On Friday, February 27, 2015 at 6:15:38 AM UTC+1, Bruce Hoult wrote:
On Friday, February 27, 2015 at 1:52:35 PM UTC+13, waremark wrote:
On Thursday, 26 February 2015 21:05:51 UTC, Don Davidson wrote:
Hi, I'm planning to attend a mountain flying course at CNVV in St. Auban in June, and I'm trying to get answers to a couple of questions from others who have flown there.

First, I speak only enough French to mangle a dinner order. How much of an obstacle is that likely to be both for flight instruction and getting around the area?

Second, my non-pilot wife is going to accompany me, and I want to find some really nice accommodations for her to enjoy while I'm flying. Any suggestions? We'll probably have a rental car, so it won't be a problem for me to drive to the airport from someplace reasonably close.

Finally, we'll plan to do some sightseeing and other activities together while we're in the area, so any suggestions would be most welcome.

Thanks in advance.

Best regards,
Don Davidson

Not answering your question, but make yourself a translation table from knots to kmph and from feet to meters. I found flying with unfamiliar units on the instruments took up unnecessary attention.

It's not much of a table! And you don't want to be looking at a bit of paper.

Thermal at 80 - 100
Cruise at 130 - 150+
Safe speed near the ground in the gap between those ranges, depending on wind

Quick and dirty 1000 m is 3000 ft. Add 10% if you have time.

Don't bother about hight at StAuban, it will be close to the ground in 90% of the flyging time.

Speed is important, you will learn quite fast the correct speed depending on situation. You will also learn to not spend time at the instrument. Look out is a survival instinct that you need to adopt fast when flyging in the French Alps.