Costa Rica - Flying rules recreationally.....does anyone have access to clear guidelines on what to do before you fly your drone in CR recreationally? I have a professional drone license here in the US but would fly my drone this coming December only recreationally in CR. I have read some online posts where they talk about registration with the DGAC and drone insurance regardless of whether you fly recreationally or professionally. Any guidance would be appreciated!
Costa Rica - Flying rules recreationally.....does anyone have access to clear guidelines on what to do before you fly your drone in CR recreationally?
- Thread starter HumbearKS
- Start date
db4476
Well-Known Member
Costa Rica is a fascinating country, I envy you!
I didn't read the full article, but it appears you can fly in Costa Rica, you may have to register the drone at no cost but maybe not.
The article is here: Costa Rica Drone Regs
Cheers!
I didn't read the full article, but it appears you can fly in Costa Rica, you may have to register the drone at no cost but maybe not.
The article is here: Costa Rica Drone Regs
Cheers!
All went well. Here is a contact at the CGAC which basically is their FCC counterpart: Allen Viguez, email [email protected]. He confirmed via email that as a recreational user you mainly have to obey the main rules of drone flying to protect the public, no insurance, no registration. Slightly different story as it comes to flying in certain protected areas, such as National parks. They most likely have specific rules there that don't allow drone flying but if you wanted more info, reach out to Allen.
Be VERY careful relying on articles like that one. They're frequently incomplete, incorrect, or out of date. This particular site is maintained by volunteers. Most of these unofficial articles seem to rely on the same other unofficial web articles for their information.
This one doesn't include the URL for registering a drone, only the main address for the federal aviation authority. The registration page is here: http://drones.dgac.go.cr/Presentacion/PaginaPrincipal.aspx. You have to set up an account to access it.
To register the drone at CDGC it asks for 'CEDULA' which I think translates to Identification card. Can I ask what you believe this is refering to? I have a Dji Mini2 which doesn't required registration in Canada (or I believe USA) to I don't have an ID card or registration number.
I’m not familiar with the specific requirements in Costa Rica regarding what foreigners should use in place of the national identity card, but in Ecuador we often used our passport numbers. You could ask if that is sufficient.
Howard
It's an ID card.
en.wikipedia.org
You might just use your SIN.
(SIN is Canada's version of SSN.)
Identity Card (Costa Rica) - Wikipedia
You might just use your SIN.
(SIN is Canada's version of SSN.)
Thank youIt's an ID card.
Identity Card (Costa Rica) - Wikipedia
You might just use your SIN.
(SIN is Canada's version of SSN.)
Will do. I can't get a response from the folks at CDGC so registering would just be percautionary measure. Seems like many are stating that for recreational flying registration is not required. This was reiterated by the following post as well: Iris Automation | The Complete Pocket Primer on Costa Rica’s Drone Laws
Looking forward to capturing some of the beauty there.
I wouldn't place too much confidence in a blog post that provides information like this in their discussion of drone laws.
- "Some drones are very small, while others are large."
- "That said, most drones can only travel within one mile of their controller."
Update I did get an answer from DGAC, the agency responsible in CR:
"Greetings, for recreational use you must only comply with the limitations of Operations (attached)."
I translated to English so both languages are in the document attached.
"Greetings, for recreational use you must only comply with the limitations of Operations (attached)."
I translated to English so both languages are in the document attached.
Hi Humbear,
I tried that email for Allen Viguez, but it gets rejected with [[email protected]] (550 - 550 <[email protected]> recipient rejected) for some reason.
It appears that recreational flyers are subject to what you post above, but not 100% clear if those rules apply to foreigners per this site (there are separate sections for the new rules vs. rules for foreigners). Would you by any chance have any more definitive info on the regs?
I see Batman's answer on this thread, maybe that would suffice?
Thanks!!
Last edited:
Thanks! I did hear back from the DGAC and he provided the list of requirements for recreational flying.
In short, yes. The guidelines he posted were the same as what the DGAC sent to me when I contacted Allen Viquez <[email protected]> to confirm that I would be flying within the regulations. They were very prompt and courteous and I only confirmed with them to make sure there had been no changes since Batman's post.
Longer answer, my experience was perfect! I asked the hotel concierge if he was aware of any additional restrictions in that particular area (I showed him the DGAC email) and his reply was that the hotel grounds were private, but that all beaches in CR are public and that should anyone approach me, just to politely mention that. There are restrictions around parks, airports, the usual, but we were not near those types of things. And I did not fly near any people at all.
We were there in October of '22 (rainy season) but our beach weather was fantastic. Some pics attached.
Chip
Attachments
Thanks so much Chip, didn’t want to get my drone confiscated at the CR airport, will definitely respect the rules for no fly zones and flying around people, your videos are awesome, 2 more weeks, I can’t wait !!!
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