Call for ban on ‘annoying’ drones at iconic Swiss cliff face restaurant

“There are a huge number of drones flying around. They fly over the whole terrace and even right up to the windows,” manager Melanie Gmünder told national broadcaster SRF.

“Drones are annoying. It’s disrespectful and it’s unpleasant. They are intruding on our privacy,” she said of the situation at the restaurant which is a favourite among users of the social media picture sharing site Instagram.

Gmünder is part of the new management team that began running the Äscher just last month after the previous owners departed, saying the spectacularly-located restaurant in eastern Switzerland’s Alpstein massif had become a victim of its own success.

The new manager is now calling on authorities in the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden to impose a no-fly zone for drones around the Äscher.

Under Swiss law, drone operators must respect people’s privacy and not fly low over private property or places where people are gathered.

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For safety reasons, they are also not permitted to fly over or within 100 metres of groups of people without special permission.

But Gmünder said only professional drone pilots were aware of the rules, and that fact sheets outlining the regulations were next to useless.

A spokesperson for the police in Appenzell Innerrhoden told the 20 Minuten news site they were not aware of the situation at the Äscher but that people can complain to police if they are being bothered by drones.