Every day, hundreds of drones fly simultaneously and must share the airspace with airplanes and military aircraft. One of the DGAC's roles is to coordinate all these actors. To achieve this, the DSAC has established four main regulatory principles:
Predefined operational drone scenarios
All drone flights must fall within four very specific operational scenarios (S-1, S-2, S-3, and S-4). Otherwise, the drone operator must submit a safety file to the DSAC (French Civil Aviation Authority), which will then issue a specific flight authorization. The categorization of flights within the predefined scenarios is subject to several criteria: (i) Overflight of a populated area; (ii) Overflight of third parties; (iii) Navigation within visual line of sight (VLOS) and/or beyond visual line of sight (with a maximum horizontal distance between the drone and the remote pilot); and (iv) The maximum weight of the aircraft (to limit the risk in the event of a crash).
Prior requests for drone flights
Flights in certain scenarios must be declared in advance because they have been deemed critical enough to warrant the attention of aviation regulatory authorities. These scenarios are primarily of three types:
- Flights in populated areas, i.e. near an urban area or a gathering of people (agreement from the prefecture of the place of the flight);
- Flights within visual line of sight of the remote pilot at more than 50 meters in height in a military training or maneuver area during operating hours (agreement of the Ministry of the Armed Forces);
- Flights beyond visual line of sight, i.e. more than 100 meters in populated areas and more than 200 meters elsewhere (agreement of the Ministry of the Armed Forces).
In the event of no response within 7 days or a positive response, the flight agreement by the DGAC is considered to be granted.
Permanent prohibition and restriction zones
Drones are not allowed to fly over the entire territory. Certain areas are off-limits to them or have very specific restrictions (for example, altitude limits). These areas can be viewed on the website. Geoportal. Often, to obtain an agreement to fly over these areas (immediate proximity of airports, military aircraft maneuvering areas, special status areas of type P, R or D, etc.), it is necessary to obtain direct authorization from the competent authority of the site, which can prove tedious and complex.
Temporary prohibition and restriction zones
Airspace restrictions may be published at any time. It is therefore essential to be aware of this information before planning and starting your drone mission.
- NOTAMs (Notices to Airmen) allow government air traffic control agencies to inform all airspace users of temporary airspace restrictions. These messages are presented as short texts, the format of which can be quite confusing at first. They can also concern changes to ground facilities, the presence of obstacles near an airport, or provide information only useful for manned aircraft flying by instrument flight rules (IFR). As such, they are not always relevant to drone flights.
- SUP AIPs (Aeronautical Information Publications) provide more detailed information than NOTAMs. They sometimes include maps, allowing for a better understanding of the airspace affected by the alert.
By consulting the NOTAMs, you will be informed of the publication of the SUP AIPs.
Conclusion of the flight procedure for professional drones
As mentioned in this post, many procedures must be carried out to be authorized to fly a professional drone (more than 800 grams)...Hence the importance of theoretical and practical training for remote pilots.
