This is the link to the IAC from the French SIA
https://www.sia.aviation-civile.gouv.fr/aip/enligne/PDFAIPparSSection/IAC/AD/2/1305AD-2.LFAC.pdf
Which makes it absolutely clear that that in order to fly the approach though the ZIT, you have to be talking to either Lille approach or Calais.
I would guess that they didn't talk to either of them, which is a bit silly.
I can't understand how he avoided talking to Lille approach ?
Has anybody actually been done for anything like these amounts? I recall asking this question in various places over the years and nobody had turned up any data.
Peter,
I know of a case in Germany where someone on a VFR flight busted a D-area. The prosecutor and his lawyer agreed upon 15.000€ as a fine. He told me he was never going to switch on his mode S again below 5000ft (not mandatory) ...
Why does Germany hit pilots so hard for making a mistake?
Let's be honest, the military of Germany is even less relevant on the world stage than the military of the UK. They must be hanging onto these D areas mainly because if they don't they will lose them.
The biggest fines in the UK for airspace transgressions tend to be half that, and even then only if the CAA really don't like you, or it was a high public profile event such as an air show.
I don't fly VFR outside the UK anymore but sometimes you have to e.g. departing a non IFR airfield and then you are on your own until you establish contact with the IFR controller.
Aggressive fines like this don't help safety and encourage non transponder flight which is stupid.
They must be hanging onto these D areas mainly because if they don't they will lose them.
Airspace D is used for terminal areas, only very few military ones around. Or did he refer to danger areas? Those you can fly through but you might find holes in your fuselage...
I have committed several airspace infractions but was never prosecuted for them (although asked to call ATC or lectured on the frequency). I don't think one can say that Germany punishes airspace infractions more severely than others, there is little evidence of that. 15 000 € is 30% of the maximum fine possible in aviation so that must have been a rather severe case. The few cases I know about where pilots had to pay a fine were not the standard airspace violation but involved a lot more than just an upset ATC -- TCAS RAs, missed approaches, etc.
Aggressive fines like this don't help safety and encourage non transponder flight which is stupid.
Turning off the transponder doesn't really help. Radar coverage is very good and they get you if they want, they just follow your track. I know of a case where they tracked down a plastic microlight without transponder.
what I can't understand is how the VFR-pilot could penetrate this airspace ... but those things still happen today with GPS and moving maps. Leaving the Xponder on SBY is a silly response to it, I find.
p.s. Just checked it again it's a Restricted Area ED-R136A
Last year I brought a Dutch-Belgian team to the Coupe Breitling 'race' in France: T&G and 100 different airfields with 1 aircraft within 24 hours, 6 mandatory sectors in every corner of France to visit and teammembers that can only fly 4 hours, then to switch.
I was flying the last leg in a German registered aircraft around Paris and had to do more than 20 T&G's within only an hour and a half, including T&G's on Le Bourget, Creil, etc. The 'race' ended at the military airforce base Villacoublay. The 'race' is VFR only and Villacoublay is A-airspace, but for this competition they made an exception for the competing aircraft.
As I was flying one approach after the other, often my teammate would still be on the radio talking in French to the controller of the previous airport.airfield while I would be overhead the next one already. What happened is that at St. Cyr - Lecole I ended up overhead the Versailles palace in prohibited airspace and later on when talking to the Villacoublay controller to get to the airforce base I happened to be cirling over the house of Sarkozy (president at that time).
The president called the commander of the base and said "What is this German (we were flying a German registered aircraft) doing above my house!". The commander noticed that this was the Dutch team and said to Sarkozy "Mr. Sarkozy, it is not the Germans, it is Hollande". He had to laugh. 3 days later Hollande became the president.
Now, I landed the participating aircraft on Villacoublay and was welcomed by 3 employees of the French Gendarmerie who questioned me for about 1,5 hours on what I did above Versailles and above the house of Sarkozy. I was lucky as the commander of the airforce base with 2 of his officers stood next to me in full uniform to support me and the case was closed. The gendarmerie had trouble closing the case as they did not know how to then report the case to their superiors.
What I learned is that it is better not to infringe into airspace where you are not supposed to be.
This year I am participating again with a team. Now we take extra measures to ensure this kind of infringement will not happen again.
@AeroPlus: great story 
the fine depends on what you earn - it must hurt they say
Sorry to be picky here but it is a bit more complex. There are two different things: violating a rule of the air law is typically an administrative offense (Ordnungswidrigkeit) like speeding in your car and thus subject to an administrative fine (Geldbuße) of up to 50 000 €. Fines are set by the administration (i.e. not the court, although they can be appealed there). The amount is based on the seriousness of the infraction, not of how deep your pockets are. 500 € appears to be the entry level for the standard stuff, one hears about 1 500 € for cases where airliners had to go on the missed or separation minima were violated. You can negotiate a bit here as the administration typically wants to get such stuff off the table and rather sees you pay a reduced amount than appeal in court.
In your friend's case, it is something different. He violated a restricted zone. This is a criminal offense (§ 62 LuftVG) and punished with up to 2 years of jail (i.e. just below the felony level). Unless you do that every weekend, you get punished with a penalty order (Strafbefehl) which is based on your income. Now that we are in criminal law here, there are two types of criminal infractions: the ones that get prosecuted upon request by the victim (Antragsdelikte) and the ones that have to get prosecuted as soon as the prosecutor gets to know (Offizialdelikte). It seems that violating a restricted airspace is the former, so the US Army must have filed a report and specifically asked for prosecution. I have witnessed several restricted airspace violations on the radio and usually nothing happens.
The bottom line is: don't violate restricted airspaces. The UK NATS were/are running a special program to equip pilots with airspace warning devices so this is a hot topic in other countries, too. For the static zones, GPS are a foolproof solution. Unfortunately it's not as easy for the temporary ones. NOTAMs typically contain a list of GPS coordinates describing the shape which is very unintuitive. In the US, it's much easier with things like ForeFlight automatically showing TFRs. At least in Germany, being on the FIS frequency is a 95% guarantee you will be warned in advance (and a great help if you bust it, because part of the blame will be on FIS).
PS: As it was ED-R136 (Grafenwöhr), let me quote a NOTAM: "Due to the growing number of airspace infractions particularly during weekends, the commander of the US Army points out that this zone is H24 and prohibited for all kinds of aircraft all around the year." The Americans really got something to hide there...
@ AeroPlus
you missed to drop a bucket of red roses for Carla Bruni, as Gunter Sachs did for Brigitte Bardot ... 
:-)
