Using a drone but where is OK
 

I am on the brink of buying a Drone cam and would quite like to know whether it is going to be a good tool for using on trips.

My main concern is where am I likely to be put in jail for using it and what borders will not let me in with one. Clearly one should be discrete where appropriate and avoid military zones at all costs, airports would make for a bad day too probably in any country.
It would be useful to make up a list of NO GO countries if anyone has any input. I suspect the list will be long.
Have you had one confiscated? Been in trouble, BIG trouble ?
What about Vietnam, I'm going there later .... ?c?

I was at a bike and car hillclimb recently where all runs were prevented for a while by some prat flying a drone over the course.
I over heard several mutterings from people about their 12 bore being in the back of their car and the urge to blow the thing out of the sky.
The organisers put out constant pleas for the person flying the drone to desist and eventually it flew away.
So, in many situations they are seen as a menace, and there is no telling how some people who don't like them may respond.

Absolutely and totally understand that, and agree, hence the "where appropriate" clause in my "usage requirement plans" ( just after don't use where there are guns, clause)

Why do some peoples first post always focus on negatives rather than answering or aiding on the question asked?

Can't help otherwise except Morocco you need a permit to fly :)

Morocco - quick bit of research suggests getting a permit to use a drone is quite difficult even for pros, so for a holiday video it aint going to happen. There is an import ban completely so that is one country on the list.

I recently got back from a video makers conference in California and Drones was a topic for a panel. As it was in the states it was mostly info regarding there.
For the States your drone has to be registered at a US address by a US resident to legally fly it.
If you are flying commercially you need a pilots license, although that is soon changing to a specific test that you need to pass for drones.
It's Illegal to fly in all national and state parks inc grand canyon.
Not that i broke any of those laws when i was there :no:

There was a mention of a South American country that doesn't allow them in, can't remember exactly which one though, But you can leave it at the border and collect it on the way out. The Border guard was telling one of the guys in the panel when he went they they confiscate up to 20 a day.

Easter Island it's also banned to fly there.

Another thing to factor if you are flying is the batteries, being such a high capacity you have to carry them in your hand luggage, as you should with all spare batteries. I know in New Zealand you aren't allowed to take the Batteries on any internal flights as they are too high capacity. With Batteries this big when not in use it's always good to keep, when not in use, in LIPO fireproof bags to prevent too much damage if they short circuit and they are known to short circuit if not stored correctly.

Beyond that I'm Not to sure on country specific info. Google is a always a good place to search. If you're travelling overland you may find you will get them into the country but you won't be able to fly.

Another little tip is call it a 'toy' don't mention drone at all, in some countries drones are used to kill people and that's the only meaning of the word they know.
Ask a local official/police if it's ok to fly to take photos/videos with your toy

Australia is in the process of requiring a pilots licenses (like full fledged plane one too) for drones over a certain weight. I cant remember the weight is but i do remember the news forecaster saying it would make 98% of the ones on the market illegal to use with out a pilots license.

Recently one of the Scandinavian countries passed laws completely prohibiting use of drones over the whole country

Sweden it was. Almost complete ban. http://petapixel.com/2016/10/22/swed...public-places/
Iceland bans them in certain tourist areas
Many countries have regulations or guidelines

The current state of global drone regulations has info

As an aside, some countries ban dash cameras also on privacy grounds - Austria, Luxenburg, some US states. To update this thread dashcams have been ruled illegal in:-
GERMANY, AUSTRIA,SPAIN,BELGIUM,LUXENBOURG,PORTUGAL.
For instance a fine in Austria could cost you 10,000 euro for a first offence
and 25,000 euro subsequent offences ... according to a poster on https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/thread...pe-legal.1797/ but there seems to be a distinction between having them running and publishing the output on the web.

I can't answer as far as the legality of flying a drone goes, as I've been flying mine without asking for a permit in a few central Asia countries. I've done it dicreetly so nobody cared.

The only issue I faced was in border crossings. I've crossed a dozen borders with the drone hidden away in my car and it escaped inspection in every case but one : getting out of Ukraine a custom officer stumbled on it and made a bit of a fuss about needing a permit for it. I just acted stupid and waited. After 30 min of phone calls and visits by all the compound and trying to find a law to extract a bribe from me, they gave up and let me go.

I saw a guy flying a phantom in downtown Ulaanbaatar, but they told me they had an official permit for this. Anywhere else they probably don't have a clue if there's a law about drone flying :innocent:

Of course, if you plan to use it commercially, then it's a different story.

Bit of a bump, but any up to date information on where this may be an issue at border crossings?

Don't want to have an expensive bit of kit confiscated...

Perhaps you could narrow it down by giving us an itinerary first

That is sick. Fortunately the most beautifull and interesting places on Earth are remote ones like the desert where you can use drons without restrictions (if only you do not have problem with the drone at the border).

Marginally off topic, but maybe useful for one or 2 people... Know how to use it and if you do, still don't use it anywhere near me! :helpsmilie::(:innocent::D

I wrote the following on my FB page from SoCal recently:

This is the last ever picture of this man's drone!! He was demonstrating it to me and Andrea. "Look this is the Sport Mode" he says, "38 miles an hour, 41, 43, 48, 52". The display on the controller shows the cliffs we're standing on speed towards the drone's camera. "Oh fcuk, where's it gone!" His controller is squawking "lost connection to device"...

Yep, Brighty has done it again: Caused him to lose/crash this us$1500 piece of kit he only bought 2 weeks ago! Actually I blame Andrea as she decided to want to ask him what the white/gold thing was he was holding, when all I was doing was taking the p!ss that it was just some UFO spotting machine (the guy had a big beard so must be into weird sh!t was my reasoning) just like other people might use a metal detector on a beach.

We were both very apologetic and slightly embarrassed ;-)

http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/p...26380183_n.jpg

That I can sympathise with. No, not the beard, the learning curve in trying to fly the things. Every single time ours has taken off with me at the controls its been followed by a search and rescue mission to pick up the pieces. My son, on the other hand, seems to be able to fly it through the eye of a needle. It all looks so easy in the promo videos :(

Not much point in asking where I can take it as the only place it seems to go is back into the garage for repairs.

Oh yes the learning to fly thing. I considered this when choosing a drone as the extra cost involved with carrying a teenager around on trips was prohibitive. I came across a Yuneec Breeze 4k drone (loads info on youtube) which has several fixed modes as well as the standard "fly it yourself and crash" mode. Its controlled by a smart-phone app so no bulky controller required. Quite small so packs well. Video footage is astonishingly good for such a small device. For the those of us without the necessary skills to repair drones on day one out the box, it's not a bad bet. It has limitations - but so do I.

edit : I have no beard, if that's important ?

Sorry, I completely missed this

It would mainly be in Mongolia and the Stans that I am concerned about

On one hand, there would be some great vast, open areas for stunning footage

On the other, a $2000 bit of kit being confiscated would sting

Well, there is a website called Find out where you can fly your drone - CanIflymydrone.com. If or when you have access to the internet, you can try checking it out the places you can or can't fly a drone.

I know for certain that you can't have a drone in Azerbidjan. Travelled across the Caspian from Kazakhstan with a Chinese television team and the customs seized their drones and told them they could have them back at the border when they leave.
Ali.

And what about southern African countries like South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Mozambique?


I am thinking about getting a drone to take photos, especially of wildlife, when we get there later next year. After all, photos are all we have left when a trip ends. I value them.


In another hand, might be more hassle than it is worth.... especially if we ship from Cape Town to the US... although I suppose I could post the drone back home from SA to the UK.

Using a drone but where is OK
 

Hi Maria,

As far as i remember for South Africa and Uganda, you're supposed to have a little licence official, though i was never too sure with SA as to whether it was meant for pilots for commercial use only. I think the rest of the countries are ok.

I googled each country before we went and checked whatever came up, though the info is often outdated already. In the end, we tried to use ours in very quiet/remote places so as to minimise disruption to anyone and chances of being caught (just in case!).

BUT in all the countries you mention, you're not allowed to use a drone in the national parks (in some you are even supposed to declare them, hand them in and pick them back up when you leave...)

But for me, the regulations were less of an issue; it was more regarding the animals themselves and my own conscience.
It was after seeing a couple of drone videos on YouTube that I really started getting excited about our forthcoming trip and seeing how stunning the shots can be: especially the oh-so-graceful giraffes!

Then I watched the videos a bit more closely and I realised that the reason the animals are always moving is because they are trying to get away from the drone! The gadgets seem to emit some sound waves that we don't pick up as humans, but it is obviously really unpleasant for the animals.

Seeing as one of the main highlights of our Southern Africa tour is witnessing the animals and I certainly didn't want to interfere with their habitat and lives more than I am doing by being there in the first place.

From that moment on I swore we wouldn't use our drones for animal footage.

Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not trying to be holier than thou, it just made such a huge impact on me!

But there are plenty of other opportunities for fabulous takes in the jaw-dropping countryside, apart from the animals.... as our trip is drawing to a close, I'm happy to sell you our DJI phantom 4 :-)

Helen

Thanks Helen for the answer. You raise some very valid good points.


I am quite undecided yet. I will see as we get closer to the departure date (later next year). I like to travel very light so not very keen on carrying extra electronic and potentially fragile stuff...

Good idea to get current information just before you leave because more and more prohibitions are being issued as the nuisance is being recognised.

If they produced a stealth unit it would help acceptance, but the combination of irritating noise and misuse by operators not considering peoples rights to peaceful enjoyment and privacy in tourist zones are only going to result in more and more restrictions - which is a pity for those who are responsible operators.

For UK this is a good guide to use to ensure you are flying responsibly -

Drone code | Dronesafe

Bear in mind rules are about to change in July this year to tighten up a few things due to so many people buying them and flying them with no regard for following guidelines and laws.

I did see the videos for this years UK hubb having drone footage in, shame it was illegal :rolleyes2: being within 50 mtrs of people and probably uninsured for liability, did you know that the event organisers could in future also be liable to prosecution for any issues that may arise if something went wrong?

Also this app covers a lot of countries and gives you notice of no fly zones etc.and airspace restrictions so is a very useful resource for travellers -

https://www.uavforecast.com/#/