According to this article on Franceinfo, a young french entrepreneur, 18 yr old Thomas Nans, is being prosecuted for “endangering other people lives” after taking an aerial video of the city of Nancy with one of his multirotors.

Here’s the video, great stuff:

Thomas Nans was called to appear in Nancy court for this accusation.

Rumors say that it was a competitor to bring the video to the attention of authorities. It is unfortunate to Mr. Nans that apparently the move was successful, and he’s now looking ahead at some  troubles in the near future.

Thomas Nans apparently was not compliant with current french regulations on UAVs, that state that in order to make such a video, the pilot should have undergone a training and authorization process similar to the one of a plane pilot. Then, he should have requested a specific clearance authorization from local “prefecture” (police) to carry on this specific flight.

However, the main allegation is to “mise en danger de la vie d’autrui” (endangering other person’s lives).

This is a nice article, in french, that explains the drone regulation for the civilian sector in France.

We’ll monitor how the story evolves, and hope that also because of the young age of this enterprising guy, this will serve as a warning for him without coming with the harsh consequences that the accusation might imply.

Source

http://www.franceinfo.fr/justice/poursuivi-pour-avoir-filme-nancy-avec-un-drone-1317697-2014-02-13

Stay tuned on the Personal Drones blog for the latest multirotor and quadcopter news!