Archive notice: This article was originally published on November 11, 2015. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
It is true: drone footage is popular, the devices are becoming increasingly affordable, and the number of flying aerial-recording helpers in the sky is therefore steadily rising. Lightweight drones that can be controlled with a smartphone are available to almost everyone almost everywhere. But in Dobrindt’s view, their use has so far not been adequately regulated.
To minimize the potential danger from collissions with other aircraft or crashes, Dobrindt wants to regulate use anew: among other things, drones weighing more than 500 grams will have to be registered in future so that the owners of the device can be identified. In future, use for commercial and private purposes is to be treated differently:
- For the commercial use of a drone for agricultural matters or traffic monitoring, the possibilities for use are to be expanded.
- In addition, state authorities will in future be allowed to permit flights beyond the controller’s line of sight if safe operation is demonstrated. Until now, operation beyond the controller’s line of sight has generally been prohibited.
- There will be a license for commercial drone users, for which aviation and air-law knowledge must be demonstrated in an examination. The license is to be issued by the Federal Aviation Office.
Private drone owners, by contrast, will be heavily regulated:
- Private drone flights will be prohibited at an altitude of more than 100 meters, beyond the controller’s line of sight, over industrial facilities, correctional facilities, military installations, crowds of people, accident sites or disaster areas and operational sites of the police or other security authorities or organizations, power plants and energy-generation and distribution facilities, as well as federal highways and railway lines.
As good as the plans sound—many things remain vague so far, and Dobrindt was not yet able to answer specific questions: for example, how will drones purchased through international online shops receive identification in Germany? And how exactly are the no-fly zones supposed to be enforced? Should, for example, the integration of “geofencing,” that is, an automatic geographical restriction, be legally prescribed in the drone’s software?
We will stay on the story and see what these new regulations will mean in concrete terms for drone owners in future and when the license will be introduced. Since Dobrindt’s toll plans have also been put on the back burner due to concerns from the EU Commission, there will certainly still be a larger window of time for drone footage—even without a license document.
Here is the drone news from the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure.
Anyone who is not yet familiar with operating drones is recommended this beginner’s course from Udemy. For 110 euros, there are 7 hours of learning material and a certificate of completion for what was learned.
