Airspace and zones: where can a drone fly in France?

Every prohibited or regulated zone is published in the aeronautical information issued by the French Aeronautical Information Service (SIA). It holds permanent information, the AIP, and urgent or temporary information, the NOTAMs and the AIP supplements (SUP AIP). In the AIP, the restriction zones sit in the En-route part, section ENR 5; aerodrome data sits under AD 1.3.

Above all these zones, one general limit applies: 120 metres above the ground or water, in the Open category as in the standard scenarios of the Specific category.

A control zone (CTR) surrounds the aerodromes where an air traffic control service is provided. Outside its limits, the rules tied to the distance from the runways no longer apply. Inside, the rule depends on the category and on the unit that controls the CTR.

In the Specific category, the 50 m are measured from the take-off surface. In both cases the agreement may be conditional on a protocol. The military CTRs include those of Avord, Cazaux, Istres, Landivisiau, Salon and Villacoublay; the agreement is requested from the unit of the Ministry of the Armed Forces that controls the zone.

For a civil CTR, the agreement is requested from the aerodrome's control unit published for the zone.

Prohibited (P), restricted (R) and danger (D) zones are published at AIP ENR 5.1 for permanent zones, and by NOTAM and SUP AIP for temporary ones.

• P zone: flying a drone there is forbidden, except under the published entry conditions. Paris is the best-known example: its airspace is zone P 23, and in the Open category every outdoor flight is forbidden there, even on private ground.
• R and D zones: in the Specific category, flying there is only possible with the agreement of the body the aeronautical information designates. Where the publication designates none, flying there is forbidden. In the Open category, flying there is forbidden.
• The ban or the agreement only applies during the possible activation periods published in the « HOR » column of ENR 5.1, or during the activity periods published by NOTAM or SUP AIP.

The very-low-altitude network (RTBA) is a set of restricted zones where military aircraft fly at very high speed and very low altitude. The rule only applies during the scheduled activity hours: those of a given day are published the day before from 17:00 on the SIA website (AZBA maps), and can be obtained on the day itself on the freephone number 0800 24 54 66. During those hours, flying there is totally forbidden in the Open category and subject to prior agreement in the Specific category.

An air show, an exercise or a disaster can create a zone for the duration of an event: a temporary restricted zone (ZRT), a temporary prohibited zone (ZIT) or a temporary danger zone. They are published by SUP AIP or by NOTAM, with their dates and often their activation hours, and follow the rules of P, R and D zones.

• In a disaster or fire calling for aerial means, the prefect may create a temporary prohibited zone: flying a drone there is then forbidden, except with prior agreement in the Specific category.
• Even with no zone published, it is best not to fly near an accident, a disaster or a fire, so as not to hinder the aerial rescue.
• These zones do not appear on the Géoportail map: only the SUP AIPs and the day's NOTAMs give them.

Around an aerodrome, flying is regulated within a volume whose shape and size depend on the type of aerodrome and on the runway length. You can be several kilometres from an airport and still inside a restricted area: up to 5 km from a runway of 1,200 m or less with no instrument procedures, up to 10 km or the CTR limit for a longer or equipped runway.

• In the Open category, every flight is forbidden on the aerodrome grounds and above the maximum heights set around it (annex 4 of the DGAC Open category guide).
• In the Specific category, an agreement is needed for any flight on the aerodrome grounds, beyond the remote pilot's sight, or within sight above a height limit. It is requested from the aerodrome's air traffic unit, failing that from the flight information service, failing that from the aerodrome operator. A protocol is mandatory for a beyond-sight flight.
• Microlight platforms created by prefectoral order and heliports have their own volume too; private heliports are not on the Géoportail map.

• The national parks and nature reserves listed at AIP ENR 5.7.3 may not be overflown, except under the conditions set by the aeronautical information or by the texts that created them.
• Other protected areas, such as Natura 2000 sites or sensitive natural areas, are not usually forbidden, but may be temporarily by prefectoral order, notably in the nesting season. Those bans are not on the map: the prefecture knows them.
• Hospitals, prisons and industrial sites bearing distinctive low-overflight ban markings are identified at AIP ENR 5.7.1. The whole site is forbidden, not only the map's red disc.

Some zones are closed to aerial data capture (ZICAD). They are listed by order, the order of 17 November 2025 at the date of the DGAC guide. A ZICAD targets capture: it forbids capturing images or other data there from the drone. On its own it says nothing about flying, but a P zone or an ENR 5.7.1 site often overlaps it: check them.

Before every mission, the operator checks that the operating site overlaps no ZICAD, or that the necessary authorisations are held. They are requested from the site's delegated authority, designated by the ministry or ministries responsible for the zone.

The low-level activity areas published at AIP ENR 5.3.1.3.1 host military aircraft that avoid collisions by sight. From Monday to Friday, during their activity hours, every flight of a drone over 900 g and every beyond-sight flight there depends on a prior formality with the Ministry of the Armed Forces. A beyond-sight flight requires it everywhere, even far from these areas. Other sectors of ENR 5.3.1.3, the VOLTAC and SEBAH sectors, also require the formality over 900 g; their days are checked in the AIP.

For a flight starting between 08:00 on day D and 08:00 the next day, Paris time, the notification is filed at the earliest on day D-2 at 04:00 and at the latest on day D at 04:00. A flight planned on the 15th at 06:00 therefore belongs to day D of the 14th: its notification is due by 04:00 on the 14th at the latest, not on the morning of the 15th. AlphaTango is stricter at the start: it refuses a notification filed before 06:00 on day D-2.

The Ministry of the Armed Forces does not answer: there is no agreement to wait for. The formality is completed from the operator's AlphaTango account, see our AlphaTango guide.

1. 1Place the flight, laterally and in height, on the restrictions map and in the AIP: CTRs, P, R and D zones, RTBA, aerodromes, parks and reserves.
2. 2Read the SUP AIPs and the NOTAMs of the flight day, on the SIA website or on SOFIA-Briefing, for temporary zones and activations.
3. 3Check that no ZICAD overlaps the area if you capture images.
4. 4Request every agreement due from the published body, and keep it with the mission file.
5. 5On the flight day, look up the RTBA hours if it is close, and give up at the slightest doubt.