Last Friday went into effect which was communicated over the last months.
Here is a summary of the main points:
- Liability insurance in accordance with the air traffic order (Luftverkehrsordnung) is required for all drones. (around € 80/year)
- Drones above 0.25kg must have a well visible, fireproof label with name/address of owner.
(will be enforced starting October)
- No license needed for drones under 2kg
- For drones above 2kg a certificate of knowledge (Kenntnisnachweis) is required.
This certificate will be issued by authorities approved by German equivalent to the FAA (Luftfahrt-Bundesamt).
- For drones above 5kg a "general flying permission" is required. Those will be issued by local (state) authorities, not federal.
- Maximum weight for any drones: 25kg
- Height limit: 100m. Drones must always be in line-of-sight.
The usual other limitations are: No flying out of sight or FPV, at night, near people, on private ground without permission, over residential/industrial areas, nature sanctuaries, hospitals, federal facilities, accident sites etc.
- Airports:
No flying less than 1.5km from airport fence.
Beyond 1.5km flying is allowed up to 30m while still being in zones controlled by airports.
For certain (usually commercial) flights a certificate of exemption can be applied for
if further/higher/night is needed. That will be costly and requires processing time.
A major setback is:
No flying closer than 100m to any waterways that are used by commercial ships!
Harbors, main rivers and all canals are NoGo from now on!
The entire coast of the Northern Sea from Netherland to Denmark is out since it's national park or some other sanctuary. Including the thousands of nature/bird/Nature-2000 sanctuaries all over the country we will not have many attractive areas left for flying.
It has now reached a point that I'm wondering if I should give up the drone hobby.
Here is a summary of the main points:
- Liability insurance in accordance with the air traffic order (Luftverkehrsordnung) is required for all drones. (around € 80/year)
- Drones above 0.25kg must have a well visible, fireproof label with name/address of owner.
(will be enforced starting October)
- No license needed for drones under 2kg
- For drones above 2kg a certificate of knowledge (Kenntnisnachweis) is required.
This certificate will be issued by authorities approved by German equivalent to the FAA (Luftfahrt-Bundesamt).
- For drones above 5kg a "general flying permission" is required. Those will be issued by local (state) authorities, not federal.
- Maximum weight for any drones: 25kg
- Height limit: 100m. Drones must always be in line-of-sight.
The usual other limitations are: No flying out of sight or FPV, at night, near people, on private ground without permission, over residential/industrial areas, nature sanctuaries, hospitals, federal facilities, accident sites etc.
- Airports:
No flying less than 1.5km from airport fence.
Beyond 1.5km flying is allowed up to 30m while still being in zones controlled by airports.
For certain (usually commercial) flights a certificate of exemption can be applied for
if further/higher/night is needed. That will be costly and requires processing time.
A major setback is:
No flying closer than 100m to any waterways that are used by commercial ships!
Harbors, main rivers and all canals are NoGo from now on!
The entire coast of the Northern Sea from Netherland to Denmark is out since it's national park or some other sanctuary. Including the thousands of nature/bird/Nature-2000 sanctuaries all over the country we will not have many attractive areas left for flying.
It has now reached a point that I'm wondering if I should give up the drone hobby.
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