Welcome to our Community
Wanting to join the rest of our members? Feel free to sign up today.
Sign up

Flying drones in France

Joanjo65

Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2020
Messages
14
Reaction score
6
Hello! Will go on holidays to France (south) and would like to know if there are strong restrictions to fly drones near inhabited places.
Thank you in advance.

Enviat des del meu ONEPLUS A5000 usant Tapatalk
 
Yes there are. I use a free app on my phone to know what is allowed or not: Drone Spot

And there is a restriction regarding the weight of the drone. Bellow 800g, no problem.
Othewise, the drone must be registered and you mus have a special licence.
 
Yes there are. I use a free app on my phone to know what is allowed or not: Drone Spot

And there is a restriction regarding the weight of the drone. Bellow 800g, no problem.
Othewise, the drone must be registered and you mus have a special licence.
Thank you very much!!!

Enviat des del meu ONEPLUS A5000 usant Tapatalk
 
If your drone is less than 800g (like the Anafi 320g), you can fly depending on a map that states the maximum altitude (or no fly zone) that you can check here :

Géorportail Map of drones restrictions where you just type the town name and the map will appear... Géoportail

Just make sure you do not fly over people, not in towns, do not take pictures of people without their consent , and in any case never above 150m (but above, you have beautiful images provided by google map...) and you should be good to go.

one last thing : fly then drink red wine, Not the other way round.
 
If your drone is less than 800g (like the Anafi 320g), you can fly depending on a map that states the maximum altitude (or no fly zone) that you can check here :

Géorportail Map of drones restrictions where you just type the town name and the map will appear... Géoportail

Just make sure you do not fly over people, not in towns, do not take pictures of people without their consent , and in any case never above 150m (but above, you have beautiful images provided by google map...) and you should be good to go.

one last thing : fly then drink red wine, Not the other way round.
Yeah! Love french red wine!!!

Enviat des del meu ONEPLUS A5000 usant Tapatalk
 
You can use geodrone app, which show you restriction map of flying height limits all over french territory.
Anyway, you must not fly over crowd of people, or over any city/village...150m height limit everywhere, and it,s forbiden to fly above sea/ocean.
If you fly over mountains, be very careful with paragliders, gliders, rescue helicopters or planes. They have the right to fly under the 150m limit, and they have priority on your drone...
 
It is not forbidden to fly above ocean and seas in France, but lots of area near the sea are forbidden due to the following reasons :

- In the south of France, and in a all long the riviera coast, you have lots of airports such as Marseille, Nice...
- In some bay of the same area (Toulon for example), the Navy operates military boats, submarines, planes...
- Near Marseille, you have a beautiful coast that is called ‘Les calanques’ that is also a natural reservation. In this area, birds, little bays, pine trees forest... that are often on fire. During summertimes and even spring, this area is often closed even to hikers (to dangerous because of fire).
- Military airplanes do also operate a few miles from the coast but above the sea (flights above sound speed are not practiced above the ground to avoid problems)
- Some beaches are dedicated to ‘No clothes bathing’ ... and drones are not welcome for obvious reasons ;o)

Lots of other places are allowed for drone flights above the sea, if you have a few minutes, you can see them zooming out on the map of Geoportail mentioned above.

Even on the riviera coast near St Tropez you can fly drones in some beautiful spots such as on the map below (red : Forbiddn, yellow : not above 50m, Orange : under 30m, else : not above 150 m)
9985C92D-6384-4608-82FD-4740E593C762.jpeg

My advice would be to check before your trip, the area where you would like to fly, and find authorized spots. Print the spot on a paper you would have with you, so in case of a question, you can show that you know the rules and what you do is permitted.

Usually, no one bothers. Some people are just curious and will look at you while flying. I usually talk to them, show the Anafi, take a picture of them with me from above and send them the picture via email...
 
Last edited:
Yep, I agree, over coasts you can fly. I meant that you cant fly over seas, like from a boat or so...
Take a look to the online test you need to succeed if you want to fly a drone more than 800gr

But it makes me think that maybe this restriction apply only for 800gr or more drones..?

Yep, take a screenshot of the geoportail area you'll fly in case of...never know! ;)
 
Just beware that if you do break the rules in France you will face very large fines and maybe jail time.
One of my members in the Autel forum who has been a member there for a few years got caught in Dec. He is pretty worried about the outcome.
Here is what he had to say. Yes he was in the wrong but never thought it would be such a big deal but it is.

"Hello my friends on earth.
Because of problems with the French justice, I can no longer fly with my drones, they were confiscated from me, with my computers my hard disks and my USB keys on December 6, 2019.
Just because I filmed one fireworks in a no-fly zone, I was reported by someone next to me that evening!
I'm going to go to court soon, and I risk jail time and a big fine .. 75000 Euro. "
 
Yes, flying :

- in a No-Fly-Zone (so it’s forbidden, and easy to check via a simple website as mentioned above)
- ‘at night’ obviously to catch on video a fireworks (night flight is not allowed in France).
- often fireworks happen ... with public ... all around ... when flying over public is forbidden...
- The Autel Evo (I’ve just checked to edit), is a 860g drone, so it’s above the limit of 800g that needs a specific certification (free to pass on the web), and a registration on the administration web site. That is not the case for the Anafi, no test nor exam nor registration needed for a 320g drone in France.

It’s what we call ‘All in’...

It’s a little like if I said : I risk jail time because I passed when the lights were red, but I did not see them, because I was drunk, too fast to see the lights and I was talking on the phone with my grandmother...

The maximum fine and jail time, even when written on the law, are rarely requested by the court, unless it is proved intentional.

... but he should not get his hands back on his hardware before long...
 
Last edited:
Yes, agree!! Sorry for your friend, but he was'nt flying within the rules in all the way!
I dont think he will go to jail, but he will pay a fine for sure! (Not 75000€ I guess...)
France is such a nice place, but laws are often not in sight with actual reality, especially about new technologies...politics and law makers are always about 10 years late, so they are doing hard laws with big charges to afraid people !

So, respect rules and everything will be fine!

BTW, it's crazy that another guy reported your friend...another french speciality...
 
  • Like
Reactions: MustangPhil

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
5,315
Messages
45,139
Members
8,024
Latest member
KJ0hns21