With thanks to Patrick of GrupoAcre in Spain for sending this to us.
Yesterday we came to know (by news) that the Spanish Air Safety Agency (AESA) has suspended “All UAV Operations in Spanish Airspace” and further has declared that all operations, which are not conducted on a “Radio-controlled Aircraft Airfield” or in Sport Hall (Not Track and Field), are Illegal”.
What is the background on that?
Spain has a high level of so called “Pirate Flyers”, those guys fly with toy –equipment or semi-professional equipment, without “Insurances”, without obeying rules in max. Altitude and max. Distances, not obeying “Data Law” and other legal issues. Since, more and more “Not – Professionals” has declared by themselves as “Professionals” and few smaller accidents, obviously happened, AESA Spain has taken the decision to stop such operations, as of 07th April 2014.
For month ago, a Spanish Filming Company flew inside Madrid in FPV Mode on a distance of more than one km, in an altitude band between 20 – 150m, along the skyscraper etc. …. For sure a nice video, but a lot of people complained! Further and important is that Madrid has areas we filming and flying is not allowed …………….
Comments
Hi all,
I confirm the ideas of some people here, nothing changed in spain, the situation is the same than United States, we can not fly for profit.
But even the spanish government and Juan Carlos, the king os Spain are paying spanish companies for take aerial images:
This is the last anual discurse of the king, the video recorded by an UAV:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiA8-6X9A6A
So even the government brake the rules.
In Barcelona a comercial fly permission for UAV's is available for 700$
We have the right to fly!
Airspace is public space!
Mierda ! !, and there I was just about to do some filming (from a distance) of the Gibraltar border queue !
So the problem now is that many people (newly created companies) do not know which path to follow in the following months.
I absolutely agree that many people are flying taking risks and not applying common sense. For example flying over urban areas. But it is also true that there is a lack of legislation on a fruitful new business that should have been ready many months ago.
We'll see.
Thanks for the info
Jesus,
I've been working on RPAs certification in Spain for some years now, and would be happy to help on this to anyone interested. By the way, Luis is right: the AESA statement on RPAs banning is just clarifying the current state of things. And you're right also: nothing has changed on the legal side yet. What it has really changed is the (otherwise natural and foreseable) burst in small RPAs activities, including a few irresponsible and dangerous events which have probably led to the statement.
How can there be companies training in RPA legislation in Spain if there is no legislation yet?
As far as I know (I can be very wrong though) the is no specific legislation for civil RPAs in Spain.
Certifying a RPA as a normal manned civil aircraft is not an option if you ment that.
I really think what is happening is not bunch of pirates flying their drones. It is just a combination of lack of official rules and information and the explosion of UAV possibilities.
I am quite sure that any UAV (small copters and "foamies") company in Spain would be more than happy to comply with whatever legislation (reasonable) if it existed.
Can you please give the names of those RPA certification/training companies in Spain? Me and others would be interested in gathering information
@Luis Morales - I'm shocked by that video. How could anyone watch that and not support restricting such activities? Doesn't Spain have any laws in regards to public endangerment? I don't see any issues at all in requiring UAVs to be flown at designated locations. RC enthusiasts have been doing it for decades and it works well.
Luis thanks for sharing your insights. I also expect the spanish regulation to be close to the italian one. Hope this becomes clear soon.
Thanks for your pointers. Our situation is a bit particular since we're trying to come up with a educational drone (check us out at http://erlerobot.com).
Totally agree with you, these companies should know about the boundaries but I'm afraid that this result is not solely the activity of the companies but way more probably, misinformed individuals.
Anyhow, knowing how hard finding investors in Spain is, this is definitely not good news for those of us that wish to launch something.
I understand the security concerns but honestly I am quite afraid that this announcement will affect to new startups in the UAV field within Spain. Knowing how things work in the country... we can perfectly remain in this "forbidden" situation for years. Let's hope I am mistaken.
So what is the situation? Can RPAS fly in Spain
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