Zones de Sensibilité Majeure (ZSM)

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Zones de Sensibilité Majeure (ZSM)

Author	Message
GalaxyzA11+	G GalaxyzA11+ posted 6/10/2026 9:59:42 PM Post Details Share Post
G Group: Forum Members Posts: 15, Visits: 0	+x Adam Erchegyi - 6/10/2026 6:13:06 AM +x GalaxyzA11+ - 6/9/2026 7:32:38 PM you may go to jail sounds like an overstatement Not really. But as Tim said, it is not an aeronautical data. Some years ago the LPO (a association who protect the birds) was willing to prohibited the flights and at the same time they refused to communicate the aeras were the birds has nested. In order to avoid that hunters goes there to make some trophy. Since if they want to avoid the flights, they accepted to communicate the approximative location, but not communicate if it is active or not. By the way we have this 10 years long period for each nest that existed a single time. The fact is that it is not prohibited to fly over, but it is forbidden to disturb the birds, in case there were any at that place. In the first years, I found that cool, but later I understand that this guys are some kind of extremist who mainly hate planes. End of the story.
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grahamb	grahamb posted 6/10/2026 7:11:20 AM Post Details Share Post
Group: Forum Members Posts: 649, Visits: 31K	Are these zones shown on the official IGN aeronautical charts or do people just have to know about them somehow? Edited 6/10/2026 7:25:00 AM by grahamb
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Adam Erchegyi	Adam Erchegyi posted 6/10/2026 6:13:06 AM Post Details Share Post
Group: Forum Members Posts: 122, Visits: 3K	+x GalaxyzA11+ - 6/9/2026 7:32:38 PM you may go to jail sounds like an overstatement
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GalaxyzA11+	G GalaxyzA11+ posted 6/9/2026 7:32:38 PM Post Details Share Post
G Group: Forum Members Posts: 15, Visits: 0	+x pgroell - 5/7/2026 4:02:15 PM +x Tim Dawson - 5/7/2026 1:34:13 PM So there are not really official aeronautical data, and have no aeronautical significance, but pilots stay away from them anyway? As much as possible, pilots should fly around the ZSM. If flying around is impossible, overflight is permitted at a minimum off 1000 m AGL above the highest point of the area. Knowing a bit about that, once an aera is declared, it will stay "declared" for the next 10 years (!) even if no bird has been observed since the past 9 years.... This means nearly all french Alps and Pyrénées will be covered with this aeras. Adding to that, they have no aeronautical value, but you may go to jail because a of a law that claim that if you disturb these birds in any way (even while walking around) you may be prosecuted. So far, our judges are a bit busy, and if dont over fly this aeras each day, they will probably not prosecuted you. At the opposite side, if you turn around a nest take pictures you may have a problem... Even with a mountain bike. Anyone go mountaineering (fly) will probably know about that. (At least now) 😉
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pgroell	pgroell posted 5/7/2026 4:02:15 PM Post Details Share Post
Group: Forum Members Posts: 104, Visits: 18K	+x Tim Dawson - 5/7/2026 1:34:13 PM So there are not really official aeronautical data, and have no aeronautical significance, but pilots stay away from them anyway? As much as possible, pilots should fly around the ZSM. If flying around is impossible, overflight is permitted at a minimum off 1000 m AGL above the highest point of the area.
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Tim Dawson	Tim Dawson posted 5/7/2026 1:34:13 PM Post Details Share Post
Group: Forum Members Posts: 8.3K, Visits: 10K	So there are not really official aeronautical data, and have no aeronautical significance, but pilots stay away from them anyway?
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pgroell	pgroell posted 5/7/2026 1:22:49 PM Post Details Share Post
Group: Forum Members Posts: 104, Visits: 18K	+x Tim Dawson - 5/7/2026 11:35:04 AM Where are these referenced in AIP France please? I don't think they are referenced in the AIP, they are only known via this page : https://www.stac.aviation-civile.gouv.fr/fr/zsm and this file for whole France : https://www.stac.aviation-civile.gouv.fr/sites/default/files/france.kml# The status changes every month and they are activated or deactivated depending on the status of the birds (nesting or not, presence or not of fledglings).
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Tim Dawson	Tim Dawson posted 5/7/2026 11:35:04 AM Post Details Share Post
Group: Forum Members Posts: 8.3K, Visits: 10K	Where are these referenced in AIP France please?
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jmservat	j jmservat posted 5/7/2026 6:26:48 AM Post Details Share Post
j Group: Forum Members Posts: 1, Visits: 0	Hello, Just to confirm the need. I have tried converting the French ZSM xml file to kms or guppy but SkyDemon would not load them. Could the SkyDemon team propose a solution? There are many bird sensitivity zones and it is very difficult to navigate without having them in our favourite navigation package. Other pilots are able to load them in SDVFR. Thank you Jean-Marc
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BernardBig	B BernardBig posted 4/28/2025 8:28:08 PM Post Details Share Post
B Group: Forum Members Posts: 2, Visits: 0	Hello Antoine, having the same need, I decided to write a script to convert the .kml file to .airspace format compatible with SkyDemon You can download the current version here Next version scheduled for May 6th Hope it helps Edited 4/28/2025 9:53:32 PM by BernardBig
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