Hi all! Today I will tell you how to legally fly a drone in Europe, using Poland as an example, what you need to do, where you need to register and all the legal nuances so that you don’t have problems with the local police, so that they issue a fine or don’t take away the site. There have been such cases. I will show you how to register a drone, talk about drone classes, flight classes, restrictions, restricted areas, where you can fly, where you can’t fly, how to watch it and where to watch it in real life, approximately. Let's go! So you have a drone and are wondering what you need to do to fly legally in Europe? First of all, in all European countries you need to register your drone. Or to be more precise, register as a pilot, get a unique number and stick it on your drone, where you can do it. Poland does all this on this website uav.com.pl. Registration here is normal, register. After registration, you need to provide your passport details, your phone number, of course with validation that this is your phone number, that is, you will receive an SMS and upload your document, passport. After some
time, validation will take place and you will be able to download and copy your number, you need this operator number. Here it says, please place the operator number on your UAV. Accordingly, you either order stickers, then stick them on the drone, or simply print them out and stick them with tape, as you wish. There are no strict requirements. But this number should be there; this is the first thing you will be asked if you are checked.
Here you can upload everything you have according to the documents, that is, you will have a confirmation by default and an exam if you pass it. So, you have your registration number stuck on and now the question is whether you need to take the exam and what to do next. In short, for DJI Mini drones, that is, all those up to 250 grams, it is not necessary to pass the exam, but without the value of the exam, you will not legally learn anything.
Accordingly, in any case, I advise you to pass this exam, A1/A3. It’s free, you can rent it online, if you can’t handle it yourself, then the GPT chat will help you, there’s nothing complicated there. But in any case, I advise you to read this exam. It's not much, you can easily do it in an evening.
So let's take a look. You can take and pass the exam itself on the training platform. It is located here, on this same site. This site contains a link to this platform. Come to the website, there are different exams, courses
available and so on. The next question is, is one registration enough? No, it's not enough. Let's find out why. To begin with, it is worth saying that there are 3 categories. Great, just a second. It's better that way. There are 3 flight categories. Open category,
specific category and certified category. In principle, we only need the Open category, because you will fly under it. In short, the maximum height is 120 meters. Has 3 subcategories. A1, A2, A3. And a 25 kilogram drone. But in principle, a kilogram is enough for us. Let's move on. Subcategory. Here we are talking about A1 and A3, since this is an A1, A3 exam, respectively.
In addition to the categories, there is also a subcategory, sorry, drone classes. These are C0, C1, C3 and so on. How do you know what class you are? From 25, I think, or 24, I don’t remember. All new drones must have this class listed on the drone. That is, below you will have the values indicated there.
Zero, one, three and so on. On the DJI Minic it will be a zero. On DJI Air, which weigh, if I’m not mistaken, 700 grams, this will already be C1. Why? Because up to 250 grams it’s all C0. And up to 900 grams this is C1. There are also Mavics, but they weigh a little more than 900 grams, as far as I know. And there you already need an A2 exam, which is taken in person and for some small money.
That is, you need to take a course and really need to go take an exam. This is a little more complicated. In 90% of cases, A1, A3 are enough for drones of categories C0 and C1. In principle, you may not pass the A2 exam, but then you won’t fly in the city normally. Therefore, if the drone is larger than 900 grams and you want to fly in the city, or near some buildings, then you need to pass the A2 exam.
So, let's read. For a C0 category drone, these are all DJI Mini series drones. DJI Mini 4K, DJI Mini 2, DJI Mini 2 SE, DJI 3, DJI 4 Pro and so on. Let's read. Registration is required if the drone can shoot video. It’s clear, DJI Drone shoots video, naturally.
The exam is not mandatory. If you have a drone smaller than 900 grams, that is, from 250 to 900 grams, registration is required in any case. And the exam is also mandatory, online. This one, A1, A3. If the category is any further,
then the exam is also mandatory. A1/A3 will be mandatory in any case, but A2 already has its moments. If your drone is old, manufactured before January 1, 2024, then most likely there is no mark on it. But that doesn't mean you can't fly. You can fly on it just like that without an exam, which is less than 250 grams.
But the restrictions are already more clearly defined here. In principle, there is nothing prohibitive here . Let's move on to the most interesting part. These are zones. If you have heard all sorts of zones CTR, DTR and so on, and nothing is clear, then I will say this. These abbreviations mean almost nothing to me either. How do you know where you can fly and where you can’t fly? There's a great website called DroneMap.com Here it is. This is a site for Poland where you can find out whether it is possible to fly, and if so, with what restrictions. If they exist, of course.
So. We now know that registration is required and the maximum height in the Open category is 120 meters. Now let's look. Let's use Warsaw as an example. There are red zones, purple zones, unknown colors, and so
on. By the way, these drones drawn are people who checked in for their flight. We'll move on to check-in. Because it is also mandatory. And if you see, this guy flies near the airport. Clearly less than 6-7 kilometers. And he flies. He checked in. Let's look at the requirements. Click on the question mark. And we click, for example,
not even in his place, but even closer. There is some kind of park. Let's click on this park. And such a pop-up opens. We see three zones on it. One zone, second zone, third zone. The first zone has two subzones. Let's take a simple look first. From the bottom. The name of the zone is written here.
And that flights are allowed after informing the agency. Here are the flight conditions. Check in to the Drone Tower application. Let's sort it out. And report the end of your flight. This is also in the application. There are no additional requirements. Except check-in. This is the standard. Second zone. This is a warning zone. There are no restrictions here. Just a warning zone. Now comes the fun part. CTR zone.
This is the airport area. And if we read all of this. It says here that you need to submit the plan. Via PANSA. At least 24 hours before your flight. And get permission. And it seems that that's all. No one, most likely,
will submit this. And I don’t want to wait for permission either. But, if you look at these two subzones. Let's see. Let's open it. What does it say here? This is a 6-kilometer zone. DRA-RCTA And what does it say here? All all Aerocrafts. With take-off weight up to 900 grams. These are category C1 and C0. This is all DJI Mini, DJI Air. DJI Flip. And so on. Except Mavikov. It’s not entirely clear with Mavics.
Allowed to fly at a distance. From no closer than 1 kilometer to the airport border. And with a height no higher than 30 meters from the surface. That is, you can fly at an altitude of up to 30 meters. After checking in at Dron Tower. But if you have more than 900 grams, then you need to get permission. Let's look at the second zone. Here we are talking about the Specific category. This is not our case at all. This is if you are no longer flying in VLOS, or on some special missions. Let's read it. That is, you also need to obtain permission.
24 hours. But there are two exceptions. For VLOS flights. That is, flying when you see a drone. You see it directly with your eyes . And you can control it without a camera, without sensors.
Also in terms of distance. In Open and Specific categories too. Open in our case. The same distance from one kilometer. Weight up to 900 grams. Height up to 30 meters. No plan confirmation is required. But this is only for VLOS flights.
Well, here we are also talking about VLOS flights. But already up to 4 kilograms, up to 50 meters. And if you have one of these certificates. That is, for example A2. If you have an A2 certificate, then you can fly 50 meters without any confirmation. Well, except for checking in the application. Let's take a look at this area. And we see quite logical and adequate requirements. Don't get high when you are close to the airport. It’s as if everything is completely transparent.
If you take some area further away. For example, this purple one. Let's take it and have a look. Somewhere you live. You live here. There's a park further away. These two zones too. Where you need to check in. And the warning zone.
The same CTR zone. Where is the general information written? And now in the subzone there are more specific requirements. Let's read. If you weigh up to 25 kilograms. Category Open or Specific. In our case, Open, VLOS flight. Height up to 100 meters. You do not need to confirm any plan. Just check in to the app, that's all.
If more than 100 meters. Then please provide a flight plan. And get permission. It's here. These are the zones. Near the airport. There is more. Such zones. These are the ones you see. Little red ones. Strange forms incomprehensible. This is a national park. And in national parks. Of course you can't fly. That is, you can’t fly just like that. Let's take a look. Zones. There are two zones.
Navigation Warning. We're not interested. And so. Kapinski zone Flight conditions: Activity check, blah blah blah, not interesting. This is check-in, check-out in the application application. And this is how you need to get permission from the administration of this park. For this park, but if we are talking about the Tatras, then it is probably very difficult to get arrested here. As far as I know, they don’t give it to individuals, but for businesses it’s 10 thousand zlotys. This is approximately 2.5 thousand dollars for permission to fly and film something.
It's cheaper to pay a fine. But I’m not agitating anyone, it’s not legal to fly. If your country is not Poland, but another country, then you need to look at the application directly for that country. For Spain, this is, for example, DroneEnair.уs. Everything looks similar. It only lags more.
There are also a sea of check-in drones that are flying. By the way, they fly to Madrid too. To be honest, I don't know much about the laws of Spain. But in short, the functionality is approximately the same. There are some zones. Here are some zones. How to click that. There are requirements there too. In Spanish and so on.
That is, it is necessary to understand and understand it separately for each country. But the general rule is 120 meters maximum. So, let's take a look at the DroneTower application. I turned the phone over, so everything looks a little different than usual. In a horizontal position. Everything is very similar to the previous application. There are also zones. There is also a description. But if you notice, I have a badge. Brick.
Takeoff prohibited. It's right here. Right at the airport. Here, by the way, is an excellent example of someone flying near an airport. This is not prohibited, it is allowed. But with restrictions.
He stated a height of 30 meters. 1 hour flight. And a distance of 200 meters from yourself. Takeoff time. This is not a GPS transponder. This is just the point at which he checked in. This quadcopter is static. He doesn't move. So. You need to check in. How to check in? By the way, I forgot to say. When registering, you will also need to confirm your phone number here.
Enter the operator number that is posted on the drones. And it keeps getting better. Here. It's already yellow here. Green. And so on. Why yellow? Probably poked it somewhere. Some kind of zone, most likely. Okay, you need to take off. First of all. Your position will be adjusted automatically. Poke here. Click on the settings. Here you have up to 900 grams. I mean, it doesn't matter.
You have 250 weight or 899. Everything that is less than 900 grams. Clearly, clearly. 90 0-4 kilograms and so on. 900 grams. We poke. Category Open or Specific. We have an Open category. Sub-category of flight. Exactly what was on the website where they will get the number. These are A1, A2, A3. Choose A1.
Since I have a DJI Mini drone. If DJI Air does too, the A1 will do. If it’s already more than 900 grams, there may already be nuances. Choose the height. My height is now 100 meters. If you remember, it was prohibited near the airport. But on the purple one, which has 100, it is allowed. We poke, for example,
30 meters high. Let's make the radius smaller. Although let there be 300. Well, you can enter the time. By the way, I recommend it. Probably your number. Uncheck the box so that your phone number is not shown on this map. Because if you don’t uncheck the box, your phone number will be available to all users.
Yes, save. Let's go for this type. Let's poke here. That's it, I can take off. Let's not go right here. We poke. And here is Create Check-in. That's all. I'll do a Create Check-in. We need to confirm it. Nothing more. She will check in on her own and you can fly legally. At this point. Afterwards you need to do a Check-out. Let's try somewhere else. Let's do this. The height can be changed. Save.
Take off in 5 minutes. Create Check-in. I confirm everything. All. I appeared on the map. After you fly, don't forget to check-out. Check-out is done in the same way. So. What do you need to do in order to fly.
First of all, you need to register as a pilot. Place a sticker with a number on the drone. This is true in all cases. Further. Download and install the Drone Tower application. Register there. And he will check in there before each flight. If you have not entered all parameters correctly. Then you will not receive permission to take off. Further. Depending on the class of the drone. For C0 you basically don't need anything else.
These are drones up to 250 grams. For C1. These are drones from 250 to 900 grams. You need to pass the exam online A1, A3. Necessarily. Well, for a C2 class drone. This is 900 grams to 4 kilograms. You need to pass the A2 face-to-face exam. For flying near people. That is, within 150 meters from buildings. And in the city in general. Without A2, on a drone weighing more than 900 grams. You really won't be able to fly in the city. As for real cases of inspections.
They never approached me. Then how to fly without being harassed by the police. Or other different people. And I'll tell you in the next video. But I know from friends that the police approached them. They were asked for a registered drone. Do you have permission to fly? And after positive answers, they fell behind. As a rule, such cases occur.
When you are flying somewhere. In the city center. Of course, if it is allowed to fly there at all. Or if someone from the neighbors complained. Or the residents near whom you fly. I also know of at least one case. When the person was taken to the station. Right there in the car, handcuffed.
Unfortunately, I do not know the details of this incident. As for insurance. Drones also have insurance. Heavy drones require mandatory insurance. Insurance for regular categories is also desirable. It is not required.
It is also worth considering the moment. That in 99% of cases insurance only covers those cases. When you flew legally. But let's be honest. You are most likely flying out of sight. That is, the drone is not in your line of sight. And beyond visibility.
This is already a BLOS and this is no longer an opleng category. That is, this is a priori not a legal flight. So be careful. Fly legally. To everyone who has watched up to this point. Thanks for watching. If you liked it. Please like and subscribe.
2025-05-16 10:47