Regulations in spain - Canary islands

[VilleB]

Gonna travel soon to Canary islands and wondering how are the drone flying regulations there.
NATO base and such on the island. (over 10km from where i am gonna fly but still)

 

[darren6270]

Which Island are you going to? I returned from Gran Canaria on Monday. Not many places to fly, lots of restrictions and a bit of aggro at the airport.

 

[VilleB]

Gran canaria, main staying location is play de ingles

 

[darren6270]

That's where I was. I had planned to fly in the Mas Palomas dunes, which are a couple of miles of sand dunes and looked an ideal location, but when I got there and booted up it appears they are a totally restricted area and a no fly zone. The police have a zero tolerance apparently, and I didn't fancy pushing my luck too much.

 

[VilleB]

Must be the nudist beach... my goal was to fly in the mountains

 

[darren6270]

I didn't see the nudist beach, just the beginning of the dunes. You will probably be safer in the mountains.

 

[Mike_in_Letcombe]

Which Island are you going to? I returned from Gran Canaria on Monday. Not many places to fly, lots of restrictions and a bit of aggro at the airport.

Hi: you say you had 'aggro' at the airport - can you expand? Complaining about its transport bag? Or just 'anti-drone'?

 

[darren6270]

Hi: you say you had 'aggro' at the airport - can you expand? Complaining about its transport bag? Or just 'anti-drone'?

Flew to Gran Canaria for a quick week in the sun. No problem getting the drone through Gatwick and onto the plane. Pretty strict drone policy on the island so not much flying. Getting back through Gran Canaria airport was a different story. The security scanner operator was a young lady who clearly had no experience with a drone before. She pulled me to one side then asked me to open my bag. I had the Mavic in a smaller hard shell case inside, I opened that and then handed it to her, she turned it around in her hand, sniffed it (!) put it down and then looked at the batteries. All were in Lipo bags with battery terminal covers. She tried to read the label but the puzzled look on her face spoke volumes. In the meantime I was digging out a copy of the airline drone policy which fortunately I had printed out. I handed it to her but she didn't even read it.
After a couple of minutes of looking through leads, mounts, chargers etc etc she called over a colleague who then wandered off and returned a few minutes later with a police officer. Fortunately the officer was a young, good natured gentleman, as he approached I just said "its a drone", he said "how many" I replied "just the one" and he waved his hand and said all fine, he didn't even look at the Mavic.
All fine in the end, a few minutes of worry but just inexperienced personnel at the airport.

 

[Pippi]

I am going to Poerto Rico, in gran Canarias, Saturday.
Is thera any Point bring the drone?

 

[FredericEP]

A big part of Gran Canaria is covered by Controlled Airspace that is considered as a No fly zone (as per Spain regulations), but based on their maps there are some places to fly around Puerto Rico
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