To Europe with your drone

Going on vacation, everyone takes their phone with them for filming, some – a good camera or action camera. And someone is a quadcopter. A drone is no longer a luxury, but a tool that helps you capture great travel memories. Sooner or later, the pandemic will end, and many of us will travel to Europe with our drone for filming. But, unfortunately, this can lead to fines for its illegal use. Let’s figure out how to do everything according to the law.

Hey! I’m Andrey, a back-end developer from Wrike. We are actively developing our office in Prague, and in April In 2021, I relocated to the Czech Republic. My Mavic Mini didn’t take up much space in my backpack and moved with me. There are many attractive locations in Prague for shooting from above: I thought this was a good opportunity to improve my skill and start flying more. But everything turned out to be not so simple. In this article I will tell you about how I registered a drone in the Czech Republic, and will share my experience and pitfalls that I had to face.

Disclaimer: different European countries may have their own additional rules, but the main points will be the same.

I didn’t fly a drone at home much, but I really enjoyed this hobby. While using the Mavic Mini in Russia, I did not have to delve into the study of legislation: I could safely fly without registering a drone everywhere except prohibited areas (airports, military facilities, etc.).

In the European Union, since the beginning of 2021, uniform rules for the use of drones have been adopted. They apply to all countries and imply a single regulatory framework governing the flights of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Therefore, after moving to the Czech Republic, I had to understand these rules and face all the bureaucratic formalities in full.

Where to begin

For a start, it’s worth studying the materials on the EASA website (European Union Aviation Safety Agency). It describes the basic rules, classes and categories of drones. To understand the basic rules and restrictions for amateur drones, just look This Video…

Chances are, your Mavic (or other hobby drone) will fall into the “open” category, which in turn is divided into subcategories.

For drones over 500 grams (e.g. Mavic Air 2) there are two options:

• Category A2 – allows you to shoot at a distance of 5 meters from people at a low flight speed and makes it possible to fly near houses (read in the city). But to use a drone of this category, you need to pass an additional exam for this type of rights in the educational institutions of the Civil Aviation Administration.

• Category A3 – closes flights in cities and near people, but requires regular pilot registration and does not imply additional exams. If your goal is to shoot nature outside the city, then this is what you need.

My Mavic Mini is not Privately built and falls into the category “Drones without class identification label <500g", sub-category A1. Plus, the drone has a camera, and it definitely does not fit the definition of a "toy." register, and I get a pilot's license, take courses and pass an exam.

Sounds doable! Let’s do everything in order.

New rules from 2023

Since 2023, new classes of drones are being introduced in the European Union. It is understood that drones produced in 2021 and 2022 will already be labeled with new classes for the EU. According to this label, only drones such as the Mavic 2 Pro and Mavic 2 Zoom do not qualify for C1 class, and additional operational difficulties will arise.

Drone registration

So, I decided that I needed to register the drone. UAV registration is a simple step that is needed to identify your vehicle. Since I registered the drone in the Czech Republic, then all actions will take place on Czech sites.

Come on to the CAA website (Civil Aviation Administration) and select the required type of registration (Registrace provozovatele bezpilotního systému):

Since I am a fyzicka osoba (natural person), I can only log in with my e-identity. As far as I understand, this is the Czech equivalent of State Services. From there, my data is immediately pulled up. There is no other way to register the drone.

There are several ways to login to e-identity. For example, if you have an account with one of the local banks (haha!). What about people who are not in the Czech Republic and do not have the opportunity to get an account in e-identity? I dont know. I’m afraid not.

I chose the login + password + sms option. But it turned out that to complete the registration, you still need to go to the post office and transfer your data through them. I went and passed it on.

Next, we proceed directly to the registration of the drone. To do this, you just need to log into your account and receive a code in response, which you need to write on all your drones. Everything is super easy, apart from registration.

And what about other countries?

On the this site you can find links to the Civil Aviation Authorities of all EU countries.

For example, for registration in Germany, the rules are a little simpler. For individuals, you need to specify:

• Full name (as stated on the identity document), date of birth.

• Scan of an official identity document (identity card or passport) from which the above data was taken (format: PNG, JPG or JPEG).

• Address.

• Email address, phone number.

• The name of the insurer and the number of the insurance policy.

In theory, you can register without being a resident of the European Union.

Pilot registration

Next, you need to get a pilot registration. To do this, on the same CAA website choose the type of registration you want, and go ahead and take the test. To prepare for it, you need to read all the materials on the CAA website and other sources (for example, here). They say the answers can be googled.

We are waiting for an online test in Czech of 40 questions, which must be completed in an hour. I don’t know Czech well, so I ran every question through a translator. 10 errors are allowed. I did 6. I understand, the result is terrible, but I still got my rights.

They look like this:

Rights are valid throughout the European Union, so you can get them in any country.

Filming

The rights were received, the drone was registered. Are we going to shoot Prague?

But no! there is websitewhich shows a map of no-fly zones and zones with various restrictions. Prague looks like a huge red spot on this site. You can only fly there with a permit obtained from the CAA. To do this, you need to fill in multiple documentsbut with my knowledge of Czech it is difficult. This will be my next quest.

In the meantime, we are driving outside the red zone and photographing parks, mountains, lakes and other attractions.

And who are the judges?

Who monitors compliance with the law and how is all the necessary documents and permits checked? I have not yet come across checks, but I attached a piece of paper with an identifier to the drone and always carry my license with me. Perhaps, if you launch a drone in Prague without proper permission from the CAA, then there may be problems with the police. None of my acquaintances flies in Prague, so I still have no one to find out in detail about the experience of obtaining a permit for such flights.

Now I am planning to get an A2 license and go through the quest to obtain a permit to fly in regulated areas.

There are many beautiful places in the Czech Republic, and I hope that I will understand all the peculiarities of local laws and flight restrictions, so that my hobby is more enjoyable than excitement 🙂 I want to delight myself with flights and beautiful photos from above. Share in the comments your experience in obtaining a flight permit in Europe. Especially if you have done this from outside the EU.