A flight zone does not only run into airspace. Drone OPS Mission cross-checks, over your mission polygon, DGAC/SIA airspace (CTR, TMA, P/R/D zones, nearby aerodromes), the military low-altitude network RTBA and its AZBA activations, as well as protected natural areas: national park cores, Natura 2000 sites, reserves and biotope orders. Each detected constraint is shown separately, with its type, its footprint and the nature of the restriction.
Not all of these restrictions come from aviation law. Flying over the core of a national park may be prohibited below 1,000 m by each park's own regulations, under article L331-4-1 of the French Environment Code — each park having its own order and exemption procedure, which remain the reference.
The full detail of these categories — biotope orders, national and regional reserves, APHN, wildlife-sensitivity zones, municipal orders — and of what is actually prohibited is covered in a dedicated guide (in French): Natural areas prohibited to drone overflight.
Controlled and restricted airspace: CTR, TMA, P (prohibited), R (restricted) and D (danger) zones, nearby aerodromes and AIP supplements. Public data reusable under articles L321-1 and L321-2 of the French Code of Relations between the Public and the Administration.
Military very-low-altitude training areas and their AZBA activations are flagged on the mission area. Their activity varies day to day: the map shows the constraint, the day's official publication remains the reference.
Distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 licence (non-commercial use). This layer is deliberately available to all profiles, free and paid: paid features concern the regulatory cross-checking, never access to the OpenAIP data itself.
Boundaries of the 11 national parks (producer: Parcs nationaux de France / PatriNat) and the Natura 2000 and protected-area reference datasets from MNHN/PatriNat, published under the Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0.
The full detail of datasets, licences and reuse conditions is published on the Sources & Credits page.
If a layer fails to load or a source is temporarily unavailable, the factor concerned is not removed from the verdict: it explicitly switches to “check manually”, with the official source to consult. Missing data can never be interpreted as an absence of constraints.
The same principle applies to zones whose severity is still being qualified: the status shown is an operational indication, never a regulatory certification.
Drone OPS Mission cross-checks DGAC/SIA airspace, CTR, TMA, P/R/D zones, RTBA/AZBA, nearby aerodromes, national parks, Natura 2000, reserves and other protected natural areas, depending on available data.
No. OpenAIP provides a useful community aeronautical layer, while SIA/DGAC and the AZBA/RTBA publications remain official references to check before the flight.
No. The tool flags detected constraints and the sources to consult, but it replaces neither official publications, nor local authorisations, nor the remote pilot's responsibility.
A compatible zone can become unusable with too much wind, poor visibility or insufficient vertical margin above the terrain.
See also: drone GO/NOGO weather analysis and 3D drone mission visualisation.
Draw your zone and get the list of constraints that cross it. The Discovery account is free and needs no credit card, OpenAIP layer included. The full SIA and RTBA layers and zone analysis are part of the PRO plan, with a 7-day trial.
Create a free accountOr go PRO for the full SIA and RTBA layers.
Decision-support tool. Responsibility for the operation remains with the remote pilot, who must check official sources (SIA, NOTAM/AZBA, local orders) before every flight.