Yes it’s annoying if you’ve got a “legacy drone” over 250g - essentially you have to keep 150m away from uninvolved people if you want to fly it, unless you are willing to pay for a training course and certification, which most hobby flyers won’t want to bother with.
I have a Parrot Anafi which I bought in 2018 and which at 320g falls into this category - it’s pretty much obsolete despite still being a nice little drone. Knowing that the rules were changing I bought a DJI Mini 3 Pro which sneaks in at 249g so falls into the A1 Open category which is the most liberal.
While I understand that some control of where and how people fly drones is necessary, I do think the market has been over-regulated - there are so many different classifications and variations on the rules, not to mention the large number of no-fly zones, especially in France! If you look at the Geoportail map there are huge swathes of the country that are off-limits - including historic monuments and just about every built-up area including tiny hamlets!
I have had to register my drones in both the UK and France, so they are now adorned with two ID stickers - best not take one on holiday anywhere else or all the stickers will put it over the weight limit!!
The whole question of “class marks” on drones is also a dog’s breakfast - it doesn’t seem possible to get a drone class-marked retrospectively, even if it would otherwise fit the bill. The UK is "allowing non-class marked drones to fly until 1 Jan 2026 - but after that will they be illegal, even if totally fit for purpose?
Neither of my drones has any kind of “class mark” on it as they weren’t a thing when I bought them - so within a couple of years it’s possible that it will be illegal to fly either of them!
To add to the fun the UK does not recognise EU class marks, which is monumentally stupid, as it forces the manufacturers to make UK-specific models with UK class marks, which presumably won’t be legal in the EU unless they also carry an EU class-mark. Thank you Brexit yet again.
Until recently the UK has been mirroring the EU regs, but the CAA is busy doing a “consultation” at the moment after which they will presumably introduce UK-specific rules which don’t match anybody else’s.
Their consultation paper keeps mentioning the “Gatwick incident” as a cause for concern about drone flights - despite there being no proof at all that a drone was ever involved in that panic. They also mention “drone incidents reported to police” but not “number of prosecutions for breach of drone regulations”, which I would think would be a far far smaller number.
It’s a bugger’s muddle, basically.
Out of idle curiosity, where would the radio control aircraft I used to fly fit into all this, or are they a thing of the past?
In the UK they are covered by the same rules as drones - if the aircraft weighs under 250g and does not have a camera you don’t need to register it (it’s essentially seen as a toy); over that weight or if it’s camera-equipped you do.
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It’s unlikely I’ll ever fly again, but useful to know. There’s a couple of planes and a few IC engines stashed away, but I think the RC gear has had it.
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It certainly stopped me in my tracks this morning as I was just going to order a new mini folding drone.
Yes it is all a minefield - but if you get one under 250g you have as much freedom of use as is possible nowadays.
But if it has a camera (as they nearly all do) then register yourself and the drone, which you do on the “Alpha Tango” website:
https://alphatango.aviation-civile.gouv.fr/login.jsp
And it’s a good idea to have insurance as well!
The Ukrainians will happily accept any legacy drone and put them to good use.
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I don’t think my Parrot would be much use to them - it would only lift a couple of sparklers. 
It’ll work for those “Is anyone in that next building/hedgerow/trench?” situations if it has decent FPV camera range as you don’t want to be calling in the 182,000 tungsten balls of a HIMARS warhead if you’re within 200 metres of the target.
I know, I was joking.
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