France is also grappling with some drone issues, it seems. The Local in France reports:
France appears to be in the midst of a crackdown on amateur drone enthusiasts. Last week a teen landed in court for using a drone to make an aerial film of his home town, this week a Foreign Legionnaire was arrested for buzzing around the Eiffel Tower with his device.
The situation with the teen is actually more interesting – and informative, I think, as the drone flew over the city of Nancy:
“Nancy seen from the air” (Nancy vu du ciel) is the stunning short film put together by 18-year-old Nans Thomas quickly which racked up some 400,000 views after it was posted on the online video sharing site Vimeo.
But unfortunately for the teenager his success also caught the eye of French civil aviation authorities, who ordered an investigation, TF1 TV reported. It turns out the teenager violated two key provisions of the law according to Nancy’s top prosecutor Thomas Pison.
First, drone operators in a France have to complete a training course similar to the ones pilots must take. Then, a drone flight over an urban area requires specific written approval. Unfortunately for Thomas, he had neither.
Read more on The Local. The teen’s video of Nancy is quite amazing and beautiful, focusing on the city’s architecture. And with one exception, it does not zoom in on any people, yet I think we can all envision how it might have been otherwise depending on the operator’s motivation.
Hopefully, he will be treated somewhat leniently, although I do realize they will want to enforce their laws and make a point about safety and privacy.