Hi Folks,

Fairly new to the forums, I hope I'm posting this in the correct place. Anyways, as the title says I want to fly my drone in the French Alps. I'm staying in Les Houches, to give an indication where exactly I'll be flying. The owner of the Chalet knows I have a drone and has asked if I could get an aerial photo of his Chalet to put on his website. Now I'm perfectly aware of the drone laws, I follow the same rules as I do in the UK. However because where I'm staying is a few 100 meter's above sea level would the drone still be able to fly or would the software prevent me from taking off because I'm above that hight limit?  I'm only asking because where I'm from it's all flat so I've never really experienced taking off from any higher.

Just as a side note, I'll be going in the summer so I won't be destracting any skiiers, I will have a second person to monitor for any traffic of paragliders and helicopters, although where I'm staying isn't really a hot spot for paragliders but always best to be safe.


Drone: DJI Spark

Hello Lagerwall,

I’m french so I’ll try to be understandable in english ^^
First of all, you have to know that you mustn’t fly in a city/village or whatever (or just count 150 meters from the nearest house).
Then, yes you can fly your drone in the alps, but you have to know the french rules about flying a drone, and it begins by checking on this map the max flying height in the ara you want to fly : https://www.geoportail.gouv.fr/carte?c=0.6266990050967092,49.32702045724068&z=9&l0=ORTHOIMAGERY.ORTHOPHOTOS::GEOPORTAIL:OGC:WMTS(1)&l1=TRANSPORTS.DRONES.RESTRICTIONS::GEOPORTAIL:OGC:WMS(1)&permalink=yes

When there’s no limit, you still mustn’t fly above 150 meters from the take-off location.
But you won’t be blocked by the software because you’re above the sea level, I already took-off at 2400 meters high ;)

If you have questions, don’t hesitate, because the french « gendarmerie » is not very pleasant to deal with when it comes to drones (and I didn’t already say that you were a tourist form the UK ^^ )

Hope you’ll have a great time flying in France, have fun in the alps (they’re perfect for some pretty nice shots :3 )

Drycatoh
Edit : if you have trouble opening the map tell me I’ll give you another link)

Thank you Drycatoh, that map you provided is extremely helpful. I appreciate you taking the time to write this in English.

I'll be sure to follow the, I don really want to upset the authorities and especially any of the locals. Thankfully the Chalet I'm staying at is in a secluded area and not highlighted within the Red Zone.

altitude is from take off point not sea level. However all aircraft have a physical operating ceiling.  When you said "the Alps"  It did cross my mind that your take off point might be zero altitude but ground level might have been above the operating ceiling  of the aircraft.  I believe this is why one of the camps on the route up everest is were it is.  It is a the highest practical operating point for rescue helicopters  to get into and be able to take off again. (in good weather)

Thanks for the map I was wondering  about France law for drone . I need to be careful not to cross the frontier since your law a pretty restrictive around cities.

Hey @Drycatoh Im going in March to Les 2 Alpes, and I came across that map you shared above, and on it, I see that Les 2 Alpes village is in the red zone where it says forbidden, but around it is yellow. So i guess if I go to the top of the mountain and find some nice place to use it, is allowed to do so within the mentioned boundaries of 150m? I will be taking DJI Spark.

Thanks

The rules to fly in France became a little tougher if you own a drone that weights more than 800 g now..
For these, you will need to pass an online little video training and register your drone here https://alphatango.aviation-civile.gouv.fr/login.jsp

The rest is pretty standard and the map shared by Drycatoh is still valid (GeoPortail).
Good to know tho is that you're not allowed to fly on the French National Day (14/07), over open air concert or events & near the Tour de France.. as this last one if often followed by several copters.
I've summed it all in a research https://www.drone-made.com/blog/france-drone-laws along all other countries in case you need more info.

Cheers,

Alex87 Posted at 2-10 14:37
Hey @Drycatoh Im going in March to Les 2 Alpes, and I came across that map you shared above, and on it, I see that Les 2 Alpes village is in the red zone where it says forbidden, but around it is yellow. So i guess if I go to the top of the mountain and find some nice place to use it, is allowed to do so within the mentioned boundaries of 150m? I will be taking DJI Spark.

Thanks

Yellow means up to 100 m max instead of 150 m elsewhere, just bear in mind that National Parks might need local authorisation in case you're in one of them.