Everything changes on 31 Dec 2020! Completely new rules come into force for flying your drone in the UK and Europe. The harmonies the rules across all EU member states, Norway and Iceland and will also be mirrored by the UK.
They make it clear where drones can be flown, as well as making it easier to trace owners.
The distinction between commercial and recreational use has been removed, potentially paving the way for more drone uses.
The Civil Aviation Authority have now adopted the new EASA rules meaning some can now fly a drone out of their back garden in towns and cities, others are relegated to the open countryside.
The rules are insanely complex but I’ve summarized them to focus on exactly how they affect where and how you can fly.
DJI, one of the world’s biggest drone makers, welcomed the changes.
“It streamlines different processes and allows customers to travel from country to country without having to worry about different rules in different foreign locations,” said Christian Struwe, the firm’s director of public policy.
The new rules and regulations for where and how you can fly the DJI Mavic Mini, DJI Mini 2, Tello, Spark, Mavic Air 1, DJI Mavic Air 2, DJI Mavic Pro, Pro Platinum, DJI Mavic 2 Pro, Mavic Zoom, Zerotech Dobby, Snaptain SP 500, Parrot Mambo, Parrot Anafi, Yuneec Typhoon and DJI Inspire.
The new Flying Categories and subcategories along with the new European Drone Classifications and how the Legacy Drone Transition Period will work, showing you how your existing drones are affected by the new rules.
Under the rules, even small drones will need to be registered with the relevant aviation authority, which in the UK is the Civil Aviation Authority.
I go through the main points of the CAP722 and CAP 2012 documents from the CAA and how they produce the matrix of rules that apply to your model.
Drones within this category will also have additional rules about where they can be flown:
- A1 – drones weighing less than 250g (0.55lb) can be flown over people
- A2 – drones weighing more than 250g but less than 2kg must be flown at least 50m (164ft) away from people
- A3 – drones weighing more than 2kg must be flown well away from people
UK-based users are still required to have passed the CAA’s official theory test and to have obtained a flyer ID to be allowed to fly any drone weighing over 250g within 150m of people.
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