Criminalization Instead of Legal Clarity
Current legal practice reveals a remarkable phenomenon: Ordinary drone operators are increasingly receiving formal hearing letters from public prosecutors’ offices in Germany. The charges at hand are serious, as a dangerous interference in air traffic under § 315 of the Criminal Code (StGB) can be punishable by imprisonment of up to five years.
Upon closer legal examination, however, these proceedings often prove to be unfounded. What is hastily pursued as a supposed crime generally turns out to be a completely lawful operation within the framework of European and national air law. The occurrence of such severe allegations stems from a structural enforcement deficit: The investigative authorities find the interplay of EU regulations, geographical zones according to § 21h of the Air Traffic Regulations (LuftVO), and controlled airspaces often simply too confusing, which leads to reflexively resorting to criminal law instead of carefully reviewing the air traffic lawfulness.
However, unmanned aviation law is not as complicated as it initially seems when systematically organized. To avoid such missteps in the future and to guarantee true legal certainty for operators, a paradigm shift towards standardized transparency is needed.
The Key is a Cascaded Zone Logic
What a modern and practical solution looks like is demonstrated by progressive models such as the Hamburg administrative practice or standardized general orders for control zones. The crucial key lies in a consistently digitally visualized and cascaded zone logic. Instead of lengthy individual case reviews, transparent geodata, clear altitude gradations, and binding distance radii enable both pilots and regulatory authorities to determine the legality of a flight at a glance.
Prof. Dr. Martin Maslaton is a specialist lawyer for administrative law and a Board Member of BVZD
Such a system of harmonized, digitally retrievable verification criteria makes the hasty involvement of law enforcement authorities obsolete and directs actual regulatory violations where they belong: into the orderly regulatory framework of administrative offenses. A forward-looking mode of transport cannot thrive if legal flights are constantly under the suspicion of criminalization.
More News
It is not the Criminal Code, but transparent, digitally recordable aviation standards that must set the benchmark for the lower airspace. Those who create legal certainty through simple, reliable rules effectively protect flight safety and simultaneously relieve the judiciary.
If you use Google as your search engine, you can set Drones as your preferred source so that our content appears more frequently in your search results. Add Drones as your preferred source.
