This French article has some stuff on it from France, and a DGAC video which some may find amusing, or patronising 
Perhaps our French colleagues can offer some comment…
That is about any kind of violation, not just airspace infringements. But the penalties mentioned there are very severe. I guess these are the maximum penalties, and are not applied every time.
Yes; most of the stuff is not related to airspace busts. And France is known for very high penalties e.g. €10k for the nuclear power station ZITs (of which nobody seems to know of a single example) much like the German €50k fine for “just about everything in aviation” (of which nobody seems to know a single example).
But maybe someone who understands French can summarise the video. On the surface is seems as patronising as this but that seems to be the DGAC style when addressing the aeroclub community there.
I think it will need a little time to consider all the details. On first glance it seems that the commission being set up to consider the infractions is reasonably balanced in experience.
It would seem that you will have the choice of holding your hands up and say yeah I did what I did, sorry about that, and this is what I did wrong.
Most of the factors on the list like flying too low over towns and public gatherings and flying aerobatics out of the assigned area one might expect to be asked to explain yourself in many countries.
Perhaps the most significant areas for sanctions might be entering CAS without permission and poor fuel planning.
In typical French fashion we have a list of draconian measures for a series of offences with instructors facing the harshest measures but on the other hand if it’s not too bad an infringement, and if you hold your hands up you might get away, as you do now with publishing your errors in the FFA return on experience. But as I say I have not read the full text and the link is not to the DGAC or FFA site, so I am not sure of its validity.
I haven’t looked at the video just read the text link.
gallois wrote:
flying aerobatics out of the assigned area
This one Im a little confused about. What is to stop anyone doing aeros in class G away from any town etc??
I know that France has specific areas designated for concentrated aeros, but where does flight training manouvering end and aeros start..?
Regards, SD..
I also think it is really difficult in France to do a UK-style airspace bust – provided you are in contact with ATC and have told them your route.
Peter wrote:
I also think it is really difficult in France to do a UK-style airspace bust – provided you are in contact with ATC and have told them your route.
And that right there is the HUGE difference between France and the UK. Its joined up, so if you tell the FIS “F-xxxx climbing 2500ft” and the Class C TMA starts at at 2500ft, they will either approve knowing that you might stray slightly or say “Not Above 2500ft” which means exactly that, and they are usually the same controller that is talking to the CAT in the TMA.
To try to settle the debate as to whether Gasco still runs its “courses” physically, or online, I wrote to Gasco itself, and got this reply:
We are still running the Airspace Infringements Awareness Courses, but they are available online only at the present time and invitations to attend are via the CAA only. The CAA letter to delegates explains that bookings are to be made through the GASCo Office. The charge for the online course is £140.00.
I then asked if they are run from home; awaiting a reply. That is quite an important point; it is possible that Gasco did what the universities are doing (to justify the fees the students pay): run online courses from the university student residences!
Sitting at home for a day watching zoom and paying £140 is a significant punishment factor, but not as much as having to travel a long way somewhere and do it there Of course the real punishment is that if you do it again within 2 years, your license gets suspended, per CAP1404, pending some undocumented process.
The hotel venues above must have been booked with the hotels otherwise the dates and locations would not have been published. It is also obvious that either the hotels must have very flexible cancellation policies, or the CAA must have assured Gasco of delivering a certain minimum number each month for “processing” otherwise no business would have taken the risk.
This one is weird to me “En instruction, survol à très basse altitude d’un espace de classe D”. This means that one has flown at very low altitude above class D airspace. So one is above the upper limit class D (a CTR maybe?), but at very low altitude? I wouldn’t expect that any class D would have a ceiling below something like 1000ft (if not 3000ft).
The commission seems fairly balanced in composition. 3 aeronautical civil servants and 3 representatives from the club federations. I’d have preferred some representation of non-club people (e.g. AOPA, if AOPA France is efficient?), but I also think that the French aeronautical club federation also sees itself as in the same boat as non-club aviation and will be sympathetic also to non-club members.
lionel wrote:
“En instruction, survol à très basse altitude d’un espace de classe D”
Could this not be flying too low under SFVR?
Not sure how that would work. Ive had controllers request I fly lower than 500ft AMSL (as read on my altimeter) along the Cote d’Azure VFR route.
Regards, SD..
