A pair of friends paid a high price for their illegal drone flights around France’s famed Mont-Saint-Michel earlier this year. On Wednesday a court slapped them with fines for breaking two different regulations as they filmed chums committing even worse legal infractions in the name of, um, something really stupid.
The two men were found guilty by a judge in western France after admitting to having piloted their craft around the celebrated Normandy island while their friends attempted to free climb the spire of its abbey, whose origins date back to 708. To make things worse, the historical and cultural treasure – on an island that was for centuries inaccessible to obnoxious invaders except at low tide – was closed and under renovation at the time. The climbers chose a weekend to use scaffolding erected by construction workers to mount the base of the structure and begin their ascent as the drone cameras rolled.
To make things really, really worse, the…
