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 !
Nothing new, just a reminder of since theres is a lack of specific legislation, actual laws apply, and actual laws of course covers aerial space, public endangerment and privacy. The problem is the great visibility UAVs are gathering due to these videos, companies claiming they passed a sort of bureucracy (...well they don't) and reckless people flying over citys.
The problem now is how much more time is going to last this "all forbidden" status. If I, as a hobbiest, need to go to an rc-airfield to fly my [under 2kg] quad, that means one hour by car, 15 minutes of actual flight (yes, thats all I have for now...), then one more hour back home. Or I can go to the nearest spot in the forest, wich I do, where nobody se me, nor can I accidentaly hit somebody. That's common sense
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
@Darrel it does, that's what all the fuss is about, there is a lot of people just ignoring the law, and now are claiming this is new and that hey are banning RC flying!
@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.
Hi Victor.. i dont think you should worry about RPA with a quad that small, that can fly indoors, indoors has no regulation comercial or not, AESA cant regulate indoor spaces.
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