn to speak the French you need to work as a flight attendant? Learn even more with Canadian French for Flight Attendants.


Flight Attendant Souvenirs. Souvenirs d’un agent de bord. Macau 2014. On my trip to Asia in 2014, I hopped over to Macau for a day from Hong Kong. I remember getting quite seasick on the high-speed ferry ride there and back. Macau is known for its casinos, pictured here. Also pictured are the Ruins of St. Paul, formerly a catholic church built during Portuguese rule.



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