Carrying DJI Mavic Air bought here in the USA to India

[devesh.deochake]

are you able to fly the drone? Any problems? Did you have to register your drone?

I didnt reguster my drone. However the places i flew had scarcely any population. It was a forest area. So had no problems. No one except family and friends knew i was flying

 

[Kamal Nor]

Me either still can't decide whether to bring mine or not to India next month. According to some members from DJI Forum, there's no problem to get pass the airport security and no one has been stopped by the officers so far. The real problem is to fly the drone itself in India especially in the city area as the drone would attracts many people around. People will surrounding you to see and indirectly will attract the police too.

IMO the best idea is to launch your drone away from the crowd. There are plenty of drone footage of India on Youtube. It's a hit and miss.. fly at your own risk. Fly if you got balls and no if you don't. But Taj Mahal is a big NO NO to me... it's too risky.

 

[charan365]

Hi All,

Below information is not for professionals. Professionals can write a letter to civil aviation, customs, others and obtain permission prior to there arrival. I am not completely aware of the process.

To began India has introduced set of rules to register and carry drones. But its not approved yet, they are just draft set of rules. So technically you cannot carry a drone to India or fly a drone in India.

Carrying a drone: Many of my friends traveled with Mavic air from different airports of India, such as Hyderabad, Mumbai, Chennai. I guess due its foldable design its not considered as a drone by the authorities who scan the baggage. Remove battery and propellers and carried them in the hand luggage and carry drone in check-in luggage it should not be a problem. By the way if you travel via Delhi airport i suggest not to carry, as it has high alert for drones due to security issues. And i am not sure of any one travelling from Delhi with Mavic Air.

One of my friend traveled via Delhi with Tello, despite of its small size and low frequency it is still confiscated. May due to the motors alignment in the shape of a drone. So i suggest Delhi must be approached with caution.

Flying a Drone: Be prepared to get a lot of auditions and admires if you start flying one. But know that local police are not authorized to seize your drone unless your are flying in a prohibited or private zone. But they will ask you not to use it if caught. If you are a foreigner i suggest you use the done only when you have a local person assisting you.

I will update this thread if i have more information.

 

[devesh.deochake]

Hello All,
Sorry for the late reply. I had no issues at all to enter India ( Mumbai Airport), I also did not face any issues while flying back to the US. No issues when I landed in the US as well. As mentioned earlier I had packed my MA in its shell pouch and in the check in baggage. batteries and props were removed and in the carry on bag. I used a pouch to carry Lithium batteries in carry on bag for the batteries.

 

[charan365]

Hello All,
Sorry for the late reply. I had no issues at all to enter India ( Mumbai Airport), I also did not face any issues while flying back to the US. No issues when I landed in the US as well. As mentioned earlier I had packed my MA in its shell pouch and in the check in baggage. batteries and props were removed and in the carry on bag. I used a pouch to carry Lithium batteries in carry on bag for the batteries.

Hi Devesh, may i know when you have travelled. I am planning to buy Air or Mavic2 as both are foldable i guess it should not be a problem.

 

[bade011]

Foreigners are currently not allowed to fly drones in India. For commercial purpose, they need to lease RPAS to an Indian entity who in-turn will obtain Unique Identification Number (UIN) and UAOP from DGCA.

• Any entity intending to import RPAS in India shall obtain Equipment Type Approval (ETA) from WPC Wing, Department of Telecommunication for operating in de-licensed frequency band(s). Such approval shall be valid for a particular make and model.
• The applicant, other than Nano category, shall apply to DGCA along with ETA for import clearance. Based upon the import clearance issued by DGCA, DGFT shall issue license for import of RPAS.

Point of contact in WPC & DGFT?
For import : Sh.S.P.Roy, Joint DGFT, DGFT, Phone: 011-2306 2240 Email: [email protected]

For ETA : Sh. Bhagirath, Sr. DWA, WPC, DoT, Phone: 011-2373 1488 Email: [email protected]


http://dgft.gov.in/sites/default/files/Notification_No.16_(English)_0.pdf


Digital Sky

>> Thanks for the detail. Are foreigners allowed to take drone through the airport? I will be visiting India for a few. I will not fly the drone in India.

 

[Facherty]

I was in India from January to February 2019, and met another couple from the UK. They brought a Mavic Air with them, and flew it without any local comment, albeit in relatively sparsely populated area. They had no problems bringing it on their long haul or local flights.

(As an aside, I had not seen drones in use for ten years before this encounter, and was most impressed by the ease of use and the footage he showed me... So much so that I bought a Mavic Air upon returning to the UK!)

 

[Surya]

So here I'll tell you the story of mine, I got dji spark few months before in US and I was literally pissed off like how am I going to take it back home. But I made it fixed that I have to do this, so I removed all propellers and battery and checked em up in different luggage and drone kept vertically straight in corner of the luggage and I just got a grill pan so I just kept that pan above the drone and I checked the luggage in US. And after that I reached Chennai airport and unfortunately when I went near exit, customs asked me to keep the bags in the scanner once again and then they didn't even ask me anything..I just took my bag after that and I came out. Maybe due to the size of dji spark it was easy for me and it just went so smoothly.

 

[ayanpilot98]

I got a Mavic Air that I bought in the United States. I just came to Kolkata yesterday. So, the Drone itself was in my checked in luggage folded with the props taken out. The props and the prop guards were in another checked luggage. My carry on which was a camera bag had the RC and all the batteries and the charger. Faced no issues at all with customs, security, anything. So, chill guys get em to India and let's shoot this beautiful land!